Luke’s is a small café in the fictional city of Stars Hollow Connecticut from the justifiably popular TV show Gilmore Girls. Luke is tall and handsome. He wears plaid flannel shirts and a baseball cap, usually turned backwards. Luke is guided in life by unfailing common sense and makes the best cheeseburger in town. With Luke what you see is what you get, a man of simple needs who lives in a room above his business, just wants to avoid controversy and demands a high level of decorum from his customers. Talk on your cell phone in Luke’s and you have earned yourself a severe scolding from Luke himself.
Like thousands of such small town establishments all over this country, Luke’s is a place where local residents gather on a regular basis to identify and solve the problems of the world over a bottomless cup of coffee. These kinds of places can and do become important hubs of social interaction; places where regular folks can express their opinions and together form a shared vision of the kind of world they long for.
For Christmas this year I received a beautiful maroon sweatshirt emblazoned with the logo of Luke’s Diner. My daughter’s girlfriend gave it to me. It is the kind of gift that you never expect but are so excited to receive. A thing you would never acquire for yourself but tells the world in no uncertain terms exactly who you are. I think I am comfortable enough in my manliness to freely admit here that I am a big fan of Gilmore Girls. In fact in 2016, not many things caused me so much anticipation as the Gilmore Girls reunion show. My affections and binge watching of the Gilmore Girls will be perceived as a weakness and will be exploited in the duck blind. But I give as good as I get.
But now the holidays are over and so we must turn our attention once again to matters of import. I can think of nothing more important than trying to figure out the man that in a week will have been our President of a full year. He’s a puzzler for sure.
Last week in the duck blind I got this alert from 45:
“…Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star…to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius….and a very stable genius at that!”
This immediately brought to mind the famous line from Hamlet, when Gertrude says to Hamlet: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” This line has long been referred to when someone either denies or affirms a position so strongly that they inadvertently plant the seeds of doubt and insincerity in the ear of their listener. If you feel the need to tell the world that you’re a genius, it’s a good bet you are in fact not. Did Einstein ever feel the need to publicly declare his genius? I don’t think so; he just let his work speak for itself. And 45’s work speaks for itself!
“Why do we want all these people from ‘shithole countries’ coming here?”
Let’s put these remarks into some context here. You have heard all this before.
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. … They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. June 2015″
“Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on,” Dec. 2015
“Well, I do think there’s blame — yes, I think there’s blame on both sides. You look at — you look at both sides. I think there’s blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it, and you don’t have any doubt about it either. … But you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.” August 2017
“You were here long before any of us were here — although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas. But you know what? I like you. Because you are special,” November 2017
“I have a great relationship with the blacks, I’ve always had a great relationship with the blacks.” April 2011
“I love the Muslims. I think they’re great people,”
“I’ll take jobs back from China, I’ll take jobs back from Japan, The Hispanics are going to get those jobs, and they’re going to love Trump.”
We can’t know what is in a man’s heart, but we can hear his words and see his deeds and these will allow us a glimpse of his character. While the quotes about Mexicans, Muslims and Nazi lowlifes are deeply troubling for their intolerance; it is the remaining quotes that are I think particularly enlightening as a revelation into this man’s character.
When he says he has a great relationship with the blacks, that he loves Muslims and that Hispanics are going to love him, he is putting on full display one of the most obvious tells of bigotry and racism. He is assigning characteristics to all members of a particular group, race or religion. It is no different than saying all blacks like watermelon.
It is classic stereotyping and in no way displays the thinking of a genius. What it does display is the thinking of a racist and unfortunately it is time to recognize that the President of the United States of America is a racist. It is time to say it loud and clear, there can longer be any doubt and those of us that reject that kind of thinking and world view must now shout it form the rooftops. When he says make America great again, what he means is make America white again. This makes me sad!
There were not many people of color in Stars Hollow or in Luke’s but those good people were not racist either. I believe the good people that visit the multitude of Luke’s in America are not racist and did not intend to elect a racist as President. But our worldview is largely shaped around those tables and over those bottomless cups of coffee. It is in these places that we share our thoughts with people that are just like us, that agree with us, that validate our beliefs and through no fault of our own, we are just not personally exposed to, or in the company of, folks that have a very different American experience than we do.
Are we not obligated as citizens to endeavor to seek out and contemplate the points of view that may make us uncomfortable, to hear the stories of the lives that are vastly different from our own, to walk a mile in the other fellow’s shoes before we condemn the character of fellow Americans? I hope our President will open his heart and understand the hurt that these recent comments engender. But until then, I think it is time to take off the gloves.
We are only one year in and must endure this odious man for three more years, so it becomes critical for each of us to demand our elected officials denounce the racist ravings of our President. We cannot allow this to become acceptable by permitting politicians to say nothing, to have selective memories or being complicit by trying to explain what this man really means when he spews vitriol. Contact your elected representatives (bet your ass I did) and demand that they speak up for the values of diversity and inclusion that are founding principles that America has endeavored ever to attain. Our failures of the past are no reason to abandon our high ideals now. A racist President cannot be acceptable in the 21st century.
See you at Luke’s
Great post. Can’t agree with you more.