The following column is the opinion and analysis of the writer.
The numbers don’t lie, says the Anti-Defamation League, which has tracked hate crimes since 1970. Of the 50 murders committed by extremists in the United States in 2018, 49 came at the hands of right-wing extremists. White supremacists accounted for 39 of those murders.
While the Trump administration misappropriates funds for its border wall and expands the Muslim ban, its response to white hate crimes is to cut funding for Department of Homeland Security analysts who track racial violence and help law enforcement prevent attacks by white supremacists.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., recently reintroduced the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act to give the federal government more resources to fight domestic terror and require federal law enforcement agencies to regularly assess the threat it poses. Training and resources would help state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies crack down on hate crimes.
The Pima County Democratic Party (PCDP) recently adopted its first party platform, which outlines PCDP’s positions on the most important issues confronting America and Arizona. Racism is an underlying cultural fact that cuts across every issue from housing to education to health care. Our goal is to raise racism as a community problem and offer suggestions to deal with it.
The platform acknowledges Democrats’ responsibility for the state of race relations in America. Many Democrats had a false perception of a post-racial America after Barack Obama was elected and reelected. We thought we had reached the Promised Land. We were wrong.
PCDP is committed to eliminating racism in our ranks, our communities and our country. We must address damages to Native Americans and the descendants of people who were enslaved through reparations, policy reform and affirmative action. Barriers to participation in government by those who are underrepresented, including in our party infrastructure, must be removed.
Racial and cultural diversity make our borderland community rich and vibrant but add an element of sensitivity that must be recognized. Anglos are the latecomers in Southern Arizona. We must do a better job dealing with those questions than states with homogeneous populations.
Education is a big part of the solution. When people ask questions and learn how others think, they can make up their own minds.
Racism has infected and undermined our democracy throughout our nation’s history. Until we acknowledge this truth, we will continue to treat the symptoms rather than eliminate the disease. We cannot be satisfied with symbolic gestures, half-measures and half-truths. PCDP intends to serve as a model for how to meaningfully address this issue.
