hey meryl, trump only wants to kick “foreigners” of color out

Meryl Streep made waves last night at the Golden Globes for her artful read of the president-elect and the fact that his rhetoric is overwhelmingly xenophobic and pitifully ableist. Using Hollywood as an illustrative device for the beauty that can come when people of different races, creeds, colors, and nationalities descend upon a place and do what they were made to do. Although Meryl’s critique was poignant and on time, her commentary left a key point to be desired, and with it a blindside of sorts becomes apparent and a considerable bit of her privilege shows. She called out Donald Trump without ever mentioning that the bulk of his venomous rhetoric is reserved for “foreigners” with brown and Black skin. Trump and his alpha-team of white supremacists are targeting people of color–Black people, Latinx people, Muslims. It’s not enough to say that the GOP and the far right want foreigners to leave, because they don’t understand whiteness as foreign as well. White supremacy is on full display in politics at present; calling it what it is and fighting it like hell are the two most important things that allies of people of color can do. So great start Meryl, but we need more, especially from folks like you.