Waterloo is not exactly known as a booming cultural center. If you find yourself in the prairie town, the buzz of burner beneath America’s age-old metaphorical melting pot is far from audible, perhaps not even burning at all. To put it bluntly, the city is 90 percent white, according to a 2015 US census.
This town would seemingly embody the notion held about Midwesterners, specifically white Iowans. The notion is called “Iowa Nice,” which is used to describe the general temperament of your standard Iowan.
Mel Schlachter, a Johnson County priest, wrote in a guest column for the Gazette about the matter: “The behavior probably dates from pioneer days. When your neighbors are few and scattered around, and they will likely farm that plot of ground for some time to come, the last thing you want to do is alienate them … People need to get along. It means survival and prosperity.”
Perhaps this still resounds to some degree today, but some individuals in Waterloo don’t seem to have any desire to get along. A few days ago, a mosque in the city was vandalized with the word “TRUMP” written in large red letters. It is safe to assume that this refers to the Republican presidential nominee and business mogul Donald Trump.
The exact implications behind the act remain unclear. Was this a misguided endorsement of the floppy haired candidate? Perhaps the vandals thought they were voting early and had mistaken the mosque for an early polling place. Such assumptions are not too outlandish, as the act was not exactly the smartest of political statements.
But unfortunately, the vandals probably had more maliciously racist intentions. Xenophobia has been rife throughout this election year, and the Trump campaign has been used a means to justify this rise in racist rhetoric.
In a press release regarding the incident, Council on American Islamic Relations-Iowa Executive Director Miriam Amer said, “Because of Donald Trump’s mainstreaming of Islamophobia, and the resulting rise in anti-Muslim bigotry in our society, we urge law-enforcement authorities to treat this as a possible hate crime.”
This incident comes on the heels on a terror plot discovered by authorities in Kansas City, in which three white men had plotted to detonate car bombs around Garden City’s Garden Spot apartments. Potential targets included “pro-Somali churches and public officials — before settling on the complex where about 120 people live and worship the would-be terroists, conducted surveillance, gathered bomb-making materials, and planned to release a manifesto,” according to the Kansas City Star. The attacks would have taken place the day after the Nov. 8 presidential Election Day.
In a time of inescapable globalization and inevitable cultural meshing, such acts are not only blatantly abhorrent but also entirely futile. The Daily Iowan Editorial Board would like to see the Midwestern trait of “Iowa Nice” displayed in earnest, not just from fellow Iowans but from people across the nation, because as our own Mel Schlachter said, “People need to get along. It means survival and prosperity.” This is what would make American truly great again.
