“There’s a warm wind blowing in from Minicoy”

With the popular sports brand Nike using the former San Francisco American football player Colin Kaepernick for the 30th Anniversary of the “Just Do It” campaign, it has triggered another one of President Donald J. Trump’s Twitter tantrums.

Kaepernick has made it clear the reasons he has been protesting during the playing of the American National Anthem. The athlete has been protesting the treatment of African Americans by police officers around these United States.

Whenever Trump takes to Twitter to rant about one thing or another, which is a daily occurrence, I cannot help but think “there’s a warm wind blowing in from Minicoy.”

“For a moment,” said Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), “I was thinking to myself, ‘there’s a warm wind blowing in from Minicoy.’”

While the quote is taken from a work of fiction, we should not ignore the fundamental theme of what the station commander is expressing in his words to visiting Bajoran Minister Jaro (Frank Langella).

With how Trump is blustering, exaggerating, and dissembling about Kaepernick disrespecting the American flag and this country’s great national anthem, one cannot help but draw a comparison between Langella’s fictitious character and the American president.

To demonstrate their support for Trump’s position and their apparent dismay for what Nike has done, several people have posted to social media platforms footage of them burning their Nike shoes.

Like Trump, the president’s supporters are clearly ignorant to what the athlete is trying to accomplish. This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Ignorance is a common trait of right wing fanatics.

African Americans are being beaten and killed simply for being black. A white woman in San Francisco called the police on a little African American girl selling bottles of water on the stoop of her apparent building. An African American men had the police called on them simply because they were having a BBQ.

While on this occasion the racist behaviour backfired on the white woman that called the police, there are times when similar behaviour was perpetrated by law enforcement officers themselves.

Trump and his supporters are either incapable of understanding the distinction between protesting during the playing of the American National Anthem and protesting the anthem itself or they simply don’t care.

People are being discriminated against for no other reason than their skin colour. This behaviour is deplorable.

Fans of the science fiction series “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” will recognise the quote for the Corey Allen directed season two episode “The Circle.” Written by Peter Allan Fields, “The Circle” was the second episode in the season two opening trilogy beginning with “The Homecoming” and culminating with “The Siege.”

In “The Circle,” the station commander explains to visiting Bajoran politician “There’s a warm wind blowing in from Minicoy” is old saying from Earth.

“It all started from an ambassador from Minicoy,” Sisko said. “He used to bluster, exaggerate, and dissemble to get what he wanted. Not at all like you or me. He was a bag of hot air and everyone recognised him for what he was.”

In the story told in the mentioned “ST: DS9” trilogy, Jaro is part of a racially motivated group known as “The Circle.” Members of this group believe in “Bajor for Bajorans.” Even for Trump’s supporters and their limited intelligence, the underlying racial theme in this story is readily apparent.

African Americans are not treated with the same degree of respect white Americans are frequently afforded. Something similar can be said for the treatment of Hispanic Americans. Further, Native Tribes have also be targeted for discrimination.

If anyone has a right to live in this land, it’s the Native Tribes that predate the existence of these United States. Of the treaties Americans signed with Native Tribes, none of those diplomatic documents were adhered to by invasive white people. Treaties were therefore pointless.

Trump and his supporters don’t understand their contextual place in American history. Like Jaro in respect to his fictional home world, the American president apparently wants the very real United States for whites only.

Trump and his supporters are ignoring the contribution African Americans and Hispanic Americans have made to this country.

Harsh Light News

Harsh Light News revolves around entertainment news, social and political commentary. Harsh Light News is now available on the News360 website and app.

Shain E. Thomas, M.Sc.

Written by

With an M.Sc. from the University of North Texas, I’m a freelance journalist and a social historian. #APStylebook #BBCStyleGuide linkedin.com/in/shainthomas

Harsh Light News

Harsh Light News revolves around entertainment news, social and political commentary. Harsh Light News is now available on the News360 website and app.

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