July 22, 2016

I was mindlessly scrolling through my facebook feed, as any millennial, when I came across an article from NBC News, titled “David Duke, Former KKK Leader, Announces Senate Run.” This caught my attention. In reading the article, David Duke says he” believes in ‘equal rights for all, and respect for all Americans.’” I scoffed. Equal rights? Respect? Hard to believe, coming from someone who lead an entire group of white supremacists. His definition of “all Americans” must be all white Americans. This thought of mine backed up by another of his statements: “‘I also demand respect for the rights and heritage of European Americans.’”

It is incredible, though in a bad way, that a former Klu Klux Klan leader is running for Senate. Just for the audacity alone. I love and respect that in America, you can participate in government to stress and forward your beliefs. However, I also cringe when that privilege of efficacy is used to try to infringe on the rights of others. A supremacist mindset entails that one type of person is better than all others, which then means that a supremacist believes that better person should be treated as such. This is how I come to the conclusion of supremacists infringing on the rights of others—if a white person is “above” a brown person, then it goes that the white person must have more than the brown person. Which usually means less rights and privileges for the brown person (segregation, for example). David Duke’s election to Senate would not only propel the white supremacist movement forward, it would set a precedent that any one bigoted person can go run for an office and infringe on the rights and privileges of others. Some may say I’m jumping to conclusions, that I can’t know what Duke will do or cause; I say that once someone has not only been a member of, but a leader of any kind of supremacist group, that someone has a mindset dangerous to the very fabric of what has made America flourish—diversity.

The NBC article also mentions that David Duke “pledges to ‘stop the massive immigration and ethnic cleansing of the people whose forefathers created America.’” First, in high school, I learned that if it were not for the “massive immigration” of peoples each year, our economy would collapse. Let’s face it, immigrants take the down-and-dirty jobs that most people would not even consider a possibility for themselves. Would David Duke like to clean toilets? Would he like to work in the fields, clean houses, all while under the fear of having your family split apart at a moment’s notice? I doubt it. Immigrants take the jobs necessary to our daily lives because they have to, and are vitally important to our economy and our society. We need immigrants. Not only are immigrants essential to the fabric of American daily life, they are a part of America. America has always been the melting pot of cultures, and I personally believe that is one of this country’s most gracious and likeable aspects. It is a beautiful thing, that so many people from so many different places have come here and made America what it is today. Duke wants to rid America of one of it’s best features at the expense of all those coming here for a better life.

Secondly, ethnic cleansing? This white man is going to say that immigrants are causing ethnic cleansing? That the white “rights and heritage” are not being respected? Not only is that completely xenophobic, it’s also incredibly disrespectful and ironic. Let’s ask the the millions of dead Native Americans what they think about “ethnic cleansing, huh? In an article by I F****** Love Science, the author discusses a recent find regarding a mummified Native. Scientists found that this Native had genes that was found nowhere else in any living human. The native and her people died out with absolutely no known descendants. The cause of death? European disease. The European Americans killed not only unintentionally with their diseases, but intentionally also. And when it became too taboo to outright kill and Indian, they started kidnapping Native children and forcing them into schools where their hair was cut, they were forced to wear western clothing, and if they used their native language, their mouth would be washed out with soap. Not only is what the “European Americans” did to Natives ethnic cleansing, it was a genocide. David Duke wants to claim that white American’s are facing “ethnic cleansing?” That is completely outrageous. What white Americans are experiencing is equality, where they are not as “above” other people. Of course there’s not true equality yet, but the amount of systematic racism has been getting better. And that scares some conservative, white Americans.

The audacity and absurdity of David Duke’s claims astounds me. To be so ignorant and actively be against equality is beyond my comprehension. Don’t let this person ruin what makes America beautiful.