White supremacy

As the first U.S. African-American First Lady, Michelle Obama was the darling of U.S. citizens, loved and respected. At a public interview that came as the first since leaving the White House in late August, she was asked what made her "most hurt." Obama mentioned a white woman who ridiculed her by describing the former First Lady as a "monkey" November last year, and told that it was my worst experience that I want to forget.

At that time, a West Virginian public servant named Pamela Taylor posted on her Facebook wall about the change in First Lady that "It will be refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified First Lady in the White House. I'm tired of seeing a [sic] Ape in heels." The mayor of Clay who had responded "Just made my day" resigned. To this end, Ms. Obama deplored that "though I worked tirelessly for this country for eight years, there is still a person who doesn't recognize my job due to the color of my skin."

Indeed, white supremacy still rules in the American society. It is a stark reality that even the First Lady cannot avoid racism due to her color. The violence triggered by the White nationalist at Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday (local time) is just another case of the prevailing racism. Due to far-right organizations waving Nazi signs and ranting "blood and soil," a state of emergency was declared at Virginia State. While the U.S. President Donald Trump asked for one nation by lamenting "We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence," he was only met with fierce backlashes. Many criticized Trump for not pinpointing the white supremacy protesters who caused the incident.

In 1883, Francis Galton, the cousin of Charles Darwin, published a book titled "Inquiries Into Human Faculty and Its Development." It was the very book that gave birth to "eugenics," a field categorized as pseudo-science. Hitler took advantage of this book and stressed the superiority of Arians for his ethnic cleansing. Indeed, it gives the chills when reminded by the fact that this outdated argument, which cried that white was the chosen race by God can be heard again in the 21st century. Is it because of the politics that trigger discontent and division? The world is currently lingering amid such rebellious ideas filled with hatred and enmity.