There is an underlying ignorance and ugliness that exists in our country—which is being perpetuated, generation after generation. As we know, not long ago (160 years) we were forced to fight a war with our own countrymen. Different values. Willing to start a war to uphold those values. The South did not want to be a part of this “United States of America”. They fought to secede from “the Union”. Unity was not the goal for the many dissenters in this country. Reconstruction, reunification never really happened. After the South lost the war, they defied the new constitutional laws—granting freedom and basic civil liberties to freed black slaves—and they lived by their own set of rules. Imagine having to live amongst those who just fought a war to keep you enslaved. In protest to the civil war amendments, the confederate sympathizers retaliated with Black Codes, the KKK, riots, and lynchings—all of which were enabled by a complicit government. With Lincoln out of the picture, the “South” could maintain representation in our government. And they still do, to this day. Blacks and minorities have been intentionally kept down and discriminated against. They have been victimized by law enforcement and killed disproportionately. This attitude is still rampant in our country and Trump has very easily exploited it. He has given voice to this venom. He knows very well how to manipulate the hate in people’s hearts for his own agenda. He is using the same tactics as Joseph Goebbel: “Make the lie big, keep repeating it, and eventually the people will come to believe it. The truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” He would have stirred up another civil unrest. And he still may. We (as a nation) have never made reparations for the crimes against humanity committed on this soil. We have enabled the hate and the injustices. We have allowed legislation and law enforcement to be enacted by our oppressors. This has made way for a “Trump” to rise to power. It is imperative for us to change the underlying conditions, which are allowing these circumstances to occur; otherwise, real change will never be known.