THE DEATH OF CIVILITY IN AMERICA

By: Nicole Johnson

The applause sign lit up above the studio audience as I sat back down in my seat. The crew moved on to the next segment of the show and I couldn't remember what he said, or if he said anything at all in fact. Unfortunately I was blindsided and hit with the art of bluffing, a technique that utilizes inflection rather than substantive claims to convince an audience that an answer filled with general feel good statements is sufficient and acceptable. I thought the how was implied. How will we come together as a country should have been my next question.

Nicole Johnson: Mr. Trump, do you believe the intolerance and prejudices that citizens of this country are spewing back and forth to each other are healthy and will this have an effect on the country's mental health?

Donald Trump: "I think it's really unhealthy, I think it's really bad. We really need to come together as a country. No. There is a great division in this country no question about it. I'm sure you see it too. We will come together as a country. Thank you.

In the months leading up to that moment on the Dr. Oz show my question took many forms, each inspired by President-Elect Trump's provocative commentary about individuals and minority groups. I questioned whether President-Elect Trump recognized his own prejudice behaviors when he insinuated that Ghazala Khan "wasn't allowed" to speak on stage at the DNC, thereby perpetuating a disrespectful stereotype about Muslim women. I questioned whether he recognized how inconsiderate it is to publicly declare a bias and uninformed blanket statement about a group of people when he claimed that African Americans "live in poverty" . He continued, "your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose?" and I questioned whether he understood the history of African American oppression in the United States at all. I questioned whether he understood the danger of villainizing an ethnic group when he told crowds of followers that Mexico is "sending people that have lots of problems, and theyre bringing those problems with us. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. I questioned whether he recognized the discomfort he caused women nation wide when he defamed Carly Fiorina and Megan Kelly characterizing them by their appearance instead of their character. Did he recognize the gravity of his gesture when he mocked Serge Kovaleski and horrified families who have raised children with disabilities? Did he understand how he undermined the very system that elected him by attempting to dismantle the reputation and political positions of elected officials and public servants? Did he understand that he was condoning intolerance and inciting violence when he claimed, "the audience hit back. That's what we need a little bit more of", in response to a reporter asking about an incident in which a Trump supporter at a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, sucker-punched an African American man in the face.

President-Elect Trump's outward display of prejudice and his incitement of intolerant behaviors paired with a loyal group of supporters (both bold and silent) and a 24/7 news cycle killed civility in America on 11/9/2016.

I cried tears of remorse on the subway ride to work that morning, not for the physical deaths of people but for what seemed to be the metaphorical death of moral goodness, conduct, empathy, compassion, honesty and brotherly love in America. You can imagine when I asked President-Elect Trump that question on the Dr.Oz show, I was dreading the confusion I felt on 11/9/2016 and was hoping he might be able to explain his behaviors.

He didn't.

For three days after the election I could not understand how a citizen could simultaneously secure the highest office in the nation while utilizing reprehensible language, targeting minority groups, inciting intolerant behaviors and openly holding prejudices. It wasn't until the video of middle school students in Royal Oak Michigan chanting "build the wall" surfaced on main stream news that I finally realized why Donald Trump , despite his behavior, won the title of President - Elect. As of November 23rd, 2016 62,206,395 votes were cast for Donald Trump because we as Americans do not collectively prioritize and value civility in our families, communities and educational institutions. Conduct, empathy and moral goodness are not as important as X,Y,X to at least 62,206,395 Americans. Therefore, the threat of a Trump presidency that many citizens feared during the campaign has now become a reality. Let me re-emphasize something. The death of civility is not a future issue created by the incoming Trump/Pence Administration, it is an issue created by Donald Trump himself when he began using his campaign platform to demean Americans of all ethnicities, genders and social standings.

Freedom of speech provides Americans with a free market place of thought comprised of every kind of opinion you could think of. The best salesmen utilize their skill set, the media and their knowledge of the customer to compete with one another, selling and shopping their ideas to citizens browsing in the market. In the 2016 free market place of thought, intolerance and provocative prejudice sold like hot cakes. Some citizens willingly purchased the idea in exchange for a promised future, others held their noses and purchased with buyer's remorse. In order for moral good and civil behavior to sell, we must recognize that we can be customers in this market place but we must also become salesmen. Each with our own booth and the ability to advocate for the good, the bad or a combination of the two. If civility had earnest salesmen fighting for its recognition in the market place and if civility was as bold, convincing and newsworthy as prejudice and intolerance, maybe customers in the American free market place of thought would choose the former over the latter.

President- Elect Trump, the ultimate salesman, has sold us on the fact that you don't have to be empathetic or considerate. You don't have to be professional or compassionate. You can incite violence and make crude jokes on a national public service platform and most importantly, you can do all of those things and still become the President of the United States of America.

There is a great division in this country no question about it. I'm sure you see it too. We will come together as a country. - Donald Trump

So now that we are here in the divide that President- Elect Trump alluded to when he answered my question on Dr. Oz, what do we do now? Now Im asking the necessary follow up question I should have asked on that day; how will we come together as a country? This time the applause sign will not light up, I will not sit down and we will not move on because this is the reality of a divided country and we deserve substantive claims, solution oriented work, policies to ensure civility and on the ground enforcement of such policies. In order to come together as a country , one of the first things we need to do is initiate the rebirth of civility in our communities, and it begins with focusing our thoughts and writing down your concerns.

Thousands of students, parents and young adults are writing letters of concern about the current divide in our country and the 2016 presidential election season. We have initiated the non-partisan Red-Letter Day Writing Campaign and will collect letters of concern until December 12th, 2016 with a goal of obtaining resolutions of support from elected officials for the enactment of "The Rebirth of Civility Act".

The Rebirth of Civility Act utilizes K-12 education settings to introduce civil conduct and knowledge of political ideologies in young people thereby creating a civil and knowledgeable future voting population. Students K-12 in public schools will receive age appropriate civility training during the academic school day to strengthen skills needed for democratic life. If this bill is enacted into law, a civility training commission shall be established to train teachers and monitor the progression of civility training in schools. Students will engage in grade level classes that train them in appropriate conduct for political disagreement and civil discussion covering the following topics.

Conduct and Diplomacy . Empathy . Self Monitoring and Civil Communication . Impact of Words on Others . Self Restraint and Anger Management . Physical Altercations and Political Protest . Conflict Resolution

In addition, students in public school grades 9-12 will receive grade level non-biased introduction to political opinions and ideologies thereby creating free choice in the marketplace of ideas for new voters. Lastly, students in public school grades 9-12 will engage in a nation wide cultural exchange program during the academic school day to implement civility training under realistic circumstances. Such programs will introduces students to communities in other parts of the country through digital video communication. The cultural exchange programming will also explore the current and historical political stance of communities in America through prerecorded testimonials of citizens.

We can all be salesmen for the moral good no matter what role we've taken on in society. Students, teachers, parents, business professionals, journalists, artists, social workers, politicians and elected officials.... utilize your freedom of speech and your uniquely designed platforms to advocate for civility. If we are not in the arena fighting for it, selling it and buying it, civility is bound to sit on the shelf and the moral good will lose every time.

WRITE A LETTER OF CONCERN TODAY