by Kate Kooyman

Tomorrow, according to rumors, Trump will end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. He will do this not because it is economically beneficial — DACA helps, not hurts, our economy. He will do this not because it makes the U.S. safer — DACA has strengthened, not frayed, the social fabric of all our communities. He will do this not because he believes in reining in executive overreach — which, I hope, goes without saying.

Trump will end DACA because he is working to make America a white nation.

This is why he tweeted about building a wall while the rest of us watched Texas suffer. This is why he pardoned Sheriff Joe Arpaio — whose litany of inhumane acts is bone-chilling, and entirely based on race, and inexplicable in any way other than white supremacy. This is why he has emboldened the KKK and the alt-right, why he questioned President Obama’s birthplace, why he berates political correctness, why he wants to ban Muslims, why he wants police to have tanks and rocket-launchers, why he supports school choice, why he wants to defund Medicaid, why he dismantles voting rights. (I needed people like Lisa Sharon Harper to help me see and understand this.)

Donald Trump believes in the superiority of white people, and so do white Christians like me. Many of us are aware of it, and we’re working to unlearn it and dismantle it. Others are oblivious. Still more belligerently deny it. Regardless of our belief in it, however, it is our truth. White supremacy is in the Christian theology that is woven into our nation’s founding documents. It is an assumption that is embedded into our legal system, our political system, our power structures. White supremacy is the reason my kids see a blue-eyed Jesus in their children’s Bible.

The belief that white people are superior is a poison that all of us have ingested in this country. We did not discover it in Charlottesville. It is not something we assent to or something we choose. The belief that white people are better, smarter, more human (and more like God) is our sin-soaked starting point in this country.   

And if you believe it is wrong, then you need to do something different.

Today is a national call-in day for DACA, a program which protects young immigrants brought here as children from deportation, and allows them to pursue higher education and work legally. Ending DACA will rob the dreams of almost a million young immigrants who trusted the promise of the government that they would be protected and given a future.

Today is a day when being anti-racist — when working to end white supremacy in ourselves and in our world — means picking up our phones and demanding protections for those who will be left vulnerable when this program abruptly ends. It is declaring that we will not legalize the white nationalist agenda. We will not stand idly by and watch the dreams of nativist, frightened, racist men come true — dreams that are nightmares for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

If you hate white supremacy, then do more than argue about whether it describes you. Pick up your phone, and demand that Congress protect Dreamers.

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS Thursday/August 31st:

Representatives: 1-888-496-3502

Senators: 1-888-410-0619

*Please call your 1 Representative and then your 2 Senators

Sample Script: “Hi, my name is X and I’m calling from City, State and my zip code is X. I am a person of faith. I’m deeply concerned about the reports that President Trump could end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) this week. I support the program and strongly oppose any attempt to terminate or alter it. I urge the Senator/Representative to do everything in his/her power to protect 800,000 DACA-recipients from deportation and support their right to work and study in this country. There are three things I’m hoping your office will do right now. Can the Senator/Representative appeal directly to the President to keep this program in place, issue a public statement of support for DACA recipients, and support a clean passage of S.1615/H.R.3440, the Dream Act of 2017?”

Photo by Nicole Mason on Unsplash