{"id":39190,"date":"2025-02-02T12:48:42","date_gmt":"2025-02-02T20:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=39190"},"modified":"2025-02-02T12:48:51","modified_gmt":"2025-02-02T20:48:51","slug":"trump-reminds-us-that-white-supremacy-was-americas-original-sin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/02\/02\/trump-reminds-us-that-white-supremacy-was-americas-original-sin\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump reminds us that white supremacy was America’s “original sin.”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Trump’s use of white supremacy has been seen many times before<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
DEAN OBEIDALLAH<\/a> FEB 1, 2025<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Donald Trump is many things from a convicted felon to an adjudicated rapist<\/a> to a man who was charged with crimes for violating the Espionage Ac<\/a>t and attempting a coup. But one thing he is not is original\u2014at least when it comes to embracing white supremacy and weaponizing it for political gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even Trump\u2019s vile claims at the press conference this week after the first deadly plane crash in the United States in 15 years<\/a>, echoed the sentiment–and even the words–of past white supremacists. We heard Trump repeatedly blame the crash<\/a> on the \u201cFAA’s Diversity and inclusion hiring plan,\u201d which he read stated that \u201cdiversity is integral to achieving FAA’s mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel.\u201d Trump then remarked, \u201cI don’t think so\u2026I think it’s just the opposite.\u201d<\/strong> Here was Trump as President declaring that \u201cdiversity\u201d\u2014which means non-white men being hired\u2014is bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked by a reported how he knew the accident was caused by diversity hires, Trump responded, \u201cI have common sense<\/a>, OK?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White supremacist never need facts\u2014it\u2019s all dark vibes. For example, rabid segregationist George Wallace used Trump\u2019s exact phrase of \u201ccommon sense\u201d <\/strong>when defending his views that the races should be separated. This came in 1959 with Wallace stating<\/a> that some have asked is he \u201ctoo strong about segregation?\u201d Wallace responded by telling reporters, \u201cNow let me ask you this: how in the name of common sense<\/strong> can you be too strong about it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, bigoted leaders like Trump and Wallace don\u2019t need facts\u2014they are playing on a visceral reaction that resonates with a subset of white people. That is why the fact checks<\/a> of Trump\u2019s lies at the press conference\u2014while needed–mean nothing to his base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some in the MAGA base, they subscribe to the myth that the white race is inherently superior and Blacks along other people of color are inferior. For others in the MAGA base, it\u2019s the sense that they are the real victims of racism now. Indeed, a 2023 poll<\/a> found that 73% of Trump voters say that racism against white Americans is a BIGGER problem than against Blacks. (For some, it\u2019s likely a combination of these two reasons.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George Wallace used the same playbook of positioning himself as the protector of the white race when riling up his racist base. One of the most infamous examples came during Wallace\u2019s inaugural address<\/a> as Governor of Alabama on Jan. 14, 1963. There, he proclaimed, \u201cIt is very appropriate that from this cradle of the Confederacy<\/strong>, this very heart of the great Anglo-Saxon Southland<\/strong>, that today we sound the drum for freedom as have our generations of forebears before us time and again down through history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wallace continued on behalf of those white people, \u201cIn the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth,<\/strong> I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny<\/strong>.\u201d And that is when he delivered the infamous line, \u201cI say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wallace was vowing to protect white people from \u201ctyranny\u201d by ensuring white supremacy. It was very telling Wallace invoked the \u201ccradle of the Confederacy\u201d in his speech as the basis for segregation. The Confederacy\u2014like Jim Crow\u2014was predicated on white supremacy. In fact, that is exactly what the Vice President of the Confederacy, Alexander Stephens told the nation in his \u201cCornerstone Speech<\/a>\u201d<\/strong> in Savannah, Ga on March 1861.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephens proudly declared that the Confederacy\u2019s \u201ccornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man<\/strong>,\u201d adding, \u201cthat slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, Stephens mocked those in North who opposed this view: \u201cThey assume that the Negro is equal and hence conclude that he is entitled to equal privileges and rights with the white man. If their premises were correct, their conclusions would be logical and just but their premise being wrong, their whole argument fails.\u201d He added, \u201cWith us, all of the white race, however high or low, rich or poor, are equal in the eye of the law. Not so with the negro. Subordination is his place.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These despicable views shared by Stephens, Wallace and Trump were also present in nearly half of the original delegates<\/a> to the Constitutional Convention\u201425 of 55–who owned enslaved people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I\u2019ve often said, America\u2019s original sin was not slavery.<\/strong> America\u2019s original sin was white supremacy<\/strong>. Slavery was just a manifestation of white supremacy\u2014as were the provisions in the original version of the Constitution that enshrined<\/a> it such as the three-fifths compromise and the Fugitive Slave Clause. Of course, there were many delegates who passionately argued against slavery. For example, Pennsylvania delegate Gouverneur Morris<\/a> not only slammed slavery as a moral abomination\u2014he vocally criticized during the Convention those southern delegates who refused to end the practice in their home states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when the founding document of the nation enshrines slavery, it means white supremacy is part of that nation\u2019s DNA. And Trump\u2019s war on \u201cDEI\u201d and other programs that embrace diversity are simply the present-day example of the constant push and pull our nation has been engaged in since its founding on the issue of race–and specifically white supremacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spoke with Rep. Hank Johnson<\/a> (D-Ga) on Friday who didn\u2019t hold back that Trump\u2019s press conference this week reminds us that \u201cracism still exists in America.\u201d He continued, \u201cthere are still some white people who feel that black folks and people who are of dark skin are inferior that the white race is superior.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson bluntly declared that Trump envisions an America that will be run by \u201cwhite male Anglo-Saxon Protestant,\u201d with his being to \u201cMake America white again by taking us back into Jim Crow.\u201d<\/strong> (You can watch the interview below.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is right. One of the lessons I have learned first-hand in the past decade is that progress is never permanent. The 2013 US Supreme Court decision<\/a> by the GOP justices that gut the heart of the 1965 Voting Rights Act was a wakeup call that the reactionary forces of the right would never give up in their crusade to return America to the days where the rule of white men\u2014specifically straight, conservative and Christian\u2014was unchallenged. It was not a coincidence that this challenge to the Voting Rights Act was brought by white conservatives in Alabama\u2014the very state Wallace was governor in the 1960\u2019s and had dubbed the \u201ccradle of the Confederacy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, we saw the GOP Supreme court in 2022 overturn<\/a> Roe v. Wade\u2014which again is about conservative men stripping from women the power to control their own destinies. It\u2019s very much in keeping with the motivating forces of empowering white, male supremacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now we are dealing with Trump–a modern-era George Wallace–seeking to return to \u201cJim Crow\u201d era segregation to make himself and his base happy. This is where we find ourselves. And like generations before, we are called to join this battle because we can never allow the dark forces of hate to go unchallenged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trump’s use of white supremacy has been seen many times before DEAN OBEIDALLAH FEB 1, 2025 Donald Trump is many things from a convicted felon to an adjudicated rapist to a man who was charged with crimes for violating the Espionage Act and attempting a coup. But one thing he is not is… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39190"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39190"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39195,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39190\/revisions\/39195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}