Opinion | Everyone is not welcome here

The news story was a positive one – about a screen-printing business in Idaho that had been overwhelmed by orders for a new t-shirt design featuring the slogan “Everyone is welcome here.” 

A couple of weeks back, in response to the ever-growing racism and white supremacy championed by the Trump administration, a school district bureaucrat in Idaho attempted to force a public school teacher to remove a classroom sign bearing the same slogan. She refused. The people were outraged. It became a sort of rallying cry for decent people.

And as it turns out, a whole bunch of people want to believe that they, too, are decent.  

The response to that story has been overwhelming, and from all over the country and globe. People are, rightfully, appalled that anyone would deem such a message of acceptance and love as inappropriate for an elementary school classroom. 

They don’t understand it. They can’t comprehend such hate. They are – seemingly genuinely – confused that anyone could believe that it is an inappropriate message. 

Because … who could be against such a message, right? What sort of monster would tell a child that he or she doesn’t belong? What sort of jackass would be unwelcoming to a child, or to anyone else? 

Right? I mean, right? Right? 

Pardon me, but have all of you looked around? Have you paid attention to the news? Have you listened to the words of your Republican leadership? Do you comprehend those words? Do you understand the actions that are being taken? 

Because I have to tell you – You are NOT welcome here – has been the message from them far more often than not. 

You can pretend that that is not true, that it’s some liberal talking point, that it’s another attempt to paint conservatives and Republicans as intolerant racists and bigots. But deep down, you know it’s true. And while you would love to be thought of as compassionate and caring, accepting of all the little children – just as the Christian God demands – you don’t want it enough to actually take a stand in defense of the marginalized, vilified and shunned. 

Oh, please, take issue with that very blanket statement, and prove me wrong by explaining what, exactly, you’ve done to protect children. 

What have you done to stand up for the trans kids who have been vilified to the point that state lawmakers in Texas are literally trying to make their existence illegal? 

What have you done to stand up for the Hispanic children, who are being deported and arrested and detained and caged? Who have been blamed for all sorts of American ills, from disease spread and crime to the underfunding of public schools – even when white people are far more responsible for all of those. 

What have you done to stand up for gay kids? Or Black kids? Or poor kids?

What have you done to make anyone other than white, affluent, like-minded people feel more welcome? 

I think we all know the answer to that. 

Because we saw it at work last week at the Alabama Public Library Service meeting, where a group of tight-assed white women successfully lobbied a board full of tight-assed white men to fire a longtime director because she dared resist their efforts to demonize any books containing stories of gay or trans kids, and took the appalling position that maybe parents, and not the library, should be in charge of monitoring their children. 

This same library board cut funding to a large library system because it wasn’t thorough enough in banning books, even though no one could explain adequately why the books in question were in violation of the board’s super-subjective book banning policy. The best anyone could figure was that the books had something to do with gay kids, and, well, that’s enough. Because, remember, everyone is not welcome here. 

And it fits the national trend. 

So far, in a matter of two months, the Trump administration has rolled back the ban on segregated facilities, stripped away the recognition of Black service members, stopped scholarship programs at historically Black colleges (while leaving similar scholarships available at predominantly white institutions) and killed off civil rights protections at dozens of government agencies. 

There have been hundreds of horror stories of Hispanic families – most of them in this country for decades and meaningful, law-abiding contributors to our melting pot society – being jettisoned to far-flung places because of act-first/correct-later immigration snafus. While the “border czar,” Tom Homan, who looks like the crooked/racist cop from every movie with a crooked/racist cop, scoffs at due process and openly talks of defying federal judges. 

All while half of this country looks the other way, pretends it’s not happening or cheers that it is happening. While simultaneously taking offense to anyone daring to question their compassion or decency. 

Ah, but see, you can’t be a “everyone is welcome here” person and also be OK with all of this. You can’t stand like a mute while trans kids are repeatedly used as boogeymen in made-up stories about girls being in danger – either in a locker room or in a bathroom. You can’t justify unconstitutional – and, frankly, horrific – deportations of people in this country legally. You can’t pretend that honoring Black accomplishments is an affront to white people. You can’t do any of that and still be a “everyone is welcome here” sort of person. 

And maybe it’s time for you to either take a stand and be the person you desperately want to be, or just admit that you’re not that strong.