Tag: Racism

The Best Answer Yet to Trump’s “S.O.B Athletes” Slur

Trish

Dale Hansen is a Dallas sportscaster, which makes him an unlikely champion of protest rights, but he does have a history of being on the right side. His recent commentary is an exquisite combination of disdain (noting that his foot hurt too while he served in the military, a reference to Donald Trump’s Vietnam deferments for a bone spur) and solemnity.

It’s an ill wind that blows no good, and Hansen’s response to Trump, along with many others, might show that if nothing else, Trump is affording us an opportunity to display our better selves as we oppose him.

Not a Single Member of Trump’s Evangelical Council Has Resigned

Trish

biblehands

(Updates at end of post)

So many members of Trump’s manufacturing advisory council resigned over his support of armed extremists in Charlottesville, Va. that he had to disband the group to avoid further embarrassment. One by one, until Trump cried uncle at eight, leaders of industry released statements of resignation, adding their disagreement with the president’s views on race, anti-semitism, protest, and the circumstances of the loss of life at the white supremacy rally.

But not Trump’s evangelical council. Not a single member has resigned, from former Rep. Michele Bachmann to the Rev. Jerry Falwell to James Dobson.

[…]

Trump Calls Blacks ‘Racist’ on Twitter Three Times More Often than Whites

Buck Banks

56

Washington Post: Trump has used the word “racist” or “racism” at least 56 times on Twitter, according to the Trump Twitter Archive, a website that tracks and archives all the president’s tweets. In two-thirds of those Tweets, Trump levied accusations of racism at individuals or groups of people. And those accusations followed a very clear pattern: Trump has directed accusations of racism toward black people three times as often as he has done so against whites.

Dr. Democrat: Racism Is Alive in L.A. and America

Dr. Democrat

doctor democratDear Dr. Democrat:

I’d be interested in your thoughts on how something like this could happen in Los Angeles. I have always said that racism isn’t a place and the South is a scapegoat that allows the rest of the country to feel good about itself with no merit, but lately we (down here) seem not only equalled but bested by everyone else. Portland, for crying out loud? And now LeBron James in L.A.? Huh?

Despairing in Dixie

Dear Dixie:

One of the most famous racists of our era, Andrew Breitbart, lived and died in LeBron’s Brentwood neighborhood. Another famous resident was OJ Simpson.

And, of course, L.A. has a history of racial tension, like the Watts riots in 1965 and the 1992 riots associated with the Rodney King beating and subsequent trial.

[…]

LePage: Lewis Should Thank White Presidents

Buck Banks

I will just say this: John Lewis ought to look at history. It was Abraham Lincoln who freed the slaves, it was Rutherford B. Hayes and Ulysses S. Grant who fought against Jim Crow laws. A simple thank you would suffice.

— Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R), asserting “that the NAACP should apologize to white America, making the comment just hours after he weighed in on the president-elect’s Twitter beef with a civil rights icon, saying U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) should be grateful,” the Portland Press Herald reports.

Older White Voters Could Win Florida for Trump

Buck Banks

12.4 million

Number of active registered voters in Florida, more than 3.3 million of whom are older than 65, making it the largest age group on the rolls (followed by those 50 to 64). The elderly also have the highest turnout rate in Florida, Politico reports. “Without the backing of older whites, polls indicate Trump would lose Florida — in this retirement mecca, the elderly are still a force at the ballot box. … But at its core, the race is about race, about motivating white versus non-white voters. The whiter the electorate, the likelier it is Trump wins. And older whites are keeping Trump in the hunt. … When it comes to race, non-Hispanic whites are 65 percent of the overall voter rolls and are the most-reliable voters.”

Your Might Be in the ‘Basket of Deplorables’ If …

Buck Banks

Few people embrace the “racist” label, so let’s help them. If you are “very enthusiastic” about a candidate who has based his campaign on scapegoating immigrants, Latinos and African Americans, talked of banning Muslims from the country, hesitated to disown the Ku Klux Klan and employed anti-Semitic imagery — well, you might be a racist. But if you are holding your nose and supporting Trump only because you think him better than Clinton, that doesn’t put you in the basket.

— The Washington Post