Pastor Aaron Brown

On February 5th, 2026, President Trump’s official social media account shared a video depicting the Obama’s as apes, and other political opponents as different derogatory animals. I did not agree with all of President Obama’s policies and positions, but I never doubted his character. He was a leader who had integrity and showed civility toward those he disagreed with. To see him and his family treated in such a degrading way is appalling. It’s not just disrespectful though, it goes deeper than that. It’s an attack on their identities and value as humans that’s rooted in America’s tragic past.

You see, those words reflect one of the darkest parts of our national history, and were a doorway to treating slaves and black Americans like animals instead of fellow humans. During slavery and colonialism, white supremacist ideology promoted fake “science” claiming Black people were biologically closer to apes. These lies were used to justify enslavement, defend segregation, and argue against Black people having rights, intelligence, or moral capacity. If we don’t reckon with these patterns of dehumanization and violence, then we won’t recognize them, and we will repeat them.

If you’re still tempted to minimize the seriousness of this video, then you’ve never had your child come home from school having been called a “monkey” because of the color of their skin. I have, and lay awake at night worrying about the possibility of those words of hate becoming actions. History has shown us that words create worlds, and violence often starts with the tongue and then moves out into physical attacks.

This problem isn’t unique to our country. I’ve been to the Kigali Genocide Memorial where they make special mention of how dehumanizing language catalyzed one of the most horrific massacres in human history… Long before the machetes started swinging in Rwanda, words like “cockroach” dehumanized one group and desensitized the other to the idea of violence. When a political leader called for their extermination, the killing was almost instantaneous… because that’s what you do to cockroaches: you stomp them out. Hateful language like this are a gateway to violence.

The reckless, feckless, and racist leadership that we are seeing from our President and his administration will continue to embolden white supremacists and cause violence in our nation. All the while we’re being told to celebrate this leader as “God’s man” and a representative of the Christian faith… What a mockery. What a shame. President Donald Trump does not represent the God of the Bible or the Christian faith.

This is what happens when we entangle politics and faith. This is what happens when we prostitute the teachings of Jesus and the ways of Christianity to an anti-christian leader who is only interested in profit and power. Prayer breakfasts turn into polarizing bragging sessions, Super Bowl shows that feature spanish-speaking Americans are replaced with all white alternatives, and people who are not white lose their right to due process during immigration enforcement. The “Christian” Nationalist right may be able to control other people’s moral choices, but they’ve lost control of their own Christian witness.

This is a tragedy for our country, but it’s also a tragedy for the American Church who has allowed their credibility to be aligned with a President who doesn’t care at all for the fruits of the Spirit or the ways of Jesus. To echo the words of Frederick Douglass…

“Between the Christianity of this land and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference.”

So, what then is a truly Christ-like response to this situation? Simple, we demonstrate the difference in our personal lives and demand better from our leaders.

We as followers of Jesus must recognize the image of God in every human and treat them with dignity and equality. Consider these Biblical teachings that level human hierarchy and call us to unity…

• “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” – Galatians 3:28
• “Rich and poor have this in common: The Lord is the Maker of them all.” – Proverbs 22:2
• “My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?” – James 2:1
• “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them” – Genesis 1:27
• “For the Lord your God… shows no partiality and takes no bribe… He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and loves the stranger.” – Deuteronomy 10:17–19
• “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” – Acts 10:34-35

Much of the world’s unity and inclusion finds it’s roots in Christian teaches like these. In Christ, we view every human as our own people. To take it a step farther, when there are members of this family who have been mistreated, we add extra dignity and support to balance uneven scales. For example: we refuse to call one group by a name that is attached to a history of racial violence even though it isn’t offensive to the dominant group. This kind of Christian equity knows no borders and is not limited by ethnicity or nationality.

If we’re going to truly make strides to be a nation that is recognized for Christian values then we must demand that leaders show dignity and respect for all people, even people of other religions and nationalities. We invite inclusion but protect the rights of pluralism, and we always honor diversity. That is the Christian way, and I pray for the day when that is also the American way.

So, let’s make racism uncool again. Let’s be loud and direct with our disapproval so that we can protect future generations from hate and violence. Here’s some places to start…

• Intentionally spend time with a diverse group of friends.
• Listen to what it’s like to live in a country where your race or ethnicity doesn’t set the values and norms.
• Call your representatives and ask them to denounce the racist actions of the President and his administration.

We’re better than this. We have to act like it personally, and demand it from our leaders collectively.