OPINION:
In the wake of Donald Trump’s election, the mood on the losing side has ranged from somber mourning to hysterics, plus some furious vows to avenge Hillary Clinton’s loss.
At American University, protesters burned American flags near the student center. Cornell University actually held a “cry-in.”
“Therapy dogs” have been making the rounds in some New York public schools and in Democratic offices on Capitol Hill. Some kids identified as Trump supporters have been punched out by mobs, and cars with Trump stickers have been vandalized.
Aggrieved high school and college students continue to stage walkouts and protests all over the country, which is not all that surprising, given what’s being taught in their classrooms.
A “Lesson Plan on the November 2016 Election” was posted by the United Educators of San Francisco and featured on the website of the 3.2-million member National Education Association (NEA).
Written by Mission High School Peer Resources Teacher Fakrah Shah during election night, the plan declares that “a racist and sexist man has become the president of our country by pandering to a huge racist and sexist base.”
To deal with this horrific development, Ms. Shah suggests “magnified” lessons that are “Anti-Racist, Anti-Sexist/Anti-Islamophobic/Anti-Homophobic, etc.” in order that students “gain a working knowledge of [the] context of American racial violence, sexism, etc.”
Ms. Shah acknowledges that students airing their hurt feelings “might curse and swear, but you would too if you have suffered under the constructs of white supremacy or experienced sexism, or any isms or lack of privilege.”
Recommended resources for the 57,000 district students include a clip from the documentary “Michael Moore in Trumpland;” the book “White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide,” by Carol Anderson; Malcolm X’s 1964 speech entitled “By Any Means Necessary,” and “The Color Line” by Marxist sociologist W.E.B. Dubois.
That should promote healing and harmony.
I know what you’re thinking. It’s San Francisco. What do you expect? But what starts in California ends up in Peoria. And the raucous protests by high schoolers all over the country show that progressive educators have succeeded in turning many kids into sloganeering activists.
In Hollywood, fabulously wealthy stars are flinging themselves onto therapists’ couches and drowning their sorrows in bottles of Dom Perignon left over from what were supposed to be Hillary celebration parties.
Five days after the election, the glitterati vied for what you might call the Most Distraught Performance Award during a Bill of Rights Awards Dinner hosted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California. The event lauded producer Norman Lear for his lifetime achievements in using television to push progressive themes.
“I feel like I’ve been hit by a train,” said Jane Fonda, who presented Mr. Lear with the award, according to Deadline Hollywood. “I’ve been bumping into things. But I’m doing better because now I’m organizing, planning, strategizing.”
Mr. Lear, whose most famous creation is “All in the Family’s” bigoted patriarch Archie Bunker, described President-elect Trump as “the middle finger of the American right hand.”
To their credit, both Mr. Lear and Ms. Fonda urged progressives not to indulge in hate. “Don’t demonize the people who voted for Trump,” Ms. Fonda said. “Both parties betrayed them — I mean, even Beverly Hills went for Trump. I have a nonprofit and some of my board members voted for Trump. What we need to do is listen. Try to understand why they voted against their best interests.”
The ACLU speaker, on the other hand, vowed to give no quarter.
“If the new president insists on carrying out his un-American campaign promises, the ACLU will fight!” declared Hector Villagra, executive director of the Southern California chapter. “If he seeks to restrict a woman’s right to abortion and jail her and her doctor, the ACLU will fight! . If he seeks to reauthorize torture, restrict freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and roll back the gains made by LGBT people, the ACLU will fight!” He stopped just short of accusing Mr. Trump of plotting to steal the Cubs’ World Series trophy and lock it up in Trump Tower.
Hip-hop music mogul Russell Simmons denounced Mr. Trump’s transition team as being packed with climate change deniers who want to mandate that every American drive an exhaust-belching 18-wheeler, beat up baby seals and burn tires for fun.
“We are at a moment now that’s darker and darker, scarier and scarier,” Mr. Simmons said. “The resistance has got to be really strong. I have friends who wake up crying.”
Aside from the paranoia, a sobering report surfaced that billionaire George Soros, who spent tens of millions of dollars promoting mass immigration, weak election laws and Hillary’s candidacy, met on Nov. 13 in Washington with other well-heeled progressives to plot “full-on trench warfare against Trump from Day One,” according to Politico.com.
Given the Soros group’s collective resources, the Trump team had better watch their backs — not that they don’t already know that from dealing with the media.
• Robert Knight is a senior fellow for the American Civil Rights Union.
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