Trump History X

Originally published before the election on Cambridge's 'Varsity' website: http://www.varsity.co.uk/culture/11105

“We need to open our eyes. There are over two million illegal immigrants bedding down in this state tonight! This state spent three billion dollars last year, on services for those people who have no right to be here in the first place. Three billion dollars! 400 million dollars just to lock up a bunch of illegal immigrant criminals… Our border policy’s a joke! So, is anybody surprised that south of the border, they’re laughing at us? Laughing at our laws?”

Donald Trump made this speech a few weeks ago at one of his infamous rallies, where black people are spat on and Mexicans are considered the scum of the earth. To rapturous applause from his supporters, Trump went on to talk about “decent, hard-working Americans falling through the cracks” because of “a bunch of people who aren’t even citizens of this country!” Typical Trump, right?

Well, I’m afraid I have a confession to make: this speech wasn’t actually made by Trump. These are the words of Derek Vinyard, the neo-Nazi protagonist of Tony Kaye’s cinematic masterpiece, American History X. The film tells the story of Derek Vinyard’s gradual realisation that the bigoted beliefs he has held for most of his adult life are mistaken. He then tries to prevent his little brother Danny from following in his footsteps and becoming embroiled in the race-related gang-violence that was rife in parts of the US in the 1990s.

The film’s 18th Anniversary falls on the 30th October, and yet it couldn’t be more relevant to our current political climate. We only have to look at Trump’s rabble-rousing rhetoric to see how closely related his sentiments are to the type of white supremacist vitriol that Vinyard preaches during the film. 

Trump has branded all Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists; he called for a ban on Muslim immigration to the USA; he refused to rule out special forms of identification for Muslims living in the States; he wavered in his condemnation of a retired KKK leader; he claimed the Chinese made up global warming; he argued that Obama wasn’t a US citizen; the list goes on. And on. And on.

I know what you’re thinking: we’ve heard it all already. Just another article about what a terrible man Trump is and how we should all be very scared. But that Donald Trump and Derek Vinyard espouse almost exactly the same attitudes calls for some more reflection. Before his transformative time in prison, Vinyard believes that white people are intrinsically superior to every other race. He thinks black people are inherently drawn to crime because of the colour of their skin. He has a swastika tattoo and he hates Jewish people.

I’m not trying to say that Trump is sworn to Hitler and that he believes in a supreme Aryan race. He also doesn’t go around trashing Mexican supermarkets and curb-stomping African Americans, as Vinyard does in the film. But the ethnocentric and isolationist parallels, and similar style of rhetoric, between Trump and an imagined character in the realm of American political fiction is cause for concern. It highlights how Trump plays on the same fears and prejudices as neo-Nazi Mein Kampf readers. Many of his supporters are just Vinyards reincarnate, sucking up the predictable patriotic platitudes that spew forth from Trump’s gob as if they’re the words of God. 

It’s unlikely that Trump will win the election, and even if he did he’d struggle to get much through Congress. But that’s not the point. Indeed, the parallels between the pair’s rhetoric at the beginning of this article show how most of the damage has already been done. Trump’s campaign has already polluted the political landscape of the States and other countries. Over the last few months, he has succeeded in proliferating his xenophobic and bigoted discourse, espoused with all of the same demagogic rhetorical questions and casual slurs as his fictional counterpart. 

Vinyard-esque remarks are now a part of the mainstream. There no longer seems to be a clear divide between white supremacists and the Republican party – their beliefs may not be the same but, as American History X shows, they share a dialogue of hatred and intolerance. Racial slurs and sexist insults now seem acceptable in the political arena, and if Trump does somehow win on the 8th, they may even become the norm.

Worryingly, it’s not just trump. The Kippers spread the same sort of racial hatred. Andre Lampitt, the star of UKIP’s European Election TV campaign, once said that “most Nigerians are generally bad people”. Joseph Quirk, a former UKIP candidate, said he reckons dogs are “more intelligent, better company and certainly better behaved than Muslims”. This is the party that 3.9 million people voted for in 2015.

And so it seems the important message of American History X, that “hate is baggage” and that “life’s too short to be pissed off all the time”, has been forgotten by many. The politics of division are thriving across the world, and we will all suffer for it.

The Ending

Waiting for occasion,
Love is patience rest,
It knows all are it's friends,
it knows that all are blessed,

And you sweet one are one of them,
though living in a mist,
a mist of problems made of fears,
that you would miss the bliss.

"So give it up, the dream of fears,"
I speak myself to me,
and come to Love awaiting you,
like Buddha under the tree.

