Years ago, I attended a mostly white megachurch in Detroit. I brought the racism I found there to a leader privately. The answer I got was, “You’re too sensitive.”

Time and time again, I would encounter this attitude in churches and even at work.

I’m reminded of these responses when fellow GOP candidate JD Vance commented on Tony Hinchcliffe’s abusive language at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally. The now infamous routine featured attacks on Puerto Rico as a “floating island of trash.”

GOP candidate JD Vance said:

“…I think we need to stop being so offended by every little thing in the United States of America. It’s just that I’ve been through so much.”

“Can we all take a pill and have a joke every now and then?”

Chill. How condescending.

I think all the speakers were white, mostly men, speaking to a predominantly white audience.

Some Republicans, like Marco Rubio, have defended Puerto Ricans, but candidate Trump has made no defense. Perhaps Trump was just connecting with his father, Fred Trump, who attended a 1939 Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden. Both were sued for refusing to rent to blacks. As the Proud Boys claim, maybe he wanted to “Make America Hate Again.”

Let’s not forget: the many insults at the MSG rally weren’t limited to America’s Puerto Rico.

Hinchcliffe said black people would “carve watermelons” on Halloween and made a vulgar joke about Latinos and sex. Another speaker referred to Vice President Kamala Harris’ advisers as her “pimps.” A Christian, she was called the “antichrist.” Grant Cardone “encouraged Trump’s supporters to not only ensure the former president’s victory, but to ‘slaughter this other people.’

the sacrifice. “Other.”

Pro-life?

Is this who we are? Is this the racist, misogynistic divisive rhetoric we want to support, giving way to a Project 2025 agenda that promotes a fake “Christian” nationalism? Are only white American men real Americans?

Maybe you’re not buying the Biden/Harris economy, despite it being the “envy of the world,” according to Nobel Prize-winning economists. You may think Harris is “stupid” and “lazy” despite his many accomplishments. Maybe your problem is transsexual surgery for prisoners – a continued policy from Trump.

But shame on you if you think nursing hate is going to end well for any of us. The hatred will bleed far beyond the brown and black minorities, for whomever Trump calls the “enemies within.”

Sunny Hostin, who is of Puerto Rican descent, said of the rally, “I’m offended, not only for my community, but for all communities…I think we need to call that rally what it was: it was a white nationalist rally with a white. nationalist platform.”

Methodist Bishop Lanette Plambeck wrote to Christians:

“We are called to be both prayerful and active in our civic duties, discerning how candidates reflect the values ​​of the Spirit and the broader call for justice in our world. By doing this, we support not just one person or party, but those who flourish. of all people, aligning our civic engagement with the Gospel call to love God and neighbor:

Christian or not, let us remember character, decency and respect, or all the blood shed against hatred, during the Civil War and World War II, will be shed in vain; just a temporary truce.

Interested in a wide range of issues, including social and faith issues, Joan Brickner serves as a regular contributor to the Forum’s opinion page. She is a retired English instructor who has taught in Michigan and Minnesota.