Based on the exasperated look on everyone’s souls, I don’t have to remind any breathing person in America that Donald Trump and his myriad of daily displays of madness, corruption, and bigotry can be overwhelming, and as a result, certain stories that ought to be major news somehow get lost in the shuffle.
The most recent glaring example of this is a report from the Wall Street Journal that reveals that the Trump administration is planning to add seven countries to its travel ban list: Belarus, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania.
Trump confirmed in an interview with the Journal that he was considering adding countries to the travel ban but declined to state which ones. Politico has since noted we can expect an announcement at any moment. They also added that the list of countries was not final and could change, but it is difficult to not notice the obvious pattern.
Towards the end of June 2018, the Supreme Court upheld Trump’s travel ban that targeted Muslim countries. Six months prior, it was reported that Trump used the descriptor “shithole countries” to describe Haiti and several African nations. Now, at the beginning of 2020, and with full legal cover, he wants to expand the travel ban based on other streams of prejudice.
As some have noted, Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and has its largest economy. Additionally, Nigeria serves as a partner in U.S. anti-terrorism partner efforts. And as a native Houstonian, I know this, and Nigeria has a huge population in America.
I understandably can’t quote “The Story of O.J.” lyric that I would like to insert right here, so I’ll just say regardless of how prosperous Nigeria is, all Minute Maid Mao sees is a country populated by a bunch of “The Blacks.” His utter contempt for Black people means he’ll always go to his immediate thoughts about us, which are best surmised as thinking of us as less than and beneath him in spite of him being such a waste of the gift of life. So, while senior Trump administration officials say the prospected expanded ban list is rooted in those select countries failing “to comply with security requirements, including biometrics, information-sharing and counter-terrorism measures, faced the risk of limitations on U.S. immigration,” we know all know this is merely the guy who didn’t want to rent to Black people now making it harder for this country to add more Black people to its population.
Meanwhile, remember Stephen Miller, the man who largely helms Trump’s bigoted immigration policy, being revealed last fall to openly sympathize with white nationalism as evident by countless emails? Among those emails, Miller wrote to Breitbart about #DACA in terms of replacing “existing demographics,” mirroring language employed by hate groups. He is a ghoul that can’t write a good political speech worth a damn, but he remains a senior Trump official who heavily influences the administration’s immigration policies. There is literally no mention of this in any of the already paltry amount of coverage on the plan to expand the travel ban.
That is not unsurprising but not any less terrifying. If Donald Trump not only manages to get acquitted in his impeachment trial by no other virtue than stoking fear in the hearts of the craven senators in his party, but also gets reelected, who is to say we won’t keep expanding the travel ban? Why wouldn’t he just add Haiti or whatever other darker country comes to mind?
Trump literally thinks Black people no matter where they are – including in the United States – “live in hell.” By then, impeachment will have effectively been rendered moot, so we’d all be existing under a kakistocracy ran by an idiot with dueling strongman and monarch aspirations who also happens to have most of his policy positions driven by white nationalism. I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to ban the Blacks living here.
Not to sound like that elder Black who stresses the severity of voting in November to the point of annoyance, but this is very much a preview of much to come. Please don’t make me suffer four more years of this man. And I’d still actually like to try jollof rice in Nigeria as part of my future plans to try chicken wings from all over the world.
Please save me and us.