Trump's History of Racism

Photo: The Independent

· Before we actually get to Donald Trump, it is important to note that his father, Fred, was a member of the KKK – a known white supremacist, terrorist organization

· 1973 – Trump was sued by the Department of Justice for housing discrimination. Trump would deny housing to black families and would often times tell black people that there were no available apartments when there actually were. He would also change the leasing agreements for black people. Trump claimed he wasn’t racist and the suit was wrong. He said that 700 tenants in his building were black so there is no way he could be racist. Those 700 people only accounted for 4% of the entire building.

· 1980s – a former employee of Trump’s Castle, a casino explained how when Trump came to visit, all of the black employees were instructed to hide in the black, out of view. They were not allowed on the floor while he was there.

· 1988 – Trump gave a commencement speech at Leigh University bashing Japan and accusing them of “stripping the United States of economic dignity”. This is quite similar to how he talks about China today

· 1989 – The Central Park Five. Four black teens and one Latino teen were accused of attacking and raping a jogger in Central Park. Trump took it upon himself to “solve the case”. He took out ads in local papers demanding the teens get the death penalty. The teenagers spent 7-13 years in prison despite not committing the crime. In 2001, Matias Reyes confessed to the crime and it was further proven by DNA evidence. The 5 teenagers were released from prison. In 2016, despite DNA evidence proving their innocence, Trump said he still thinks their guilty.

· 1989 – in a profile interview for Time magazine, he was asked to give an estimate of his wealth. His response was, "Who the f knows? I mean, really, who knows how much the Japs will pay for Manhattan property these days?"

· 1991 – a former president of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino wrote a book in which he details Trump’s discrimination and racism. He gave a quote by Trump about a black accountant, “Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day. … I think that the guy is lazy. And it’s probably not his fault, because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that. It’s not anything they can control”. Trump clearly shows his bias against black people. In an interview by Playboy in 1997, Trump said, “the stuff O’Donnell wrote about me is probably true”.

· 1992 – Trump’s casino had to pay $200,000 in fines because they took black and women dealers off of tables because a certain gambler held prejudices against them.

· 1993 – in a congressional testimony, Trump said that certain Native Americans shouldn’t be allowed to operate casinos because they “don’t look like Indians to me”.

· 2000 – Trump began lobbying against the building of a casino in the Catskills because it would draw business away from his casino in Atlantic City. He secretly funded an ad campaign saying that the Native Americans that wanted to build the casinos were dangerous criminals. He wanted to scare the townspeople by falsely claiming they were going to cause lots of crime and violence. Later, Trump had to pay $250,000 for failing to tell the state lobbying commission that he ran the ad campaign. He also had to pay another $50,000 to say he had paid for the first ads.

· 2004 – Trump fired a black contestant on his show for being “overeducated”

· 2005 – Trump pitched an idea for The Apprentice: White People vs. Black People

· 2010 – there was a proposal to build a Muslim community center near the site of the 9/11 attacks and Trump was so offended by it, he offered to buy out the investor. Trump later said on the Late Show With David Letterman, “Well, somebody’s blowing us up. Somebody’s blowing up buildings, and somebody’s doing lots of bad stuff”. This clearly shows his bias and lack of knowledge about the Muslim people.

· 2011 – Trump was a major instigator in the idea that Obama was not born in America. He even sent investigators to Hawaii to try to find out the truth. He was very invested in trying to take down the first black president and damage his persona. Obama later released his birth certificate.

· 2011 – Trump also claimed that Obama was not smart enough to have gotten into Harvard or Columbia. He demanded that Obama release his transcripts because Trump thought he was too dumb.

· 2015 – Trump began his campaign by calling Mexicans rapists, criminals, drug lords, and saying they all are brining disease to America. The ironic part is Trump has had dozens of women file sexual harassment and assault cases against him. He is the real rapist.

· 2015 – David Duke, leader of the KKK, endorsed Trump and when asked about it, Trump said he would not disavow his endorsement. Duke also said in an interview, “The reason a lot of Klan members like Donald Trump is because a lot of what he believes, we believe in.”

