We need Donald Trump. We really do.
Full disclosure, I didn’t want Donald Trump to be the President of the United States. I still don’t. But in hindsight, we need him.
If Hillary Clinton got elected, we would have returned to our lives, jobs, suburbs with the silent confidence that everything was good. Society was improving and being more inclusive, race relations were getting better, people were becoming more tolerant, and we finally had the first woman President in the United States. That coming off the United State’s first African-American President had to say something about tolerance and inclusiveness in the United States?
Turns out, maybe the recent Human Rights advances didn’t defeat the enemy of intolerance, but just drove it underground.
Problem is we just had too many young black men losing their lives in almost every large city in the United States. Just like how almost all penitentiaries in Canada have far to many First Nations people. As ironic as it is, Donald Trump will do more to address Black Live Matter than Hillary Clinton ever could. Not because of anything he is going to do, but because we are now more alert and looking for any indications of illegal police actions under Donald Trump. With Hillary Clinton we may have given some benefit of the doubt that will not be given to Donald Trump.
In Canada, Gord Downie undertook a project recently called ‘Secret Path’ to shine a light into the shameful part of Canadian history and what we did to First Nations families and children. As Gord Downie so eloquently put it – “Canada is not the country I thought it was”. Like the citizens of the United States, most Canadians were oblivious to the intolerance and racism that still existed and was driven underground.
Shine a light
Perhaps we need Donald Trump and others like Gord Downie that shine a light on who we still are. Only by shining a light on these uncomfortable areas can we truly address them and get better. Things wont be better in the short-term. We are going to hear things about ourselves and our fellow citizens that we can’t believe. We can’t believe that people still think like this in this day and age. But enough is enough – it time to bring it out into the light instead of hiding it underground and fooling ourselves.
To Chanie Wenjack, I’m sorry. Sorry you had to suffer and then die alone on that path.
I’m also amazed that the article that reported this tragedy in a national magazine in 1967 was ignored in Canada. We are truly not the country I had thought. Please read the story and share – lonely death of Chanie Wenjack
Summary
Gord Downie is intentionally shining a light to help us be better, Donald Trump is doing it unintentionally. Regardless of the intention, both provide an opportunity to make ourselves better.
Agile PMO 
I hope you’re right – I expect you are wrong.
Everyone other than whites voted for Clinton by large margins. I think there’s a reason for that.
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