OpinionOPINION: ECHOES OF 'POLITICAL' RACISM IN USA

OPINION: ECHOES OF ‘POLITICAL’ RACISM IN USA

There is now loud echoes of rants of racism made against theWorld’s most eccentric politicians- Mr Donald Trump.

Donald Trump is the 45th president of the United States of America of the Republican political breed. Since he moynted the Presidential rostrum the accusations against him habe largely centred around racism which may have been instigated by his overwhelming aversion for immigrants of both Blacks and Hispanics in a Country almost known as one of the few Rainbow nation’s in the World by virtue of the historical contexts under which the different segments of the then fragmented nation’s evolved into the United States of America after many pre-independence battles that ended in 1776 on July 4th with the proclamation of Independence (Lord May I be right!).

He has somewhat a pedigree of immigrant parentage by virtue of the fact that his parents are described in one opinion article as part of the broader Trump family originating from Germany. His mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, came from the Hebridean Island of Lewis, off the West coast of Scotland. He hails from a very illustrious background and none of his fore fathers is known for ownership of black slaves or any sort of slaves. So his background is profoundly non-racist.

Glo

Business-wise just before venturing into politics, Donald Trump’s father was Fredrick Christ Trump (October 11, 1905 – June 15th 1999) was said to be an American real-estate developer in New York City.

His net worth was colossal and estimated to be between $250-300 million USD as at June 1999 at the much fulfilled age of 93. This means that Donald Trump’s Dad must have been busy making legitimate money and building an empire and had no time for the frivolity of racism. The younger Trump who would later beat even reputable opinion polls to become President of USA has the total DNA of his father in the World of entrepreneurial spirit.

This is because, he, Mr.Donald John Trump however before entering politics was a businessman and television personality of note who related and partnered many black sporting personalities.

With his mouth Trump has said that he had fulfilling times doing positive and constructive businesses with blacks and that amongst the black people he respects includes Mike Tyson the former World boxing Super heavyweight champion. Ben Carson the respected Brain Surgeon is his political affiliate.

He was born and raised in the rich New York City borough of Queens and he is a proud holder of a good economics degree of the prestigious Wharton school.

Trump owned the Miss Universe and Miss USA beauty pageantry from 1996 to 2015. Can you ever hold a beauty contests anywhere in the World without blacks? Not at all. As I write, the person holding Miss USA now is Miss Chelslie Kryst of North Carolina who was crowned on May 2, 2019 at Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada. Currently God holds the broadcast right for the Pageant. A Nigerian Miss Agbeni Darego won the Miss World beauty pageant in 2001.

Trump reportedly produced and hosted The Apprentice, a reality television show, from 2003 to 2015. He is a man of considerable financial means which in the estimation of Forbes, could be anywhere around $3.1 billion USD. This makes Donald Trump a remarkable achiever Son of a very prosperous father. So you can say with Donald Trump he is ‘like farher, like Son’ defined by busibess successes. His fundamental departure from his Dad is the heated debates un political circles if he can be termed appropriately as a racist. Trump who made money in the media industry is however hated by the media and he too serms to hate the media passionately going by his cynicism of branding most World’s media as purveyors of fake news. So a check in the media will nearly tellingly convince you that Donald Trump is a racist. We will analyse those media contents before we draw the curtain to this brief reflection which is motivated by the deadly mass shootings in USA targeting immigrants in which over 50 persons were gruesomely murdered by White Supremacists.

Historically, it was recorded that the grand Dad of Trump who was a German city named Mr. Frederick Trump (born Friedrich Trump; 14th March 1869 – 30th May 1918) was a German American businessman and the patriarch of the Trump family.

Born in Kallstadst, in the kingdom of Bavaria (now in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany). Trump’s grand father aforementioned had come to the USA at the age of 16 and started working as a barber just as it was reported by historians that he Anglicized his name to Frederick in 1893 when he became a United States citizen.

Although Donald Trump has stated his metropolitan outlook and his rejection of the appellation of a racist and a supporter of a white supremacist, there are insinuations accusing him of being a racist.

Although he, Donald Trump claims to have had a robust business affiliations with some blacks and especially sportsmen, but his largest critics have come from black sportsmen who think he is a racist. Added to these accusations, is the review by the associated press which found out that there are few, if any, black executives in the upper ranks of the Trump organization.

CBC news of June 16th 2016 reported that erstwhile executives of Trump organization say they could not recall a single black vice president-level executive at Trump’s headquarters during their combined tenures at the Trump organization LLC, which ranged from 1980 to late in the past decade prior to 2016.

