Love thy stranger and love thy enemy from the Old and New Testaments are a call for humanism in contrast with Trump’s discrimination policies. And,according to him, we are not a “melting pot. “ Religious ,racial ,sexual economic and political beliefs, race, political beliefs, economic beliefs have been used to discriminate against others since our founding. As a result, our history of discrimination has been repeated over and over again . This essay describes a few examples of repeated discrimination in our Republic.
In 1764, about 200 Irish settlers from Pennsylvania's backcountry rode to Philadelphia to confront a government they despised. This angry group had already slaughtered a group of peaceful Indians and blamed English Quakers for the attacks. The Quakers expecting attacks, abandoned their pacifism and picked up muskets; and the colony was spared from potential Civil War only by the diplomacy of Benjamin Franklin ( Benjamin Franklin PBS KVIE).
Instead of a physical war ,pamphlets were used that accused the Quakers of taking satisfaction in the slaughter of Irish and German settler families at the hands of the Indians. That misrepresentation called for Quakerism to be extirpated from the face of the earth. On the other hand, Irish Ulster Presbyterians were described as ulceration and piss-brute-tariens. Franklin himself referred to the English settlers as Christian white savages and Germans as Palatine boars who refused to assimilate or learn English.
About 100 years later, the Civil War pitted white against white . Slavery was largely responsible for the economic wealth and success in the South, even though they were considered 3/5 of a person . Racism was not limited to the South as slavery was adopted and promoted everywhere.And, Jim Crow laws perpetuated slavery in the South until 1964 with Pres. Johnson’s Civil Rights Act . .
When Woodrow Wilson was president there was anti-immigrant sentiment that was furthered by Wilson's hateful and discriminatory A. Mitchell Palmer, his Atty. Gen.Also, Palmer’s efforts were aided by a young Justice Department attorney named J. Edgar Hoover. Furthermore, Pres.Wilson's mean spirited talk about subversives lurking within America's borders accompanied by a compliant judiciary gave these executive branch leaders permission to discriminate. Ioo years or so later, are we similar ?
Moreover, Palmer raids detained and deported individuals within the FBI's own history .Palmer scapegoated the Bolshevik revolutionaries and those who migrated from Russia and eastern Europe. Also, Wilson warned Congress of a threat posed by citizens born under other flags . Did they actually pose great threats against national peace and safety ? This is too familiar.
The Wilson administration proposed to Congress the Espionage Act which gave the government sweeping powers to clamp down on free speech , censor the press and to protect the war effort. The Postal Service followed when the Postmaster General refused to deliver mail that he deemed subversive. Dea vu !
Also, Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1918, which expanded the government's powers to deport undesirable aliens.and discriminate against immigrants from Russia and Germany. This was our Democratic government then - sounds familiar .My grandparents left Kiev years earlier.
With Hoover in charge , he used wartime authority that Congress provided that allowed federal agents to burst into apartments and houses across 11 cities to arrest more than 1000 immigrants, many of them Russians . Some were arrested because they were deemed suspicious based on their accent and were called communists. Democracy in action. Some melting pot !
During World War II, our government interned Japanese civilians and also harassed some German citizens. After that war, Joe McCarthy began his witchhunt and made up stories about red subversives. The Manchurian Candidate movie with Frank Sinatra provided a glimpse into that era. And,Dalton Trumbo, Hollywood screen writer was blacklisted but wrote scripts under different aliases. In 1960 ,Kirk Douglas's Spartacus gave Trumbull full credit listing him as the screenwriter.
I remember that time very well. In fact,when I was 10 years of age, I found out that my father's name was in the Detroit News newspaper from my friend's mother - “ Is that your father “? My father was accused ,by unknown sources, that he was a communist. As the story goes, his friend Jim N, a friend and employed by the US Postal Service was married to a woman who apparently once belonged to the Communist Party. It was guilt by association and my father was mad because he never knew who his accusers were. This was how things were then. What’s changed 76 years later ?
Jim was fired, his family were deported and moved to Canada. As a young boy ,we often visited Jim and his family, and I became friends with his oldest son. Did that make me a communist too? The McCarthy hearings were anti-semitic attacks as many of the individuals rounded up, fired,harassed or blacklisted were Jewish. The movie “ The Way We Were” with Streisand and Redford provided a glimpse into that time .
Today ,we have more of the same discrimination with a round up of immigrants based on the color of their skin. Ice, military, Congress, Supreme Court, media and social media support the president and his Chief of Staff Miller in these actions despite their illegality, brutality and murder. Irrationality and sadism are connected with their actions. For example, an article titled How Hegseth Is Waging A War Against Diversity- Blocking of a Promotion for a Black Admiral was found in the June 21, 2026 edition of the New York Times.
Yes,many are in opposition and are supported by the lower court findings. However, the Supreme Court has overturned or stayed a number of these lower court actions.
Freud ,Horney, Jung ,Fromm ,Murray and others have written and have described man's dark side. Homo sapiens history
provides us with the repetition of man's discriminatory behavior. Unfortunately, the administration's policies are favored by too many. Also, Musk is proposing to spend over $100 million in the upcoming elections . Will Trump, the fraud, and his allies be able to steal the upcoming November elections ? Their goal is power and to continue their discrimination . They are vengeful, sadistic, narcissistic,and sociopathic neurotics
In essence, religious prophets talked about a man loving man . However, psychology describes man’s character and points out that some do have the necessary ego supplies to accomplish and relate to others lovingly, while others are simply incapable because their ego and character dynamics are equated with narcissism, hate, control , power and discrimination. Is this the government of the people,by the people and for the people…..? Or is it , of, by and for some only ? Elections matter.Do not let this greedy tribe prevail .
PS
Trump favorably interacts with Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un. Trump must be a communist.
Thom Darden and I have been invited by the University of Michigan Alumni to host a webinar regarding Bo's Warriors. The event is scheduled for August 16, a Sunday, at 1 PM Pacific coast time. To register for the event .
https://umalumni.my.site.com/s/lt-event?id=a1QUS00000C3rAX2AZ
