Who's Next?

Latinos, the Trump Phenomena and All the Rest of Us

By Angelo Falcón

As we listen to Donald Trump's "ideas" about dealing with the Syrian refugees, Muslims in general, and the Black community, the American people may now have a sense of why the Latino community finds this man so dangerous. He brings out the ugliest aspects of the American character and its acceptance by so many in and around the Republican Party. For those proclaiming the dawn of a post-racial chapter in this country's history, Trump's front-runner status among the Republican presidential candidates is further evidence that it has yet to happen. During the Latino protests against Trump's hosting of NBC's Saturday Night Live show, there were many who were asking what the big deal was, feeling that Latinos were being way too sensitive and cavalier about this man's freedom of speech. However, as his racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric gets increasingly strident and toxic, it is becoming clear that a lot more Americans better get more sensitive about what he represents for the future of American politics.

When added to his call for the building of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and the mass deportation of Mexicans are his calls to keep Syrian refugees out and to close mosques, his rise in the polls in extremely troubling. This points to a deep problem that should be of major concern to most Americans. It brings to mind Pastor Martin Niemöller famous and probably over qutoed poem:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out-

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out-

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me-and there was no one left to speak for me.

Trump started with the Mexicans, and then the immigrants, then the Muslims and the refugee, and now with the Black community. Who or what will be next? His call for an all-out war in the Middle East to "bomb the shit out of ISIS" will complete this progression by involving all of the rest of us.

By being so sensitive and alarmist about what Trump represents, has the Latino community been overreacting? Or have people like Steve Burke at NBCUniversal and Lorne Michaels at Saturday Night Live been irresponsible in putting profits ahead human decency? Hopefully, we will not have to add another stanza to Pastor Niemöller's apocalyptic poem.

Angelo Falcón is President of the National Institute for Latino Policy (NiLP). He can be reached at afalcon@latinopolicy.org.