August 23, 2017 The Skanner Page 9
News
Steve Bannon’s Brief, Controverial Run at the White House Ends
By Lauren Victoria
Burke (NNPA Newswire
Contributor)
C
ivil rights leaders
and members of
Congress praised
the dismissal of
Chief Strategist Steve
Bannon from the White
House; Bannon’s exit is
just the latest departure
from the chaotic Trump
Administration, that has
yet to win a major legis-
lative victory.
Bannon seemed to be
in good spirits after the
White House announced
that he would be leaving
the coveted post.
In an interview with
The Weekly Standard,
Bannon said that he felt
“jacked up.”
“Now I’m free. I’ve got
my hands back on my
weapons,” Bannon told
The Weekly Standard.
“Someone said, ‘it’s Ban-
non the Barbarian.’ I am
definitely going to crush
the opposition. There’s
no doubt. I built a f ***ing
machine at Breitbart.
And now I’m about to
go back, knowing what I
know, and we’re about to
rev that machine up. And
rev it up we will do.”
He also told the mag-
azine that he could be
more effective without
the constraints of the
White House.
“I can fight better on the
outside,” Bannon said. “I
can’t fight too many Dem-
ocrats on the inside like I
can on the outside.”
In a statement about
Bannon’s dismissal, Con-
gressional Black Caucus
Chairman Cedric Rich-
mond (D-La.) said that
Bannon needed to go,
but so do other White
supremacists working in
the Trump Administra-
tion.
“Firing Steve Bannon is
not enough, because the
issue of him working in
the White House has nev-
er only been about him,”
said Richmond. “It’s also
been about the racist and
discriminatory policies
he’s helped draft and im-
plement which hurt Afri-
can Americans.”
The
CBC
released
“A Top Ten List of the
Trump Administration’s
Racist and Discriminato-
ry Policies.” The list in-
cluded:
1. Voter
Suppression
Commission
2. Supporting
Texas’
Discriminatory Voter
ID Law
3. Reinstating the War
on Drugs
4. Attacking
Affirma-
tive Action at Colleges
and Universities
5. Rolling Back Consent
Decrees that Keep Po-
lice Accountable
6. Muslim Ban
7. Mass Deportation
8. Rolling Back Civil
Rights Enforcement
Across Federal Agen-
cies
9. Reinstating the Use of
Private Prisons
10. Refusing to Protect
Americans and the
Nation from White
Supremacists
In a separate statement
on Bannon’s removal,
House Judiciary Com-
mittee Ranking Mem-
ber John Conyers, Jr.
(D-Mich.) called the oust-
ed Breitbart chief the
standard-bearer for the
worst instincts in Amer-
ican society.
“Whether
Bannon
personally trades in vio-
lence, racism, and bigot-
ry, he allowed Brietbart,
his media organization,
to become a platform for
White nationalism, mi-
sogyny, anti-Semitism,
and anti-immigrant sen-
timent of the worst kind,”
said Conyers.
Although Conyers said
that he was pleased that
Bannon was no longer
serving in the White
House, he added that
Bannon’s removal will
not undo the damage that
has already been done
and it will not reconcile
the hate-filled agenda of
the Trump Administra-
tion.
“President
Donald
Trump has shown us
his true colors,” said Co-
nyers. “He sided with
un-American
White
supremacists,
neo-Na-
zis, and all those who
give racism and hatred a
voice. Trump’s failure to
reflect on his dangerous
rhetoric continues to em-
bolden these groups and
ideals.”
Civil rights leaders also
voiced their support of
Bannon’s exit.
Kristen Clarke, the
president and executive
director of the Lawyers’
Committee for Civil
Rights Under Law said
that Bannon was the
driving force behind
the racial turmoil that
threatens to tear this
country apart.
“Such a divisive figure
has no place in the White
House,” Clarke said in the
statement.
Vanita Gupta, the pres-
ident and CEO of The
Leadership Conference
on Civil and Human
Rights, said that Ban-
non’s departure was the
right result, but not for
the right reason.
“The president, who
continues to sow hate
and division, clearly did
not fire Bannon because
of his White suprema-
cist views and ties to the
so-called ‘alt-right,’” said
Gupta. “Someone like
Bannon should have nev-
er worked in the White
House to begin with.”
Gupta
continued:
“President Trump must
address the deep wounds
he has created by ridding
his administration of Se-
GAGE SKIDMORE/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
In latest departure amid White House personnel chaos, former Breitbart editor vows to ‘crush’ opposition
Chief of Staff Steve Bannon was recently dismissed from his post. This photo was taken during the 2017
Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland.
bastian Gorka, Stephen
Miller, and any other
staffers who stoke big-
otry, hate, and division.
Unless and until the pres-
ident calls out evil; dis-
avows neo-Nazis, White
nationalists, and White
supremacists; fires these
staffers; and abandons
his administration’s an-
ti-civil rights agenda, he
will continue to have no
moral credibility.”
White House insid-
ers have claimed that
Bannon submitted his
resignation letter ear-
lier this month, but the
announcement was de-
layed, because of the vio-
lent White supremacists’
rally in Charlottesville,
Va., that left one dead and
19 injured.
Since July 21, four se-
nior staffers have de-
parted the White House;
Press Secretary Sean
Spicer, Chief of Staff Re-
ince Preibus, and Com-
munications
Director
Anthony Scaramucci.
Derrick Johnson, the
interim president and
CEO of the NAACP, said
that the group was glad
to see Bannon out of the
White House.
“Ousting one key staff-
er, however, can’t erase
the words used by Pres-
ident Trump this week
in defense of domestic
terrorists,
neo-Nazis
and White suprema-
cists,” said Johnson, in
the statement about Ban-
non’s dismissal. “Pres-
ident Trump provided
permission for these
hate groups to exist. Fol-
lowing the tragedy in
Charlottesville, Virginia,
numerous other rallies
and White supremacist
groups are being mobi-
lized across the country.
Johnson
continued:”
These groups are not ral-
lying for peace, or for the
preservation of Confed-
erate memorabilia. They
exist purely to foment
hatred and violence.
And they march with the
president’s blessing.”
Lauren Victoria Burke
is the White House Corre-
spondent for NNPA and
a writer and political
analyst. She appears on
NewsOneNow with Ro-
land Martin every Mon-
day. She can be contacted
at
LBurke007@gmail.
com and on twitter at @
LVBurke
Freddie Allen contrib-
uted additional reporting
for this story.
