(This cartoon image is by the inimitable Lalo Alcaraz.)Donald Trump is a RACIST! That is no secret, and it is nothing new.
As far back as the 1970's, Trump was banning minorities from living in his properties in New York City. He was found guilty by courts of violating the law in that regard at least three times.
Some people who were racists in the past have grown up and realized the error of their ways, but not Trump. He made that clear in his campaign for the presidency, when he clearly appealed to white racists by denigrating minorities repeatedly. And the racists loved it. They made it clear they considered him one of their own, and backed him.
He did not change after being elected. He selected a known racist to be his attorney general (who quickly and severely weakened the civil rights division of the Justice Department). Trump then created a commission to suppress the voting of minorities. And he sided with white supremacists in the Charlottesville debacle. As late as a few days ago, he retweeted several racist stories from a white supremacist website. Trump has also spoken ill of members of the Congressional Black caucus, and attacked athletes for exercising their constitutional right to demonstrate peacefully for social justice.
What then was Donald Trump doing at the opening of a Civil Rights Museum in Mississippi? It makes no sense.
He was invited to the opening by Mississippi's white Republican governor -- in what could only be an effort to make a mockery of the museum and its opening. And why did Trump accept? It was an attempt to get some photo ops with civil rights heroes, and put a thin veneer of respectability on his undeniable racism.
Leading civil rights heroes and Black leaders didn't fall for that. They (including Rep. John Lewis, Rep. Bennie Thompson, Myrlie Evers-Williams, NAACP president Derrick Johnson, and Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba) refused to attend the opening since Trump was there -- issuing the following statement:
“President Trump’s attendance and his hurtful policies are an insult to the people portrayed in this civil rights museum. The struggles represented in this museum exemplify the truth of what really happened in Mississippi. President Trump’s disparaging comments about women, the disabled, immigrants, and National Football League players disrespect the efforts of Fannie Lou Hamer, Aaron Henry, Medgar Evers, Robert Clark, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and countless others who have given their all for Mississippi to be a better place."
They were right. Trump attendance was a slap in the face to civil rights heroes, both past and present. Trump should be ashamed of his naked attempt to hijack the museum opening for his own narcissistic purposes -- but then, it's been obvious for quite a while now that Trump has no shame, and is devoid of ethics and morality.
