U.S. President Donald Trump in recent days insulted people from Somalia as “garbage,” exploited a tragic shooting to attack people from Afghanistan and immigrants from a dozen other countries, and demeaned women reporters calling them “piggy” and “stupid.”
Words matter and have real-life consequences.
Calling people “garbage” or referring to them as animals is demeaning and dehumanizing, and we have seen examples of how that can lead to acts of violence especially against migrants. Leaders and people in positions of power have a special responsibility to set an example.
We hear the psalmist plea for God’s protection against “those who wrongfully hate … those who speak no words of peace, but against the ones resting in the land from their wanderings, they fashion deceitful speech.” (Psalm 35:19-20)
We are all made in the image of God no matter our gender, race, ethnicity or nationality. And we all have a responsibility to treat each other with respect and dignity and to keep the Lord’s command to love one another (John 13:34).
Taking advantage of a tragedy to slander entire nationalities, denigrating ethnic groups, and uttering misogynistic insults against women have no place in a moral society.