Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (May 11, 2011)
opinion who will Counter Donald Trump’s Remarks? There is one area in which Donald Trump is no celebrity apprentice – racism. After being exposed as a public- ity-loving idiot after he questioned the authenticity of President Obama’s birth records, Trump quickly shifted away from the dis- credited birther attack and began raising wild and unsubstantiated charges about Obama’s academic achievement, a record that includes the future president fin- ishing in the top 10 percent of his class at Harvard Law School and being elected president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review. Although journalistic lapdogs are willing to parrot Trump’s ridiculous and increasingly out- landish charges about President Obama, few have chronicled his racist behavior and comments. Trump may have escaped scruti- ny partly because he donated free office space to Jesse Jackson once upon a time and frequently makes the rounds with Snoop Dogg and P. Diddy. In one of the few times he has been confronted about his racism, Trump told TMZ.com, “I am the last person that such a thing should be said about.” No, Donald, you should be one of the first. And, I will tell you why. One would never know that Trump ever hung out with African-Americans, judging by his language. In a radio interview with Fred Dicker on Talk 1300 in New York, Trump complained about the diffi- culty Hillary Clinton had winning over Black voters. t HE c uRRY R EPORt George E. Curry “You’ll hear a political reporter go on and say it had nothing to do with race. But how come she had such a tiny piece of the vote? And you know, it’s a very sad thing,” Trump said. “I have a great rela- tionship with the Blacks. I’ve always had a great relationship with the Blacks. But unfortunate- ly, it seems that, you know, the numbers you cite are very, very frightening numbers.” The Blacks? Who uses that kind of language? And Trump didn’t just say it once – he said it twice. Well, let’s see how Trump treat- ed the Blacks that he claims to have such a great relationship with. In 1973, the United States Justice Department sued Trump Management Corp. for violating the Fair Housing Act by refusing to rent to some potential tenants because of their “race or color.” Trump, who had taken over as president of the family business by then, reacted in typical Donald Trump fashion – he sued the gov- ernment for $100 million, claim- ing the family business had been defamed. The judge dismissed the suit, saying Trump and his lawyer, Roy Cohn, former chief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy, were “wasting time and paper.” Trump signed a settlement requiring that vacancies in the 15,000 apartment complex, which was approximately 95 percent White, must first be offered to people of color. He agreed not to engage in further racial discrimi- nation. In a precursor of what was to come after Obama released his long-form birth certificate, Trump described his defeat as a victory and bragged that he was not required to “accept persons on welfare as tenants unless they John R. O’Donnell, former pres- ident of Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino, cited racist and anti- Semitic remarks made by his for- mer boss. In his book, Trumped, the former company official said Trump disparaged a Black accountant at Trump Plaza by asserting “laziness is a trait in blacks.” According to O’Don - nell’s book, Trump also said, “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 have a great relationship with the Blacks. I’ve always had a great relationship with the Blacks’ — Donald Trump qualified as any other tenant.” Three years later, the Justice Department hauled Trump back into court for violating the settle- ment by telling the Blacks they had no vacancies when, in fact, there were openings. After a group of four African- Americans and one Latino, aged 14 to 16 years old, were arrested in 1989 for allegedly raping a White female jogger in Central Park, Trump took out a full-page ad in the New York Times calling for the death penalty. That would have been a terrible mistake – all five teenagers were later exonerat- ed. In an interview with Playboy magazine in 1999, Trump tried to dismiss O’Donnell as a loser, but acknowledged, “The stuff O’Donnell wrote about me is probably true.” Evidently not content stereotyp- ing of Blacks and Jews who worked for him, Trump was inclined to reduce the president to being a Black athlete. “If you look at what he’s doing in Libya, which is a total disaster, nobody even knows what’s going on in Libya,” Trump asserted. “If you look at what’s happening with gasoline prices where he said he has no control over prices, which he does. If he gets on the phone or gets off his basketball court or whatever he is doing at the time.” It turns out that