Much outrage has been raised about the scheduling of Trump’s rally in Tulsa on Juneteenth (and its being held the day after), in the place where the worst racial violence in American history took place from May 31- June 1 of 1921. There is no question of the bigotry of this act (one which has Stephen Miller written all over it).
This is not helped by Trump issuing threats of intense police violence and brutalizations against people who choose to protest him. In the very midst of mass protests around the planet against police violence against black people, especially in the United States, this is absolutely repugnant.
However, it has something that I doubt Miller would have overlooked: COVID-19 has been devastating Native communities.
Between intense poverty, being unable to stay away from work due to being deemed essential, being given more hazardous jobs, a propensity for health problems as a result of racism, a history of being brutalized by white racists just for fun (look up “Indian Rolling”, and then come back here when you finish), the number of white racists who go onto reservations and rape Native people with impunity because Reservation police don’t have any authority over non-residents, the epidemic of Native women’s abuse at the hands of white husbands, and a per-capita rate of murder at the hands of police higher than even Black Americans, in addition to not having the same levels of immunities to foreign diseases (which, as many may recall, killed much of our population after the Europeans came), has made the coronavirus hit the reservations hard. The Navajo Nation in particular has been incredibly hard hit, with over 4600 cases by just the end of May.
Trump is rather well-known for his hatred of Native Americans, whether because of our casinos competing with his, or because of general racism, or because of opposing his pipeline… his long history of comments, and even his supposed task force against violence against Native women being undermined by Republicans in Congress trying to make it much harder to put the non-Native Husbands behind bars.
Trump wants his rally to defy all safety orders, showing a complete disregard for the CDC and public health. In Tulsa, Oklahoma. Where many Native Americans from around the state often commute to work, or stay during the week to work, and which has regular traffic of Natives traveling between it and the other big city in Oklahoma (Oklahoma City, obviously).
Compound this with the rally bringing as many racists into a state where it is really easy to get away with violence against brown people with little consequence, and who would have no reason to do anything to avoid infecting Natives as they brutalize or rape them, and you have a perfect recipe for genocide. The use of disease to kill massive numbers of Native Americans by the US government is well-documented. The Smallpox blankets. The boarding schools. These incidents are so numerous that I couldn’t even count them all.
Even if it wasn’t intentional (which, given Trump and Miller, is extremely doubtful). On top of being a massive threat to Black Americans.
As we go into Shabbat, even the thought of genocide against my own people, initiated by a member of another people I belong to, a member of the Jewish community, sickens me to my very core. As Jews, we cannot accept this and we absolutely should not stand for this. When lives are in danger, we must do everything we can to save them. Not working on Shabbat is secondary to the work of saving lives from violence. Shabbat is desecrated if we do not act to help others whose lives are in danger.
There is no denying that Trump’s actions (or inactions) have cost many thousands of people their lives throughout his term. Thousands in Puerto Rico from the debacle over Hurricane Maria, and countless more from the damage that did to the American medical system. Over one hundred thousand dead so far from the pandemic his administration has done absolutely nothing but bungle. Countless African Americans, Natives, Latinos, and others to the police violence he has deliberately inflamed. Countless Americans to his deliberately making health care less accessible. The many immigrant children who still remain imprisoned by his administration, literal concentration camps on US soil. His repeated denial of refugees from all over the world, resulting in untold deaths.
If we hold Shabbat to be sacred, we must cease the murder committed by the Trump Administration. Trump’s values are not Jewish ones. This should not be compromised over. We cannot be indifferent to this. It is our turn to do as the Righteous Gentiles did for us during the Shoah. We must save lives. It is our Jewish duty.
