From Bunk to Barack: if only Trump's bigots and racists watched the DNC last night and became woke, by Hal Brown, MSW

 

Watch video of when Bunk met McNcNulty here.

Click for Pierce's X page.

William "Bunk" Moreland is a fictional character in The Wire, played by Wendell Pierce. Bunk's character is based on a retired Baltimore detective named Oscar "The Bunk" Requer. He is portrayed as a generally competent, if profane and curmudgeonly detective. Like his best friend Jimmy McNulty, he also has problems related to infidelity and alcohol abuse, although he is more mindful than McNulty of the department's chain of command. Wikipedia

Fans of "The Wire," considered by critics to be one of the best TV shows ever, probably thought the Mississippi DNC delegate who spoke briefly during the ceremonial roll call vote last night look very familiar. Indeed, it was actor Wendell Pierce. He was also in the HBO show Treme and the series Suits and had roles in many other shows.

Read: Actor Wendell Pierce gives message to Black men: ‘There’s blood on that ballot box’

Last night's DNC was broadcast on Fox News so there's a chance that the more open-minded of politically atuned Trump supporters watched some or all of it. 

As those of us who watched it from beginning to end know it was a tour de force display of diversity in stark contrast to the RNC vanilla malevolent milkshake noise machine.

Featured RNC speaker Hulk Hogan was filmed going off on a rant against Vice President Kamala Harris in which he talked about body slamming her and questioned whether she was an "Indian" thinking this meant a Native American. Read article.

One of the things that the DNC did that the RNC didn't, and really couldn't do, was to tell compelling inspirational stories about their candidate from their childhood through their impressive career in public service to how they and their spouse met. 

Another thing the Democrats did that the Republicans might have wanted to do was have their candidate's spouse speak at the convention. In the two prior Republican conventions Melania spoke. This year she didn't. Whether this was her decision or not, it was probably a good thing for them. I don't think I need to explain this to anybody who saw Michelle Obama's speech which included the line about Trump  "who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those 'Black jobs?'

My fantasy is that for those who watched it the DNC was a magical elixer or a wizzard's spell that opened the minds of all the racists, bigots, anti-Semites, LGBTQ bashers, and all the haters out there so they would once and for all get the message that their abhorrence and fear of people not like them is wrong and that they are as human as people they have considered their brethren. 

Alas, the only way I think this could have happened was to have given them all a dose of psylocybin or ecstasy (MMDA) prior to watching it. Don't scoff. This might actually have worked. (Read articles on psylocybin and empathy and moral decision making here and similar articles about the effects of ecstasy on empathy here.)

Read previous blogs here.