Do We Want the America of Frederick Douglass or Donald Trump?

“Un-American,” “communists,” dangerous and polarizing rhetoric, takes us back to the days of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s wild charges and investigations of the early 1950s. Trump’s onetime closeness to and fondness for McCarthy’s chief counsel, Roy Cohn, is not coincidental.

The Trumpian fearmongering now going on is not the way to approach immigration. In 2019 and 2020, we Americans have a choice. Which kind of America do we want? A “composite nation,” as Douglass advocated, one that takes pride in its ethnic and religious diversity and sets an example? Or an America afraid of immigrants, especially if not lily white, Christian ones, as Trump and many of his followers desire? Because of this choice and so many others, the 2020 U.S. elections are  crucial, and all real patriots should hope (and do all they can) so that we make the right choices.