MICHAEL FOSTER-SANDERS
editor-in-chief
On Nov. 13, my daughter and I decided to grab a bite to eat at Whataburger in Saginaw, Texas.
As we turned into the restaurant to park at the mobile order spot, I noticed this big, gaudy Trump 2020 sign hanging from the back of a truck. Now, there’s nothing wrong with people who support their political candidate respectfully, but this time the energy in the air just felt different.
While waiting for the mobile order to arrive, I turned to look at my daughter. She usually has a motor mouth, but now she had a look of concern on her face. “What’s wrong?” She said that she doesn’t feel safe because Trump supporters don’t like Black people. I explained that not all of his supporters have those types of views, and that there are black Trump supporters too. “So don’t work yourself
up about what you see on TikTok and television.”
Unfortunately, we were about to encounter one of those supporters she had concerns about. The owner of that flag walked out and looked into my car at my daughter and me with a smug, disgusting look on his face. Then when he got by his flag, he slapped it in a proud manner as if it was empowering.
The rage that went through me was on a biblical smite level, but I had to be cool because I couldn’t put my daughter in harm’s way.
So I did the only logical thing to do. I yelled, “Hey Siri, play F.D.T. by
Y.G. and Nipsey Hustle” and let the car windows down, so he could hear it loud and clear. I glanced in my rear-view mirror, and the look on his face was priceless. The look said, “Who the hell does this N-word think he is with this defiance while I try to make America great again?”
He got in the truck and drove off angry, and my daughter looked at me and smiled.
I refuse to let America go back to that space where being “great” was causing fear and terror. Flying a flag that says Trump made America great again is now the equivalent of the Confederate flag to me. It’s not heritage. It is a symbol of oppression.
