Posted on 12/05/2016 6:07:27 AM PST by pabianice
People of color, particularly Black Americans, shouldn’t be surprised in the least by Donald Trump’s presidential victory. Although part of me feels like we shouldn’t be acting like we haven’t already survived, despite vicious attempts to destroy us, I can understand the shock. It’s the same thing as saying no matter how much one can prepare for death, you’re never really ready. We’ve been preparing for different forms of death for hundreds of years. And yet, here we are in fear, though our fears have morphed into realities time and time again through Jim Crow, lynchings, police brutality (which has been elevated into its own version of lynching), and discriminatory administrations and courts.
The most frustrating part of it all is that the toughest blows against us have often been from people who were holding our hands, claiming allegiance, while snickering over their shoulders with racist America. This is exactly what Bill Clinton did when he played saxophone on a 1992 episode of “The Arsenio Hall Show,” and in another engagement, gave a speech on how we Blacks were so right to think the criminal justice system is quite unjust, citing, what I call, the one-in-three. (A 2003 “special report” done by the Bureau of Justice says one-in-three Black men will experience jail in their lifetime, and within the past decade, the numbers haven’t changed. This was all another Washington “discovery” that Black folks figured out when our men got 10-year bids in penitentiaries for dealing with that barbaric crack when the civilized did powder.) And not long after he was elected, Clinton signed his notorious crime bill, increasing policing, granting state prisons with an amount of money Washington can never find for urban public schools, and finalizing the three-strikes-and-done deal which incarcerated some three-time offenders for life.
My grandmother just said over Thanksgiving that Clinton’s administration increased jobs for Black people. Yes, partially because many of us young Black women then weren’t competing with our imprisoned husbands and brothers. And I imagine, as a single Black woman and daughter of a single mother whose partner was incarcerated for several years, many lives of single Black women (especially those with children) in the 1990s were made that much more complicated due to many of our men’s absences. (Michelle Alexander’s book “The New Jim Crow” explains all this in more sophisticated detail.) And guess who called himself the “drug czar” back in 2014, crediting himself for uplifting Crime Bill’s policies? It was none other than our dear old Vice President, Joe Biden. Phew, Barack Obama just barely grazed it. And no, Joe isn’t getting my vote if he runs in 2020.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was another beloved president, but his 1935 Social Security Act excluded domestic workers (maids: Black women) and agricultural laborers (40 percent of Black men). He also opted not to pass an anti-lynching bill. Yes, all the dead Black bodies hanging from trees in our grandparents’ day and the bodies bleeding onto the streets in our day (most recently, former National Football League player Joe McKnight) could’ve been outlawed. But Franklin D. Roosevelt said no, because he was afraid of sabotaging his own political standing. You’ve just got to sell those n—— when it comes to protecting your votes, you know?
But all jokes aside, Washington has been two-timing Black Americans since we got here (in chains). And from what it looks like, we wouldn’t have seen any better change with Hillary Clinton than we’re about to see with Trump. Hillary was so gung-ho for Bill’s strategy that she was collecting money because of all our men her husband stacked in jails like sardines until October of last year. In comparison, Eleanor Roosevelt was apparently in favor of not killing Black people for no reason. (Why, thank you, Eleanor—of course, only if the rumor is true.)
Ultimately, I’m actually glad Trump won. Yup, I said it. I’m also someone who’s tired of Washington’s lies. Now we can’t excuse anybody. We undoubtedly know where we stand in America’s priorities. And perhaps this will be the spark that gets Black people angry enough to not allow politicians to take advantage of our vulnerability in the future (of course, if we have a future). If the apocalypse arrives, and we go first, at least we can say we weren’t surprised.
Elisheva Azarael is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at jsimpson@umass.edu.
Thank you, I’m here all week. Try the veal.
CC
Having said the above, Trump still could have picked much better words to talk about border issues.
Maybe instead of saying SOME are supposedly good people, he should have said most are great people.
My wife who took twenty years to get here legally was insulted as hell by what Trump originally said and I can’t blame her. All Mexicans are rapist and murderers and he supposed some are good people? Not good, just saying.
“I’d rather be sittin’ here by my lonesome than with a couple of jokers who can’t figure out the game.” -Hannibal Lee, “The Tuskegee Airmen”
Well, who else is doing all the black-on-black crime?
What are the cops supposed to do when black people call the police?... Maybe they should just zoom in, toss the victim a weapon...and leave.
“What are these people going to use as an excuse in 4 years when people see that Trump has not put one single black person in chains?”
They’ll have had four years experience lying about it by then, so I guess they’ll just keep lying.
“I have four adopted black children and lesbians have made many passes at the females, since they were about 11.”
Really?!
Thanks for the heads-up. I must inoculate my youngest daughter against that.
Since racism has been redefined as ‘having any disagreement with any liberal about any topic’, I am now a proud racist.
I wondered why the author’s name was different from the name in the email....
“But some people are just too stupid to manage that.”
To play devil’s advocate, we are immersed in a foul bath of incitement to bad behavior every minute of the day. Even some of the things females wear to church these days are part of it.
How hard is it to persuade a 16-year-old boy that it would be okay to seduce his girlfriend?
I wondered that too. Email is probably the correct name. The other name is probably a pretentious pen name.
I wondered that too. Email is probably the correct name. The other name is probably a pretentious pen name.
Was your wife "sent here by Mexico" is she an illegal alien?
All Mexicans are rapist and murderers and he supposed some are good people? Not good, just saying.
Except he never said it. Tim Kaine lied, stating that he said it.
ALL courtesy of the DemonRat Party...
Tip for everyone to use when you hear "racist/sexist/homophobe" mantra: Picture Mars Attacks guy going "Ack! Ack! Ack! Ack!"
She was the daughter of a legal resident who had to jump through far more hoops because the mom (who she does not talk to) decided to not bother to get her citizenship to more easily establish her children’s status here.
The mom was a tool.
The wife did everything legally, but the road so much harder due to a selfis mom.
My high school best friend had parents from Argentina who made sure they got their Citizenship, so their teenage kids could get their citizenship easier.
My wife knows more US history than most people. Graduated Beverly Hills HS and has been a resident of BH for nearly twenty years now.
Earns good money and pays a small boat load in taxes, so she got insulted as hell by the way Trump called Mexicans mostly bad with some good people.
Let’s face it, THAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE WAY BETTER.
I am referring to his choice of words during his announced Presidential run. I replayed it over and over. Kaine put no words in Donald’s mouth.
Yup, you caught us. Have to get up mighty early to put one over on you educators!
Did Mexico send her here?
Is she a “Mexican”?
“This is exactly what Bill Clinton did when he played saxophone on a 1992 episode of “The Arsenio Hall Show,” and in another engagement, gave a speech on how we Blacks were so right to think the criminal justice system is quite unjust, citing, what I call, the one-in-three. (A 2003 “special report” done by the Bureau of Justice says one-in-three Black men will experience jail in their lifetime, and within the past decade, the numbers haven’t changed.”
Black people are not in jail because of racism, they are there because they commit crimes. Maybe you should work on that. Black people are not poor because of racism, its because their culture rejects the values and behaviors that promote success. You dont want to face those facts, its easier to blame your (many) failures on racism.
She is correct in her writings. But not in the way she intends.
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