A sad story here.
David works for us and grew up and lived in Charlotte, NC until he moved here with us in 2012. He was 8 years old at the time. It was the Friday after Thanksgiving. He and his parents were on the way to visit relatives in Bristol, TN and driving through the mountains and taking time to stop at trout farms fishing. They pulled up to a small country store and gas station to get drinks and snacks. The people there were celebrating. They were saying the President had been killed and were joyful.
His parents though it had to be the most inappropriate joke ever, even to rejoice jokingly about a President being killed, and it surely couldn't be true. Back in the car, they turned on the radio. Horrible reception in the area but finally found a station and the assassination was the topic. His mom cried. He asked his parents, "What is wrong with those people at the gas station." His father said, "They're just very sick and bad people filled with hatred and bigotry." Even to an 8 year old it was incomprehensible. It wasn't for several years that he appreciated the fact that his parents had voted for Nixon but were still devastated over the assassination of Kennedy. He said the rest of the drive was listening to the radio and very little talk.
As a child and young person, I thought, probably just hoped, those times were past. However, I read on social media and heard people, even relatives, basically say it would be a favor if Obama was assassinated or saying they wouldn't be upset. It was strange to me as I grew up in a progressive part of the state. It was interesting that Kennedy and Obama carried NC which is normally a Republican state (Obama in 2008) and it incited such hate. David first told me the Kennedy story when I was lamenting what my relatives were saying regarding Obama.
I've heard such statements made about Trump and I would never vote for him, even had a strong dislike for him starting many years ago, long before he ran for President, but I'm appalled when such dislike reaches levels of people wishing someone was dead. I've never felt hate to that level for any human being.
Up until 2008, I would have associated the hatred only with a small group of hillbillies in the NC mountains but then I saw it from relatives who I'd previously been close to. Today I see it every day from both sides of the political equation.
The answer we need isn't pledging allegiance of standing for the national anthem, but it's ridding ourselves of the hatred and ugliness. If you don't think it's pervasive, just talk to teachers about how it's permeated their schools.
We all need to watch the Mr. Rogers movie and learn from his approach.