Most of us know the old saying that “sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”
And most of us know that it is not true because words will hurt us.
Catherine Meeks
Over the past decade, we have observed the ways in which words have been used to create fear, to denigrate people of color and anyone who is deemed unworthy of being treated with respect, to create confusion and to fuel the fires of chaos. While Donald Trump is a primary culprit in this use of negative language to create negativity and to encourage folks in his orbit to retaliate against people that he deems enemies, he is not the only one responsible.
For many months, we engaged in a protracted conversation about Critical Race Theory while most of the folks speaking loudly about it had no idea what they were talking about. But it got blown up as a huge red-flag issue and that conversation was very helpful in creating fear in white people around racial issues and led many whites to believe their elementary school children were in danger of teachers leading them astray with lessons on Critical Race Theory.
“It was such a good dog whistle for those interested in being destructive.”
Those among us who know Critical Race Theory is a framework that grew out of law school professors attempting to find ways to talk about the impact of race upon people who committed certain kinds of crime and the impact of the inequities of the legal system in regard to race were appalled at that discussion. It is taught in law and graduate schools and at times in certain college courses addressing race, it never will be mentioned in elementary or high school. But it was such a good dog whistle for those interested in being destructive.
There are other unfortunate examples as well. For instance, the stories that have been told about people of color including the one about Haitians eating their pets in Ohio during the 2024 election cycle or the attempt to paint a picture of everyone from Somalia as a criminal simply because a Minnesota fraud case is being brought against a handful of Somalians.
The negative things Trump has said about Latinx people being criminals has contributed to an atmosphere of fear that makes it difficult for people to be empathetic toward their current plight.
Often people who dare to engage in truth-telling about the current political situation are characterized as lying, and thus the negative energy generated against them by folks who forgot about free speech results in them being swatted and other acts of violence against them along with physical harm in some cases.
“People who dare to engage in truth telling about the current political situation are characterized as lying,”
When the secretary of Homeland Security characterized Alex Pretti and Renee Goode as domestic terrorists, it was quite insulting for average citizens of this country to be murdered in the street by so-called law enforcers and then lied about in this manner. This false characterization of them was reprehensible because language is powerful and they knew they were lying.
The dehumanizing violent language the Trump era has brought upon us has simply uncovered an ugly layer of feelings waiting to be unleashed. Along with this unleashing of that negative energy was language that helped fuel the violence against undocumented people in our land as well as any nonwhite people Trump’s ICE agents choose to target. The dehumanizing language helps create a deep sense of superiority over the folks who are being demonized. Then it is easier to justify any type of violence and inhumane behavior exhibited toward them.
We have seen the impact of this over the many years such language has been used to reduce people of color to less than human and undesirable.
The point of this discussion is to hold up a mirror for all of us to stand before and engage in self-reflection. We need to be careful not to strengthen the bullying, negative language, disrespect for people of color, poor people or anyone who gets designated as undesirable. We need to restore civility in our land, and it begins with turning our intention in that direction and then monitoring our way of talking about one another and to one another.
We can shift the negative energy. We have to decide that it matters enough to work on it. Because sticks, stones and words are hurting us.
Catherine Meeks was given the President Joseph R. Biden Lifetime Achievement and Service Award in August 2022; was listed by Georgia Trend Magazine as one of the 500 women to watch in Georgia in 2022; retired as the Clara Carter Acree Distinguished Professor of Socio-Cultural Studies at Mercer University; is a community and wellness activist and midwife to the soul; and the author of The Night Is Long, But Light Comes In The Morning, Meditations on Racial Healing, She previously served as founding executive director of Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing and currently serves as founder and executive director of the Turquoise and Lavender Institute for Transformation and Healing. She lives in Atlanta.