Persecution Envy

We all have it right? Like when someone shares a moving personal story on LinkedIn and subsequently gets 64,000 likes — you’re like, man, I wish I had a story like that.

Trump supporters are suffering from something similar.

The Problem We All Live With (Norman Rockwell, 1964)

This is a Norman Rockwell painting called The Problem We All Live With. It shows Ruby Bridges, a six-year-old African-American girl, on her way to an all-white public school on November 14, 1960. As the first black student at William Frantz Elementary School, she was greeted by an angry mob of screaming protestors and had to be escorted by four deputy U.S. marshals. In response to integration, the existing students and teachers staged a boycott of the school.

Ruby Bridges entering the elementary school under protection from US marshals

Mothers and students protesting integration

There were only a few people left in the school when she entered and there was only one instructor who would teach her. Soon, Ruby’s father lost his job, the grocery store the family shopped at would no longer let them shop there, and her grandparents, who were sharecroppers in Mississippi, were turned off their land.

This is a drawing by political cartoonist Glenn McCoy. It depicts a miniaturized Betsy DeVos, escorted by four fictionalized deputy U.S. marshals, with what I assume is an angry mob of protestors not shown.

Inspiring isn’t it? A billionaire politician who struggled against all odds to become Secretary of Education by paying off almost everyone that voted for her.

Yes, Betsy DeVos was greeted by protestors when she tried to enter a DC public school. It was tense. Quite tense. However, she triumphed in the end and was able to enter the school 5 minutes later, cleverly using a different door.

I can easily see how the artist drew parallels between Betsy DeVos, a corrupt 59-year old politician, and Ruby Bridges, a 6-year old girl walking into an elementary school under threats of violence because of the color of her skin.

Maybe one day Donald Trump will liken the way he is treated by the media to Malala being shot in the head by the Taliban for trying to get an education.

Here’s something I don’t understand: do conservatives realize they’re running this country now? Do they realize they’re in control, from the Presidency, to the House, to the Senate, to most state governments? Because it sure seems like they desperately want to be seen as a persecuted minority.

It’s not an enviable position to be in.