By ELAINE WILSON-REDDY

Contributing columnist

On Wednesday, Aug. 8, a large contingent of ICE storm troopers raided a poultry processing plant in Mississippi. They arrested over 600 undocumented workers, which means hundreds of children are now without parents. I cannot begin to imagine the terror and trauma experienced by these innocents who are pawns in Trump’s war on brown-skinned people.

One of Trump’s propaganda pieces is that undocumented workers take jobs from “Americans.” There are now over 600 positions available in this plant. Do we think there is a line around the block of “Americans” clambering for these jobs there are “rightfully” theirs? Color me doubtful.

Why are so many “Americans” afraid of those who aren’t like them? What’s the deal with creating tiny little worlds of those who look, think, worship, eat, dress and talk like us? Is it fear? Willful ignorance? How can full-grown adults be so afraid?

Trump foments this fear by using words like invasion and infestation. He delights in disrespecting everyone who isn’t white, unless there is money to be made — he’s buddies with the Saudis, because they have money.

Did you know that a man of Iranian descent was deported recently? The gentleman had been in the U.S. since he was 6-months-old and came here as a refugee. His name was Jimmy Aldaoud,  and he was 41-years old. He was born in Greece and had never been to Iran. He’s dead now. He was deported to a country where he had never lived, and he died because he couldn’t get the insulin he needed to keep himself alive. He didn’t even speak the language. But he had brown skin, so off he went.

Trump loves to blame all origins of conflict on President Obama (brown skin). He has disrespected Georgia Representative John Lewis, Maryland Representative Elijah Cummings and his whole district (brown skin). He’s taken great glee in disparaging California Representative Maxine Waters and comes unglued when it comes to The Squad — Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley — all brown skinned and female, which is a double hit for Trump.

Trump’s racist rhetoric has emboldened those who believe as he does. The New York Times reported in 2018 that a study showed Incidents of assaults increased over 200% in the cities where Trump’s hate-filled rallies occur.

Ironically, Trump made an appearance in El Paso this week due to the mass murder committed there by one of his radicalized followers. He wasn’t welcomed because of his racist rhetoric. He had previously held a hate rally in El Paso where he led his crowd of haters in chants of “Murders. Murders. Murders” and of course the classic “Build that wall.”  Does he think that because there is a man-made border between Mexico and Texas there are no people of Mexican origin who live there? Did he not know that the shooter drove from Dallas to kill brown-skinned people? Or did he just not care?

I believe Trump is a racist. I believe Trump is trying to “whiten” our country. I believe Trump is proud to enable his fellow racists in making our country even more dangerous and divided.

And no one within his party is courageous enough to stand up to him, which makes them complicit.

“Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white. They are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” — C. Herbert Woolston

G. Elaine Wilson-Reddy, JD, is a professional educator, consultant and advocate. She lives in Danville.