A letter from America: Love Trumps Hate.

Hi guys, I am sharing something my friend Amali has written on Facebook with his permission. Amali is an old friend of mine - we were classmate in VJC and he has been working in America for many years now as a university lecturer. He wrote this beautiful piece on Facebook and got so many likes from it. I have asked him for permission to share it here and it speaks volumes about the situation. I have not edited it or even added any hyperlinks to it because I want you to hear it directly from his point of view. I have already expressed my opinion on Trump's win in my previous post and I will be doing a follow up very soon so I am handing this post over to my dear friend Amali. Terima kasih kawan saya.

Love trumps hate.

"Talking about the elections in class today was one of the most challenging pedagogical experiences I've ever had. For some context, I teach in a large public university located in a progressive and fairly cosmopolitan town. My classes attract a wide range of students from the U.S. and abroad, many of whom are feminists, Marxists, anarchists, satirists, and a whole host of other progressives. As my town is located in a red state, my classes also attract conservative students. I should note that they are from diverse backgrounds: some are from declining industrial cities like Gary, some are from small towns with strong evangelical influence, some are from upper middle-class Indianapolis families with a continuing tradition of supporting values like small government. I should also note that Indiana has a long and problematic racial history, exemplified by how the town of Kokomo was once the location of the KKK's headquarters. The KKK is so entrenched in the story of Indiana that their activities, such as lynching, as you might know, are memorialized in a controversial mural on campus depicting various facets of Indiana history. I do not know how or whether or to what extent this history influences or shapes the conservative students in my class, though one can of course speculate.

My aim in class was to ensure that everyone, regardless of who they voted for, could participate in the discussion, which meant that I tried to conceal my personal devastation at the outcome of the elections. Collectively, we analyzed Trump's victory. At one point, we discussed the sense of shock and surprise expressed by progressives and why they did not anticipate the outcome. A white male student, supporter of a third party candidate, said that progressives needed to step outside their echo chamber and talk to conservatives to understand their concerns. His remarks upset a young Muslim woman of South Asian descent. With a quivering voice, she said, "Fuck you. That is the whitest thing I've ever heard. You want me to talk to them? I grew up in Indiana and no one has bothered to talk to me. No one has asked me whether I'm okay or whether I've been a victim of Islamophobia."

She had articulated my own feelings, but as a teacher, I needed to frame the discussion so as to include everyone. I made two points: 1. I reminded them of a previous class where we discussed Max Weber's definition of the state as the entity that monopolizes violence. Whether they were Republicans or Democrats, I said they needed to redouble their efforts to check the violence of the state, especially if it is led by a president of Trump's demeanor. 2. I said that while not all of Trump's supporters are racists, misogynists, or xenophobes, they needed to understand their complicity in the mainstreaming of racism, misogyny, and xenophobia.

I then showed them photos of racist, misogynistic, and xenophobic acts that occurred in the past two days, such as the one where "Trump" was scribbled on the door of the Muslim prayer room in NYU or the one where a gay couple received the following note: "Can't wait until your 'marriage' is overturned by a real president, gay families = burn in hell." I reminded them that similar incidents were already happening in Bloomington. Yesterday, a group of white men yelled at a black woman, "We're going to deport you to Africa, n****r." Yesterday, a group of white men yelled at my female student walking hand-in-hand with her boyfriend, "Yeah! That's right! Grab her pussy!" Yesterday, a group of white men yelled at my female students, "Get your birth control and abortions while you can, ladies!"

Across the classroom, the students reacted with horror. I reminded my white students that the dread they feel can only be a fraction of that felt by LGBT+, Muslims and other POCs, the differently abled and other minorities. I don't know whether this was an opening with my conservative students, but I intend to continue reporting on these acts of hate so that they cannot look away, so that they must defend vulnerable populations. In this regard, they must stand with their progressive friends.

I told the young Muslim woman that today we grieve, but tomorrow we stay angry and we act. This is not over. Before she left class, her eyes still slightly moist from tears, I asked her if she needed a hug. "Yes," she said, and I pulled her in close and held her tight. At that moment, I realized that I too needed that hug."