Hurricane Irma damage on Summerland Key, perhaps the hardest hit Key. Photo credit: Dan Chapman, USFWS.
A good friend of mine from childhood recently forwarded one of those Internet commentaries about the human response to the devastation of millions of American lives by extreme weather in a time of intense political hostility in our country. The commentary is from a perspective that is not my own, but I think it’s really important for what it gets right and for what it gets wrong. But first, let me tell you about the friend who sent it.
Bill and I grew up in one of those economically struggling small towns credited with rising up—along with other white, working class, rural communities—to elect Donald Trump, shocking much of the nation and world. Our political backgrounds were different. With my mother raising four boys by herself, in our family, we learned Democrats were the party of the little guy. That’s most people living in a small town. But since this was Indiana, most people were Republican, including Bill’s family.
Interestingly, though, after leaving that little town and achieving success in very different careers (Bill’s in business), we’ve begun to share many political views. I’m pretty sure Bill still considers himself a Republican, but he’s embarrassed his party nominated for president someone so totally unfit for public office and appalled the nation would elect such a person.
Bill, who also sent the commentary to family members, said it had him feeling a little guilty. He wrote: “This is what we can forget when America goes divisive and focuses on a giant issue like the impact of Donald Trump and the ‘deplorables’ who would vote for him and behave badly in Charlottesville.”
The commentary asks readers to think for a minute about hundreds of small boats pulled by pickups and SUVs across the south headed for flooded areas. “They’re using their own property, sacrificing their own time, spending their own money and risking their own lives for one reason: to help total strangers in desperate need… Most are dressed like the redneck duck hunters and bass fisherman they are. Many are veterans. Most are wearing well-used gimme hats, T-shirts and jeans and there’s a preponderance of camo. Most are probably gun owners, and most probably voted for Trump.”
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The writer says these are the people those on the left like Rachel Maddow, Bill Maher and Keith Olbermann hate and mock. “But they will spend the next several days wading in cold, dirty water, dodging gators and water moccasins and fire ants, eating whatever meager rations are available and sleeping wherever they can in dirty, damp clothes. Their reward is the tears and the hugs and the smiles from the terrified people they help. They will deliver one boatload and then go back for more.”
Pulling Together in Times of Tragedy
Here’s what I think is absolutely right about what I’ve quoted so far. When tragedy strikes communities, everyone really does pull together and try to lend a hand. Former President Barack Obama called it proof of the essential goodness and decency of the American people. The Obama observation I’ve always found most inspirational was early in his presidential run. He said we could overcome most of our divisions in America if we could just see ourselves in others. And, yes, that includes seeing the humanity of duck hunters in gimme hats. It also includes seeing the humanity in people of all races, classes and religions.
What bothered me most about the commentary was the suggestion the heroes of the floods were all white Trump voters wearing camouflage and packing heat. There were plenty of Latinos in Texas, documented and undocumented, checking on neighbors and helping them to safety. There were African Americans in the poorest Houston neighborhoods, some who were relocated there after losing their homes in New Orleans to Katrina, doing the same.
We all need to stop thinking about each other in negative, simple-minded stereotypes. That includes stereotyping every hunter or fisherman in a baseball cap as a white supremacist Trump voter. I’ve been on fishing trips in Wisconsin with scruffy, hard-drinking, poker-playing white guys and they’re truly a mixed lot.
But no one ever needs to feel guilty about rejecting the political demagoguery that has fed upon racial and religious hatred in our country to gain power. Liberal TV personalities weren’t the ones who intentionally promoted those ugly, un-American divisions.
As an ACLU-card-carrying liberal, I honestly don’t believe I feel hatred for voters with whom I disagree. I reserve that emotion for dishonest politicians who exploit desperate people who have little by intentionally turning them against each other. Let them eat hate.
But I remain optimistic, even during the bad times, because the way Americans help each other in a crisis shows most of us are better than our worst impulses and our worst leaders. May we all be able to see ourselves in others.
