Trump and legitimizing behavior

November 15, 2016

To the editor:

I’m grateful, as always, for Mark Wingfield’s insights, this time in his “Don’t blame Trump for your hatred” opinion piece. But I do have a question.

Certainly it’s true that Trump didn’t create the vitriol that’s rising to the surface since Tuesday. But I seriously doubt this would have publicly emerged if he had lost the election.

It seems to me that Trump’s victory has mobilized, provided momentum for, and, worst of all, generated a certain legitimacy for such behavior.

Trump’s selection of Stephen Bannon, a champion of white nationalism, as his senior adviser seems to suggest we’re in for a lot more of the same.

Maybe, though, in the long run, it’s at least clearer now what we’re up against.

Ken Sehested, via email

Embracing the power of story

Like the rising river in the Arkansas Delta, the persistence of poverty still looms just over the levee, threatening to wash young people down paths of violence, drugs, food insecurity, unemployment, and early death.

We share a new series in BNG’s Storytelling Projects “Arkansas Delta” as part of our "resilient rural America" theme.

This series will address the precise focus on literacy and leadership development to build children’s imaginations, the story of Swim Camp where children and teenagers not only learn to swim but learn to pursue leadership, and video interviews of those connected to Together for Hope Arkansas.

At the center of Arkansas Delta’s fight against poverty and division: an 85-year-old swimming pool

Imagination is the greatest threat to Delta poverty, Together for Hope Arkansas says

We created Storytelling Projects because we believe stories, rooted in the Jesus Story, have the power not only to inform but to transform people and communities. They can be sources of spiritual insight, imagination, creativity and hope for all who seek justice and mercy.