By James B. Ewers Jr. Ed.D.
Growing up in the South has given me a lot of memories. When I think about some of them, they bring a smile to my face. Thinking about yesterday makes me realize similar events are happening today.
During my childhood, we had a vegetable man who would come to our neighborhood on Saturdays. My mom and other moms would purchase different vegetables from him. Of course, we as kids were always near the vegetable truck.
Upon reflection, he claimed his produce was always fresh. He also claimed to be the brother of a famous television cowboy.
Were these two assertions true? I really don’t know. All that I do know is that he kept saying the same things, so I guess we believed him.
The former president reminds me of the vegetable man. Donald Trump has been saying the same things for so long that he has a lot of people believing him. Like the vegetable man, he has a steady clientele. These are people buying whatever he is selling.
Another similarity to the vegetable man is the frequency of his stops. Increasingly, we are seeing more of Mr. Trump. He is either in a courtroom or at a campaign stop almost on a weekly basis.
Our vegetable man also had seasonal vegetables and if we were lucky, we could get some at a sale price. It appears that the former president also has some seasonal and on sale items as well.
Mr. T has always been a self-promoter. You can find caps, cups and cologne bearing his moniker. Recently, he began selling sneakers. Depending upon who you know, you can probably get these items at a dis- counted price.
If you are one of his horn blowers, you’ll have some of his merchandise in your closet. However, I am still puzzled about those sneakers. Would you wear them in the public square? I would opine that some of his more zealous supporters probably would.
Mr. Trump’s latest venture has taken him to a new low in the eyes of many people and it is not party specific. It is what I call bipartisan embarrassment. The former president is selling Bibles. What are you talking about Willis? Yes, he is selling Bibles for a cost of $59.99.
Last week, he said, “Happy Holy Week. As we lead into Good Friday and Easter, I encourage you to get a copy of the God bless The USA Bible. All Americans need a Bible in their home, and I have many. It’s my favorite book.” He is a pitchman so I wouldn’t expect him to say anything else. The audacity of him to sell Bibles is what is troubling to many of us. How do you become so bra- zen and cavalier to sell Bibles?
There are those who see Trump’s selling Bibles as wrong and inappropriate. “It is bankrupt Christianity that sees a demagogue co-opting our faith and even holy scriptures for the sake of his own pursuit of power and praise him for it rather than insist that we refuse to allow our sacred faith and scriptures to become a mouthpiece for an empire,” said Rev. Benjamin Cremer on X.
The Trump camp has further gone down the road of indecency. These vile practices will continue until election day.
What can we do? The November election is coming up soon. This will arguably be the most important election in our lifetime. Simply put, it will be Biden against Trump.
If you want to have a positive outlook and hope for tomorrow, then we must vote for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. They are keeping us within the boundaries of civility and humanity.
Let your friends know to vote because this is not the time for apathy and ambivalence. Democracy and the rule of law are on the ballot. The only way to rid ourselves of the former president is to vote him out.
Dr. James B. Ewers, Jr. is a long-time educator who hails from Winston Salem, N.C. One of the top tennis players in the state, he was inducted into the Black Tennis Hall of Fame in January 2021. A graduate of Johnson C. Smith University, he received his M. A. degree in Education from Catholic University in Washington, DC, and Ed. D. degree in Education from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA. He has also done post-doctoral studies at Harvard University and Ewers is a life member of the NAACP and a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
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