Staff Editorial: Local Trump rally sparks division
Community must unite in response to xenophobia, fear-mongering
Protesters rally against President Trump outside the Target Center Oct. 10. Minnesotans chanted and held up signs throughout Trump’s campaign.
October 17, 2019
The night of the Trump rally Oct. 10, gloomy skies and flurries of rain complemented the unfolding chaos below as the president spewed hate before a large audience of his supporters inside the Target Center, sheltered from thousands more protesting outside.
Although Trump stuck to the basics for much of the rally — focusing on the booming economy, corrupt media and the ongoing impeachment inquiry — he made time to criticize Minneapolis’s own Representative Ilhan Omar as well the thousands of Somali families that call Minnesota home, according to The New York Times.
According to the Star Tribune, boos erupted throughout the stadium at merely the mention of the Somali immigrants, revealing the audience’s xenophobic inclinations. Trump went on to question Omar’s voters, asking “how do you have such a person representing you in Minnesota.”
In response to this hate, the Echo Editorial Board believes we must unite as a community under the ideals of compassion and progress. Rather than looking down on any given community, we must sympathize with all individuals.
First and foremost, it is essential that we support those under threat by Trump’s fear-mongering, but we must also reach out to those who support the president. Liberal students often are inclined to pass off these individuals as “deplorables,” as beyond redemption, but if our community is to move past the president’s hate, everyone must be included. Discourse can be difficult and emotions will run strong, but it is absolutely necessary.
The Board implores students, as well as the greater Park community, to seek conversation over conflict and resist the urge to play into the so-called cancel culture of discrediting those with whom we disagree.
Park finds its strength in its diversity rather than in division. To improve our city further, The Editorial Board believes we must lean in to our differences, listen to our neighbors and try to further our understanding of each other as one united community.