I had lunch yesterday with some friends, several of whom are Republican, and nobody got Donald Trump’s appeal. But it’s very important to me to understand the other side. To listen to the views of Trump supporters on issues and try to figure out if we have areas of common ground.
I grew up in Anderson, SC. Today’s video is from Vice online magazine and features a distance cousin of mine, CT Cromer. He is a Trump supporter because he likes that Trump is authentic and that Trump wants to tackle the issue of illegal immigration.In the video, CT Cromer talks about how he wants Donald Trump to build the wall to keep out immigrants, and he doesn’t mind if Donald deports all of them that are in this country now, but he has told Trump, “Don’t take my 5!” CT has five Mexican employees that he doesn’t think would pass the current e-verify laws. They were hired before the law so they have been grandfathered in.
It’s interesting to me to watch this video because I see the same principles applied to immigrants that used to be applied to blacks. Growing up in the South in the 1970s, I was taught to be prejudiced: To not like black people. But this dislike was only for black people in general. With respect to black people we actually knew, we liked them. One of my best friends in high school was black, and she and I would go to lunch together off campus. Someone say me and told my mother that I was having lunch with a black girl. My Momma told the person that it was ok because it was “Janine” (not her real name). In the video, CT has this view. Although he wants to stop immigration, he says that we can’t live without the ones that are already here. The ones we know.
One interesting point that CT makes in the video relates to the undocumented workers that are already here. He talks about how scary it must be for those with jobs to know that their employers could fire them at any time and they might not be able to get other employment. I’d never thought about this. How scary must it be for the 10 million undocumented persons in this country to know that they might be fired or deported at any time. Why would we do this to our friends and neighbors?
What are your views on illegal immigration and building a wall? What about the people that are already here? Please follow me on Facebook and share your views.