Awakening is just like that,
one gives up all their fears,
and lives from joy inside themselves,
"the now" beyond their tears.

Walk gently in this world of pain,
and bless each one you see,
for we are in Loves sure embrace,
and all one company,

Those who seem lost,
will soon be found,
the captives are set free,
Our mind no longer captive to
the small idea of "me"

"What will become of me" we ask,
"what will the ending be?"
We melt into the Love we are,
In Joy, we are set free.

Love waits only for us, like a parent who waits for the child to calm down from their tantrum.
ACIM tells us that "there is one problem, and one solution." The problem is that we think we are separate. The solution is that we are not. Check it out.: A Course In Miracles.

Further Reading

T-29 IX.7-10, pg 623 ACIM Second Edition

Copyright 2008, Donald Chandonnet

Tin Man

"Let's look for miracles today,
and see what then arrives;
for what we look for seems to come
but mind can us surprise;"
The Tin Man said this thing to me
one morning in a field,
of grass outside of OZ where we
were hidden, yes concealed;

concealed from what, I'm not too sure,
but fear was all around,
So Lion roared announcing that:
he'd win and stand his ground;

I thought I should help Lion,
prepare for but the worst,
then Tin Man said that miracles
could quench out even thirst;

And if a little miracle,
could come to change the day,
to some small thing, it would be HUGE,
an ant to us must say;

"Oh Dear" I said, as I did see
a snake in front of me
uncurl, unwind, and start to move,
"oh good", away from me;

"a miracle" said Tin Man
for this is what he sought,
but Lion said "it ran from him"
for "roar" is what he taught;

and then the sky got dark as night,
and rain began to pour,
"Oh Dear" I said, my hair got wet,
"Tin Man might walk no more";

So Lion covered up his legs,
and I covered his head,
but arms and body, we could not,
we both were brought to dread;

We thought he'd never walk again,
that rust would take him to,
the grave-yard of all rusty things,
from us, this made us stew;

but Tin Man whispered in my ear,
as rain began to stop,
"In miracles the small is great,
let love within you talk";

I said "it was all the fault
of Scare Crow who had run,
away into the dark of night,
when the Witch appeared for fun";

"And if he would have stayed with us,
he surely could protect,
Tin Man, from this element,
absorb from him this wet";

Tin Man then whispered in my ear
as I lay on his head,
"The rain has stopped, the sky is blue,
just look up overhead;

"Oh Dear" said I, as I looked up,
for I saw not, you see,
my face turned towards a puddle,
seeing but calamity;

Tin Man smiled and said gently,
"a miracle has come
to bless our day with joy and light"
this song the birds did hum;

The meadow came to life again,
a breeze began to blow,
I thought but for an instant
that Tin Man was great to know;

And then a magic bubble,
like softness, soapy light,
came drifting down before us,
into our very sight;

So large it was, this bubble,
it stood ten feet by ten
and inside was the figure
the Witch from the East End;

The bubble moved and quivered,
as bubbles often do,
not round, not square, not formless,
but silent, clear, and new;

and then a bee buzzed briskly,
into the bubble there,
not watching where he flew that day,
the bubble burst, in air;

The Witch then lost her masking,
to earth she fell -no chair,
she landed square upon her but,
her feet up in mid air;

She fixed her hair, which got messed up,
her cloak, she wrapped around,
and then began to stare at me,
but I could not turn round;

And where to run , I did not know,
maybe to OZ to go
for everything resolves in OZ
the end is there, I know;

"Oh Dear" I said, I could not move,
fear paralyzed me so,
then Lion moved in front of me,
but Tin Man moved so slow;

He whispered to me "Miracles
can happen if you wish,
Don't think the world's against you
deep inside this is YOUR wish;"

"Oh Dear" said I rethinking,
when bubbles often break,
I fixed my hair, mascara,
from this dream I did awake;

I brushed my teeth that morning
and wondered what this meant,
if dreams had hidden meaning,
then to OZ was my ascent;

Yet OZ is but a symbol,
removed two times from me,
and I am driven by the dream
of loss, calamity;

Running from fear into the dark
is what I seem to do,
Like Scare Crow, who we sought to blame,
for "our loss", thought "true"

"Imagined loss" was all it was,
not real, --we could not see,
imagining the future,
we missed the moment, that We Be;

Is OZ a place or moment?
Are dreams reality?
Your fears are like the Scare Crow,
or the Witch East side would be,

Just listen to your Tin Man,
he whispers in your heart;
Or travel on to OZ in dreams
it's fun, but not too smart.

Copyright 2008, Donald Chandonnet