A year after Trump's election, York, Pa., is forever changed

[DonViejo]

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff November 04, 2017


-snip-

Trump’s election a year ago profoundly altered the United States in ways that continue to reverberate, but perhaps most visibly and disturbingly in how we talk to one another, especially about the hardest things, like the nation’s racial divide. The volume is up; the edge is sharp. Old grievances feel new, and civility is being sorely tested.

Certainly, that’s how it went down in York County along the southern border of Pennsylvania. York went big for Trump in the election, with a 63 to 33 percent margin over Hillary Clinton that helped the billionaire reality TV star capture the state and vault into the White House. Yet, the morning after, Trump’s win seemed less like a victory for democracy — the kind celebrated in high school civics classes — than a trigger for tensions felt across York County and the rest of America.

-snip-

A year later, they haven’t stopped worrying.

With its small-city core of York, surrounded by fields and hills that rise from the broad Susquehanna River, the county is politically split between urban and rural; between black or brown and white; between older, settled families and newer immigrants; between Democrats and Republicans.

In other words, America.

It’s the kind of place where a simple Trump sign or cardboard cutout is seen by some as a show of pride in working-class values, but by others as a racist affront. Since Trump’s election, York residents have been un-friending one another on Facebook, avoiding one another at grocery store checkout lines, and leaving churches whose pews now feel uncomfortable.

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http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2017/11/04/the-fabric-community-frays-under-trump/YETy78ylmu2kWDGc2jsXHO/story.html

[Irish_Dem]

1. It's like the Viet Nam era, society, family, friends, torn apart.

It was a terrible time.

But it was also a call to action for many. Civil rights, women's rights, environment
all came to the fore front during this time of societal upheaval.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. I would argue we are more divided now.

[Irish_Dem]

4. Boys getting drafted and killed. Riots in the street. Kent State shootings.

Parents disowning their kids. The societal upheaval was tremendous.

But I hear you. Now we have serious gun violence. Adults and children going about their daily business, mowed down by cowardly shooters. Russia committed the crime of the century by stealing the election and installing a stupid moron as president. Nazis roaming the streets and killing people. People not speaking to each other because of the great divide in America now.

Which time is worse. I honestly don't know.

[mountain grammy]

5. It was a call to action, and we were divided

but I do think it's worse now.

[Freedomofspeech]

2. Same here in the other Southern corner of the state...

Used to be a beautiful blue here in SW PA...now it's blood red and filled with camo and guns. I have lost a few old high school friends because of their love for tRump. No regrets on my part. As far as I'm concerned they have no heart or soul...just like him. This is a far greater divide than Vietnam.

[Achilleaze]

6. Divide & Conquer. Russia's evil strategy via Comrade Casino* to weaken America?

It sure as shit looks that way.


* republican Draft-Dodger-in-Chief

[riversedge]

7. This is no way to live, to grow up.......to learn about others, to learn to respect others........

"Leaders" want to avoid controversy.




.....Soon after Trump was inaugurated in January, the school, adopting the recommendation of a committee of 15 students, hired Carla Christopher, a local activist and artist. Her job as “equity coordinator” was to help navigate sensitive issues of race inside the school and restore trust.

“It was rough getting off the ground,” Christopher said. “They were super afraid of more controversy.”

Issues that might have been uncomfortable pre-Trump had become fraught post-Trump.

During February, Black History Month, students wanted to put up images of a black fist. That was rejected by school officials. They wanted a Black Lives Matter sign. No. They wanted a picture of Nat Turner, who led a slave rebellion in 1831. Again, too controversial.

“’So what, you basically want us to talk about MLK and Rosa Parks and then sit down and be quiet and be good Negroes?’” Christopher said. “The kids were upset. But from the school’s perspective they’re like, ‘We don’t want to open up any cans of worms and have the Confederate flag-wearing students come in and freak out.’ ”

Eventually, the students created a display that included noncontroversial photos and a book by Maya Angelou. .......