while Trump was attacking Obama on Libya, for playing basketball, and raising false charges about Obama’s birth certificate, the president was thor- oughly engaged in planning a top- secret operation that would lead to the killing of Osama bin Laden. It was Trump who didn’t know what was going on. In view of Trump’s record, it is difficult to believe him when he says if he could do it all over, he would come back as an African- American. He told Bryant Gumble as part of a two-hour television special on race: “If I was starting off today, I would love to be a well-educated Black because I really do believe they have the actual advantage today.” Not as much of the advantage enjoyed by a run-of-the-mill White male who inherited his wealth from his father. By the way, Donald, there is a well-edu- cated African-American in the White House. And, look how you and those of your ilk are treating him. george e. Curry, former editor- in-chief of emerge magazine and the nnPa news Service, is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. he can be reached through his web site, www.george- curry.com You can also follow him atwww.twitter.com/currygeorge. Self-Inflicted Damage S idjuts. ince the announced The interesting killing of Emanuel S tatElESS S OcIEtY c ENtER thing, though, is that Goldstein -- er, however poorly Osama Bin Laden -- I've Kevin Carson planned and execut- seen much speculation ed the attacks have on what kind of big ter- ror attack we can expect in retaliation. But been, they were conducted in accordance if Al Qaeda was capable of a large-scale, with a brilliant strategic vision of maxi- spectacular reprisal attack, I think they'd mizing bang for the buck in terms of the already have done it between 9-11 and U.S. government stupidity they provoke. now. Their actual pattern since then has An attempt to smuggle explosives on a been one of poorly organized, penny ante plane doesn't have to be anything more attacks, carried out by poorly trained peo- than crude and ineffectual, because TSA's ple -- suggesting that they picked the low- knee-jerk overreaction -- not blowing up the plane -- is the real goal. The goal is to hanging fruit on 9-11. make the passenger screen- ing process, the x-raying of all cargo, etc., so onerous, humiliating, expensive and time-consuming that air traffic shrinks radically and the U.S. economy takes a hit. The goal is for the American people to see their government as intru- sive, arbitrary, and callous. The goal is also for the U.S. govern- It's quite plausible that, given enough incompetent attempts, somebody will ment, in response, to stay bogged down in eventually succeed in detonating a bomb endless wars in the Islamic world, radical- and blowing up a plane in the air. Enough izing people there and causing them to see monkeys with enough typewriters and the U.S. as a crusader army -- in the mean- enough time, and all that. But even if it time wearying and demoralizing the U.S. happens, the damage will be limited to the population and bankrupting the govern- passengers on one plane out of millions of ment. To paraphrase the late Mr. Bin flights in any one year. With hardened Laden, it's only necessary for a couple of cockpits and passengers who understand brothers with "Al Qaeda" written on a that the goal of hijacking has changed, it piece of cloth to show themselves in will never be possible to fly a plane into a Antarctica, and the President will send high-value target again. And it's unlikely Marines to fight the penguins there "so we all the TSA security theater in the airports, won't have to fight them here." aimed at preventing the previous attack, Read the rest of this story online at is good for anything except satisfying the www.theskanner.com "Well, we have to do SOMETHING!" the U.S. experienced a moral defeat by abandoning everything it stood for and becoming what it hated Week on the Web Looking to turn attention to immigration issues, Obama mocks Republicans on their inflexibility on the issues, saying we might need to build a ‘moat with alligators’ … in “Latest News” Cool Nutz celebrated his birthday on Tuesday night with a performance by a stellar line-up of hip hop artists … in “Music Reviews” Columnist Kevin Carson says now that we’re an extremely restricted country, al Qaeda must love us, since so many politi- cians said they hated us for our freedoms … in “Opinion” Culture Critic Kam Williams reviews the latest big action- hero film, “Thor” about a god-man who must find his hammer in order to defeat an arch- nemesis … in “Movie Reviews” Former Seattle Reporter Dorothy Parvaz has been detained in Iran … in “Northwest News” www. The Skanner.com has the latest news from Portland and beyond on your mobile or your desktop it’s your go-to place for the news you won’t see in main- stream publications. The Portland Skanner Page 5
