Racism the Old-Fashioned Way

 

As Donald Trump considered ways he could postpone the election of 2020 after he fell badly behind Joe Biden  in the polls, Trevor Noah said, “He’s just going to have to win the election the old-fashioned way–by  using racism.” Sadly that is so true. That is how politicians in America and Canada have won elections for generations. Canada’s first Prime Minister did it too.

Recently, Trump rolled back an Obama rule that tried to cutback on racial discrimination in housing projects with federal support. The Obama rule forced local governments who received federal support for low income housing to look at patterns of racial discrimination and make plans to eliminate it. It was really quite simple, but Trump saw an opportunity to appeal to his base.

This what Trump said in a tweet, “I am happy to inform all of the people living their Suburban Lifestyle Dream that you will no longer be bothered or financially hurt by having low income housing built in your neighborhood.” A few hours later he replied to a response, …”Your housing prices will to up based on the market, and crime will go down. I have rescinded the Obama-Biden Rule. Enjoy!”

Later in a speech he said, “I have seen conflict for years. It’s been hell for suburbia. We rescinded the rule 3 days ago so enjoy your life ladies and gentlemen.”

Appealing to suburban voters, Trump had this to say about his rollback: “There will be no more low income forced into the suburbs. I abandoned took away and just rescinded the rule.” As Trevor Noah analyzed it, correctly in my view,

Just in case it isn’t very clear, Trump is saying he is going to stop black people from moving into white people’s neighborhoods. It’s not even subtle enough to call that a dog whistle–it’s too loud. It’s like a dog  megaphone.

As the Daily show suggested, “to some white people, the scariest N-word is “neighbor.”

Leave a Reply