Salon (Opinion)
By Heather Digby Parton
February 17, 2016
In
his press conference on Monday, a reporter asked Donald Trump what he
would do with the DREAM kids, those undocumented young people who were
brought to the U.S. as
children. You’ll recall that in the wake of the failure of the DREAM
act in the congress, President Obama issued a policy in 2012 allowing
them to apply for a deferral of deportation, assuming they met certain
criteria. In the past, Trump has insisted they
would “have to go” along with their parents. In fact, he’s said that
the American children of undocumented workers would be deported as well.
When
asked about it in the press conference, he oddly said DREAMers were
“great” and then launched into a speech which clearly gave the opposite
impression:
You
know what I want? I want dreamers to come from this country, ok? You
mention dreamers, excuse me, you mention dreamers. I want dreamers to
come from the United States.
The people in the United States that have children I want them to have
dreams also. We’re always talking about dreams for other people, I want
the children who are growing up in the United States to dream also and
they’re not dreaming right now.
Fair enough. But then he switched gears:
You
look at African American youth, I mean 58% unemployment. You look at
African Americans and they’re 30 years old an 40 years old and you have
an African American president
and he has not done anything for African Americans in this country, ok?
And he got a free pass. Because if that were me or someone else, we
would be taken over the coals.
Trump
is known for exaggerating the unemployment rate, so the figure of 58
percent unemployment is wrong. Obviously. African American youth
unemployment is too high, absolutely.
But as Jonathan Capehart reported in the Washington Post last month,
it’s actually lower right now than it’s been in years. In December 2015,
black people aged 16-24 had a 17.6 percent rate of unemployment, down
from the all time high of 34 percent during
the worst of the Great Recession in 2011.
But
the point he seemed to be making was something else: that the president
had put the well-being of Latino immigrant youth before that of African
Americans and that
if it were anyone but Barack Obama, African Americans would be angry
about it. That’s a typical right-wing whine, unsurprising coming a man
who claims he will be better for African Americans than the first black
president — and he’ll do it by punishing all
those Latinos that president allegedly prefers.
For
the most part, there has not been a history of antagonism between
Latinos and blacks as regards immigration. There have been some
prominent African American politicians
of the past, like the late Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, who believed
that immigration brought down wages which helped keep African Americans
in poverty. This is currently being exploited by anti-immigrant groups
using her words in advertisements to make the
case for closing the borders.
But
most economists do not believe that wages are suppressed by
undocumented workers, and institutions which used to be hostile to
immigration, like unions, have changed
their position on the issue. In fact, the immigration debate is much
more focused these days on culture, citizenship, “welfare” and the
abstract notion of sovereignty than on wages. African American leaders
are squarely with the Democratic mainstream position
in favor of comprehensive immigration reform.
Pitting
Latinos against African Americans remains a tactic on the
anti-immigrant far right, however, where nativist groups like VDARE
fatuously declare their deep concern
for the well-being of African Americans while running articles like
this one from John Derbyshire, in which he complains about Beyoncé’s
“anti-white thunder thighs.” Their insincerity toward the problems of
the African American community couldn’t be any clearer.
No
one can say that Donald Trump is not very tuned in to the
anti-immigration right. And these comments juxtaposing the DREAMers and
African Americans did not happen in
a vacuum. As a matter of fact, Trump has released a new ad that comes
at this theme from another angle:
Breitbart
News wrote about the ad when it was first released explaining that
Trump is trying to attract African American votes in South Carolina. And
according to Buzzfeed,
Trump and some of his racist friends actually think they have a chance
to woo African American voters with this appeal:
As
the possibility of Trump winning the nomination sinks in, some
Republicans have been floating this theory: that Trump could put black
voters like Jackson and Cook in
play for Republicans in the general election.
This
theory — which is mostly being pushed by a few pollsters, fringe black
operatives, Trump sympathizers, and Trump himself — is rooted in the
idea that black voters
aren’t as excited about either of the leading Democratic contenders,
and that Trump’s high name ID and life story could win over a higher
percentage of black voters than GOP nominees have been able to secure in
recent presidential elections.
One
problem: Public polling does not currently back this theory up, when it
comes to Trump himself or the policies he’s proposed.
Still,
the theory hasn’t died — even among establishment Republicans in
Washington. They won’t publicly talk about it, but the idea has come up
in private discussions
on Capitol Hill, half a dozen sources say.
It’s
far fetched to believe that African Americans are going to vote for
Trump just because he’s famous. They are loyal Democrats who are not
going to be swayed by the
obvious manipulation in that ad. They surely feel sorry for Mr Shaw’s
loss but to people who are often subject to collective punishment for
the acts of a few, this argument isn’t likely to be persuasive.
Trump
is deluded enough to think African Americans will vote for him, but he
is more likely doing what conservative always do — seeking to prove they
aren’t racist even
as they propose racist policies.
Which is especially rich, considering that Trump has a long history of racism, of a very ugly sort. Here’s just one example:
After
the brutal rape of a white jogger in Central Park in May 1989 received
widespread media attention, and amid a rise in crime rates nationwide,
Trump took out a full-age
ad in four New York City newspapers with the title “BRING BACK THE
DEATH PENALTY! BRING BACK THE POLICE!” He did not specifically reference
the Central Park jogger attack in the ad, but its timing made the
connection inescapable.
“Mayor
[Ed] Koch has stated that hate and rancor should be removed from our
hearts. I do not think so. I want to hate these muggers and murderers.
They should be forced
to suffer and, when they kill, should be executed for their crimes.
They must serve as examples so that others will think long and hard
before committing a crime or an act of violence. Yes, Mayor Koch, I want
to hate these murderers and I always will. I am
not looking to psychoanalyze them or understand them, I am looking to
punish them. If the punishment is strong, the attacks on innocent people
will stop. I recently watched a newscast trying to explain “the anger
in these young men.” I no longer want to understand
their anger. I want them to understand our anger. I want them to be
afraid.
“How
can our great society tolerate the continued brutalization of its
citizens by crazed misfits? Criminals must be told that their CIVIL
LIBERTIES END WHEN AN ATTACK
ON OUR SAFETY BEGINS!”
Trump
was referring to five young black and Hispanic males who were in
custody at the time. They were all tried, convicted and sentenced to
multiple years in prison —
and they were all innocent of the crime. Years later, they were
exonerated. They sued the city and were awarded $40 million dollars.
Here’s what Trump had to say about that last year:
Forty
million dollars is a lot of money for the taxpayers of New York to pay
when we are already the highest taxed city and state in the country. The
recipients must be
laughing out loud at the stupidity of the city.
Speak to the detectives on the case and try listening to the facts. These young men do not exactly have the pasts of angels.
All
these years later and he has not changed one bit. Indeed, “your civil
liberties end where our safety begins,” could be his campaign slogan. He
has no moral compass
and cares nothing American constitutional principles. Latinos and
African Americans will have no problem recognizing him for what he is
and rejecting his attempt to use them for his own ends. They know his
type very, very well.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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