A peep at Trump’s cabinet during his first ever cabinet level meeting on March 13th following his inauguration shows only just a few black Americans or Hispanics including Dr Ben Carson who he made the Housing secretary because he believed that black dominated townships are in dire need of new housing infrastructures but he is yet to deliver on this ground.

The Guardian of Britain in a report done around December 2017 on Omorosa’s exit stated that it highlighted the lack of diversity at Trump’s White house.

And I then ask, does it mean then that Trump’s White House is dominated by whites in the White House?

The Guardian appeared to have answered my question in the affirmative when it affirmed as follows: “The departure of the former Apprentice contestant Omarosa Manigault-Newman from the White House this week has placed the lack of diversity in Donald Trump’s administration under renewed scrutiny”.

She even criticized Trump by accusing him of surrounding himself with whites who have never worked with blacks.

Trump’s heightened rhetoric against immigrants and his vitriolic against blacks and Hispanics have combined to make his adversaries in the Democratic Party to increase their political accusations that he is a racist. He recently charged at some blacks in the Congress whom he asked to return to their original homelands if they are unhappy with the status quo in USA.

But Trump seems not to have helped himself by way of his unrelenting tweets on the themes of immigration and his alleged attack of Africa as a continent of ‘shithole’ countries. He also singled out the black neighbourhoods of Baltimore for attack as a squallor of drugs and violent crimes. One of his most trenchant critics in the Congress is a black man who represents Baltimore. His many media battles were still raging when the unthinkable happened which are the two most recent deadliest mass shootings in US history but this time around only immigrants were targeted by the ruthless extremists who from all indications are White Supremacists.

Interestingly, the two recent mass shootings that affected mostly immigrants in Texas have completely reinforced the allegations that Donald Trump is a racist and a white supremacist.

He however partly deflated these unprecedented echoes of accusations of racism by directly condemning extremism and white supremacy. Trump blamed the internet for poisoning the minds of these evil attackers. He also visited the scenes of the shootings and promised to speak in favour of introducing legislations to modify gun ownership. However, the National Riffle Association which is a powerful lobby cautioned him against backing any reform of gun ownership laws that permits comprehensive background checks for prospective gun owners in USA. A good number of parliamentarians were sponsored by this powerful gun ownership lobby group.

Trump during his visits to the scenes of the bloody mass shootings was quickly reminded that he too has played a role by stoking the flames of hatred for immigrants through his unrelenting tweets and political speeches. His media fight with the representatives of Baltimore has not helped matters.

An analysts stated that if you ask President Donald Trump if he believes that he is an unrepentant racist, he would inevitably respond that he isn’t racist.

The reporter apparently doesn’t believe him going by what he wrote that to the contrary, he’s repeatedly said that he’s “the least racist person that you’ve ever encountered.”

The analyst who thinks otherwise says that Trump’s actual record, however, tells a very different story. On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly made explicitly racist and otherwise bigoted remarks, from calling Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists to proposing a ban on all Muslims entering the US to suggesting a judge should recuse himself from a case solely because of the judge’s Mexican heritage.

The trend has continued into his presidency, the reporter noted.

“From stereotyping a black reporter to pandering to white supremacists after they held a violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, to cracking a joke about the Trail of Tears, Trump hasn’t stopped with the racist acts after his 2016 election.”

The writer recalled that most recently, Trump tweeted that several black and brown members of Congress are “from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe” and that they should “go back” to those countries.

The tweets, aimed at Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), exemplify a common racist trope used against immigrants and minority groups who criticize US policies, the writer observed.

The reporter then reminds us that Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, condemned Trump’s tweets as racist.

This the writer says is nothing new for Trump. In fact, the very first time that Trump appeared in the pages of the New York Times, back in the 1970s, was when the US Department of Justice sued him for racial discrimination. Since then, he has repeatedly appeared in newspaper pages across the world as he inspired more similar controversies.

“This long history is important. It would be one thing if Trump simply misspoke one or two times. But when you take all of Trump’s actions and comments together, a clear pattern emerges — one that suggests that bigotry is not just political opportunism on Trump’s part but a real element of Trump’s personality, character, and career”, (see German Lopez).

However, it is yet to be made clear if truly Donald Trump is a racist. Only time would tell.

*** Emmanuel Onwubiko is with the Humran Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA).

About the Author

Homepage | Recent Posts

More like this
Related