This past week has been interesting contrast of double-standards on race relations. Colin Kaepernick decided to kneel at a San Francisco 49ers football game during the National Anthem because ‘we’re an oppressive country.’ The media became outraged by Donald Trump’s tweet reacting to the death of Dwayne Wade's cousin who was shot and killed by two criminals on parole in Chicago. Hillary Clinton broke the news that Trump is a racist (for the 100th time) because of a 1973 case of housing discrimination which he settled a couple of years later.
In Kaepernick’s case, liberals defended his right to freedom of speech with little outrage—no matter how many Americans he offended. They have little concern for his offensive behavior toward our veterans and millions of American patriots. It is perfectly acceptable for him to act with complete disrespect because his message is liberal.
Dwayne Wade's cousin was walking her baby in a stroller as she was shot. The two thugs involved in the shooting were pursuing someone else. This case received national attention because she was related to a popular NBA star. Sadly, these sort of shootings happen (without coverage) dozens of times per year in Chicago. Liberals had to find a way to distract from this news highlighting their failures. Solution? Blame Trump for a callous tweet about this prominent tragedy.
What’s wrong with Trump using this tragedy to explain to the black community why we need a change in policy? After every mass shooting, liberals immediately remind us of the need for gun control! Both sides politicize tragedy but only one side is ridiculed for it. Sadly, this shooting comes just days after Trump (to great rebuke) said people (minorities) are getting shot walking down the street.
Clinton pounced on a story inferring ‘Trump’s racism’ from 44 years ago. Apartment managers from the Trump organization wrote “C” on tenant applications to identify those people as “colored.” That's it! We now have a ‘smoking gun’ proving that Trump is racist.
Here's the problem with most everything Clinton says: It's either an outright lie or as a half-truth.
It is true that the Trump organization was caught telling black applicants that no apartments were available in a couple of their buildings in 1972 and early 1973. Activist groups sent testers to catch the property manager giving one answer (as to apartment availability) to minorities and another to white applicants.
The Clinton Campaign conveniently forgets that this was in a transitional period shortly after the “Fair Housing Act of 1968” where there was still a rooted-culture of racism and discrimination in many industries. There’s no justification for the discrimination then or now. However, the story is much more complex - in addition to the fact they are conflating a culture of half a century ago with one of today. People change.
The assertions were even more disingenuous because Donald Trump was 26 years old when they occurred. His father, Fred Trump, was also president of the company. Donald Trump didn't assume control of the Trump organization until late in 1973 at 27 years old. By 1975, likely realizing that rogue, property managers in a couple of their apartment complexes had clearly violated the law, he settled the case.
How does this make Donald Trump racist when a company he was not running, in facilities he did not oversee, by managers who did not directly report to him, discriminated against people because of their race? Isn’t it possible that he simply had a few racist employees?
Whether you like Donald Trump or not, this story is another example of how the lies from liberals are frequent and unfettered to the truth. The media has completely ignored the pioneering phase of Trump's career as he refused to continue discriminatory practices in private golf clubs, that he purchased or was developing, even though his business advisors suggested he do so.
Oddly, some of the very people who now say Trump is racist, were praising him for his outreach into minority communities and causes in the 1980s and 1990s. Rev. Jesse Jackson thanked him for all the work he’s done (in that regard) in a 1998 Push Coalition dinner introduction as a friend” who embraced and helped “the under-served communities.”
Trump is a man who says he never settles legal cases. So why did he settle the case of his rogue and discriminatory property managers? This is just conjecture, but my guess is he was disgusted by their behavior and realized they had broken the law. Let's remember he inherited these managers from his father's company from a much different era of ‘not-yet illegal discrimination.’
Trump is on record as stating he had no interest retaining and managing those residential-complexes in favor of developing the skyline of Manhattan.
I'm not buying it. Trump is not racist. That’s a ruse being used to distract from the harsh reality/truth being identified by Trump. The word ‘racist’ is meaningless and overused primarily because it's the best way to shut down proactive-dialogue and for the accuser to cover up their own race-related flaws and shortcomings.