· 2015 – he also was very against any immigrants from the Middle East. He said that Syrian refugees, who were trying to escape war, were secretly ISIS fighters. He also wanted a shutdown on any Muslim people trying to come to America. His administration later put a travel ban on 5 majority Muslim countries.

· 2016 – Trump claimed that Judge Gonzalo Curiel could not be impartial because of his Mexican heritage. Curiel was born in Indiana. He was also the judge overseeing the lawsuit against Trump University. Trump also added, Trump added: “I’m building a wall. It’s an inherent conflict of interest”.

· 2016 - Trump told Black voters: “You’re living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58% of your youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose?”. This is just so incredibly racist. He also loves to claim that majority black cities are war zones. He has said, “Our inner cities are a disaster,” and “You get shot walking to the store. They have no education, they have no jobs”.

· 2016 – Trump shared a graphic originally posted on a white nationalist message board. The graphic had an anti-Semitic theme

· 2017 – Trump said that people from Haiti “all have AIDS” and that Nigerian immigrants would never “go back to their huts” after experiencing the United States.

· 2017 – after the Unite the Right white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, VA, Trump said refused to condemn the white supremacists even though a counter protestor was murdered. He also said that the white nationalist group included some “very fine people”.

· 2017 – Trump called Puerto Ricans “politically motivated ingrates” following the disaster storm, Hurricane Maria. He also denied that 3,000 people died despite overwhelming evidence from scientists.

· 2018 – when discussing protections for immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries, Trump said, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”

· 2018 – at a meeting with reporters at the White House, Trump referred to undocumented immigrants as “animals” and said “You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people, these are animals.”

· 2018 – Trump loves to refer to black people as less intelligent. He tweeted, “LeBron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made LeBron look smart, which isn’t easy to do. I like Mike!”

· 2019 – Congressman Elijah Cummings of Maryland criticized the detention centers holding immigrants at the US/Mexico border. Following this, Trump called his district a “disgusting, rat, and rodent infested mess” and “far worse and more dangerous”. His district is primarily black.

· 2019 – Trump equated his impeachment trial to a “lynching”.

· 2019 – Trump mocked the Trail of Tears in a tweet.

· 2019 – Trump said, “I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”

· 2019 - Trump started to target four congresswomen of color - Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib - in a tweet that was clearly racist. “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,” Trump tweeted. “Then come back and show us how it is done.” Ocasio-Cortez was born in the Bronx; Tlaib is from Detroit; and Pressley was born in Cincinnati. Omar, who was born in Somalia, has lived in the United States for 25 years and became an American citizen in 2000.

This list is by no means all inclusive, I am sure there are countless other times Trump has been racist. These are just some of the accounts that are public.

Gass, Nick. “The 15 Most Offensive Things That Have Come out of Trump’s Mouth.” Politico, POLITICO SPRL, 8 Dec. 2015, www.politico.eu/article/15-most-offensive-things-trump-campaign-feminism-migration-racism/. Accessed 16 June 2020.

González-Ramírez, Andrea. “The Ever-Growing List of Trump’s Most Racist Rants.” Medium, 11 Oct. 2019, gen.medium.com/trump-keeps-saying-racist-things-heres-the-ever-growing-list-of-examples-21774f6749a4. Accessed 16 June 2020.

Graham, David A, et al. “Trump’s Racism: An Oral History.” The Atlantic, The Atlantic, 13 May 2019, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/06/trump-racism-comments/588067/. Accessed 16 June 2020.

Lind, Dara. “A Short History of Donald Trump, ‘the Least Racist Person You Will Ever Meet.’” Vox, 3 Aug. 2015, www.vox.com/2015/8/3/9089495/donald-trump-racist. Accessed 16 June 2020.

Lopez, German. “Donald Trump’s Long History of Racism, from the 1970s to 2019.” Vox, Vox, 25 July 2016, www.vox.com/2016/7/25/12270880/donald-trump-racist-racism-history. Accessed 16 June 2020.

O’Connor, Lydia, and Daniel Marans. “Here Are 16 Examples Of Donald Trump Being Racist.” Huffington Post, Verizon Media, 13 Dec. 2016, www.huffpost.com/entry/president-donald-trump-racist-examples_n_584f2ccae4b0bd9c3dfe5566. Accessed 16 June 2020.