Donald Trump‘s place behind the podium has wrought violence and chaos, which is only growing worse by the day. Trump feeds upon this energy, so his articulated stances have grown more extreme as his presidential campaign progresses. Perhaps zombie Jeb Bush knocked him down a peg and may cause a brief fade, but we can rely upon a few certainties. A segment of the U.S. population does embrace Trump, but another segment is downright embarrassed. Trump calls himself the “least racist person” while making anti-Hispanic statements and proposing anti-Muslim policies. He also described a Black Lives Matter protester as “disgusting.”
In response to the increasing madness, stand-up comic and Totally Biased host W. Kamau Bell would like white people to realize the gravity of the Trump situation. Bell posted a strongly worded message on Facebook:
“Donald Trump isn’t a Republican issue or a rich people issue or a human issue. Donald Trump is a white people issue. Whenever Ben Carson says batsh*t crazy nonsense, Black people rise up, and let him know that he needs to STFU. Whenever Raven-Symone pops off, we put her cap back on. We even handled Rachel Dolezal for you. Yes, we also make jokes and come up with clever memes and hashtags, but at the core of all that is that we are letting these people know that they are embarrassing us as Black people.”
Bell called on white people to rise up and put an end to the era of Trump:
“It is time, white people, for you to finally step up and recognize that you also (even more so) have a responsibility to your race. It is up to you to silence Donald Trump. Don’t just insult him and make fun of him. You have to connect it to your race, Recognize that he is embarrassing you as a white person. Simple snark won’t win here. You have to feel it. You have to use words like ‘as a white person’ and ‘he is an embarrassment to my race.’ Stop acting like Trump isn’t the pinnacle and the result of America’s history and tradition of white supremacy. And again, I don’t care if you had no plans to vote for Trump or anybody, if you are white, he is your problem above all else. Simply put, white people, come get your boy.”
In response, the #WhitesAgainstTrump hashtag was born. The hashtag’s trending status has been mixed, but Twitter has outdone itself. There are GIFs a plenty, which include tears from Beyonce and Oprah, applause from Drake, and a steamy shoutout from Jeb.
The fact that #WhitesAgainstTrump is trending 👏🏾 pic.twitter.com/AQCSBZhqiX
— EarthJelly. (@rhaylareine) December 16, 2015
https://twitter.com/FRESHistheWORLD/status/677138179519070208
https://twitter.com/RMatthewPatton/status/677119676883726337
I know I'm late but #WhitesAgainstTrump pic.twitter.com/woX8zUKopF
— Not Who I Used To Be (@rsalaam) December 16, 2015
https://twitter.com/mkatherinereed/status/676975117566615553
https://twitter.com/dulsetsabr/status/676971699418591232
https://twitter.com/LRamyk/status/677130030154149889
Many of the responses were filled with begrudging acceptance (why did it take a candidate like Trump to embarrass folks into embracing a hashtag?). The acceptance does seem to be real even if it arrives with a little shade.
sneaking into the #WhitesAgainstTrump party like pic.twitter.com/0FFe57AnSi
— michael (they/he) (@princedior) December 16, 2015
#WhitesAgainstTrump ok but why do whites need to validate what POC have been saying for months…
— gianna (@glow_for_it) December 16, 2015
https://twitter.com/Payitforward87/status/677125319447453696
https://twitter.com/DarthVenn/status/676998453382246403
#WhitesAgainstTrump is good. But he's just the worst of it. There are more "moderate" ppl doing serious damage, too #NotJustTrump
— Sam White (@samwhiteout) December 16, 2015
#WhitesAgainstTrump is great, but we do realize most of these GOP candidates have said explicit and subtly racist things, right?
— Jessica Galliart (@JessicaGalliart) December 16, 2015
Some stand altogether against this hashtag with well-reasoned (for 140 characters) logic.
If you don't see the white privilege in #WhitesAgainstTrump, you're a part of the problem.
— 🇯🇲 Co-operative Textile Mill ☭ (@SiggonKristov) December 16, 2015
White privilege is being able to say #WhitesAgainstTrump w/o having your life threatened. Imagine a the reaction to #MuslimsAgainstTrump.
— 🇯🇲 Co-operative Textile Mill ☭ (@SiggonKristov) December 16, 2015
https://twitter.com/ztsamudzi/status/677146906997293057
(Via W. Kamau Bell)