UPDATED: The Responsibilities Of Citizenship

Given the times we live in, it is not enough to simply talk the progressive talk. Action is also required. The following two videos clearly convey what we can do when circumstances demand it.



And closer to home:



And Michael Moore makes a very similar point:

“White people, no matter how painful, have a responsibility to reject anybody who stands in front of a camera who spews racism,” Moore explained to host Reid. “Who spews sexism, misogyny. Who brags about being a sexual predator. I don’t care what your race is, but especially if you’re white. Because that means that you belong to the race that’s been in power forever.”

“This a country that was founded on genocide and built on the backs of slaves,” He continued. “So you have a special responsibility as a white person to always object to anybody who uses racism, who spews this hatred.”

“And do not call yourself a Christian if you are not willing, literally, to put your body in front of whoever is coming to hurt the other — the people who are not you.”

Strong videos and strong words, all necessary in the times we now find ourselves in.

For those who hope for some modification of Trump's lunacy, The Toronto Star has a sobering editorial on his appointment of hate monger Stephen Bannon to the position of chief White House strategist and senior counsel:

The move is a tacit endorsement of the race-baiting rhetoric that helped propel Trump to the White House and which has contributed to a surge in hate crimes and racially motivated harassment since election night.

The message Trump is sending has implications beyond the United States. The bigotry let loose by his campaign knows no borders. Several posters popped up in Toronto this week calling on white people “sick of being blamed for all the world’s problems” to join the alt-right movement. On Monday, an Ottawa rabbi woke up to find an anti-Semitic slur and a swastika spray-painted on her front door. In another part of the city, a school was defaced with the Nazi insignia and the letters “KKK.”

That’s the dangerous result of Trump’s campaign, which unleashed and legitimized racism, misogyny, homophobia and anti-Semitism south of the border and, to some still-unknown extent, here, too. By offering Bannon a prominent post in his administration the president-elect has sent a clear signal that hate will remain on the agenda. It’s the alt-right’s dream come true. For the rest of us, it’s a nightmare.

The chance of turning back this nightmare is one that falls to all of us, like it fell to bystander Valeska Griffiths who, along with others, intervened in the racist Toronto streetcar incident depicted above:



UPDATE: This should serve as a timely reminder of what is possible when we act with goodwill in our hearts.