In my 78 Years, I Have Learned that White Men Are the Problem

Okay, before you go ballistic about my title, I have a preponderance of evidence which proves that white men are the reason for American never becoming a “great country.” (Trump is simply the worst of the worst).

Fact number one: most men my age who are white hold onto prejudices they had when they were much younger. Our generation was about “success,” and success meant making lots and lots of money. We were taught to be “politically correct,” at least in public. Christianity was the only valid religion. Black people possessed a lower level of intelligence than whites. And women were expected to “remain in their place.” One more thing: any type of sexual relationship other than heterosexual was forbidden by the leaders of every Christian religion. They preached their hate messages every time they stood behind a pulpit.

Until the age of 16, most of my life was surrounded in an atmosphere of white privilege. In my last year of parochial education, there was a single Black student in the entire high school.

In my junior year I was allowed to attend a public high school: Venice High. This one decision I was allowed to make by mother remains the most important in my entire life. I began thinking outside of my secluded and protected little world.

I made new friends: Black, Asian, Hispanic, and a few with mixed ethnicity. There were girls in my classes. A few of my teachers encouraged me to think “outside the box.”

I learned what life was like for the young men and women who were not white. At first, I was shocked, but the longer the conversation, the more enlightened I became.

From my Black friends I learned about the ‘two Americas.’ They explained how different it was to live in America as a person of color. When I was a little older, I was invited to some of their homes and saw how they struggled for myself.

When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, most white people were outraged. I never understood why.

When Trump became your illegitimate president on January 20, 2017, I was saddened as I watched our country regress back to the days of my youth. I knew immediately that he was the greatest mistake in America’s short history.

When I began writing, I learned that on the surface America was changing, progressing. However, hiding in the shadows were groups of white supremacists/Neo-Nazis waiting for an opportunity to take control of our government and “Make America White Again.”

I began to research our country’s presidential history. What I discovered was very real and very disturbing. In 2017 our nation had chosen 45 presidents. It is hard to describe what I learned. I will summarize it by saying that most of our presidents were failures. Only a handful could be considered “great.” A number of them could be called “bad.” All of them were white, with the exception of Barack Obama. He could have been great, but he surrendered to the pressure from white members of the legislative branch and the judicial branch, and refused to do the right thing when our nation needed him most. He became what my Black friends called an “Uncle Tom.”

In October of 2016, Obama disappointed me. He surrendered to the old white man of the Senate, Moscow Mitch McConnell.

A meeting was held in the Oval Office with one month remaining until the election. In attendance were the leaders of our nation’s top security agencies, Obama, Biden, Schumer, Pelosi, Moscow Mitch, and Paul Ryan. The subject was “Russia interfering in the 2016 election.”

Every security agency agreed that under orders from Vladimir Putin, Russian agents were ordered to find ways to secure the election for Trump.

The logical decision would have been to release this information to the electorate, to ensure that every voter was aware of corruption within the Trump campaign. However, as you know, this never happened, and although our elected officials deny the facts, the worst thing to happen to our nation in 240 years became a reality. The least qualified old man in the world, a man who failed at everything he attempted in life, became your 45^th, illegitimate, president. This became another event hidden from the American people under the often-used claim of “for reasons of national security.” Our government conveniently forgets that we, the people, are the country.

Hillary Clinton, a white woman, would have been a great president. Instead, old, white men allowed a man who would become the worst president in history to rule over our nation.

The 2024 election was a virtual repeat of 2016. The results reported are illogical and defy common sense.

Early in 2024, the FBI reported another effort by Putin to assist Trump’s reelection effort. Once again, the Russian president was successful. One large and respected tech company claimed that Russian hackers, the best in the world, hacked into voting machines in swing states.

Kamala Harris would have been a great president. However, Trump 2.0 is ten-times worse than he was eight years ago. He is attempting to destroy our nation from within, accomplishing what he failed to do between 2017 and 2021.

Currently, there is no hope. Our government is corrupt and cowardly. Everything Trump is doing is in violation of the intent of the Constitution. Musk is an abomination. He is not an elected official, and he was not nominated for a legitimate position in Trump’s incompetent administration.

Will there be a second American Revolution?

Op-ed by James Turnage

If you follow my blog, you will be an informed American