The dazzling whiteness in Cleveland ...

Mark Charles

No, I didn't watch the Republican National Convention. Nor is the Democratic National Convention on my schedule. Life is too short. I'm a Democrat. I know who I'm voting for --- and why.

But I did read a lot about the goings on in Cleveland. The fact that David Duke, former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, heartily endorses the GOP nominee, Donald Trump, just about sums it up. And of course there was Iowa's own U.S. Rep. Steve King and his stout defense of white manhood.

The whiteness of Cleveland, save for a token or two, was dazzling. You rarely see that these days in the real world.

Among the pieces I've been reading this morning is Mark Charles's "The Problem the Republican Party, and now the Nation, has with Donald Trump" at his blog site, Reflections from the Hogan.

It begins, "The challenge with Donald Trump is that he understands all too well what made America 'great.' And this has presented a problem for the Republican Party and now, with his nomination, will cause a problem for the entire country. America's 'greatness' is based on explicit, systemic, and dehumanizing racism."

Mr. Charles, who writes from a Navajo perspective, also is a preacher within the denomination Christian Reformed Church in North America. This is a theologically (and socially) conservative outfit. It's unlikely Mr. Charles and I would agree, for example, on issues regarding LGBTQ people.

But he writes compellingly from a Native perspective on many issues.

If you'd like to explore his work further, his blog, Reflections from the Hogan, is here; web site, wirelesshogan.com, here; and the web site of an organization recently founded by Charles and his wife, Rachel, 5 Small Loaves, is here.