Trump just sent a horrible message about African American dissent

[DonViejo]

By Greg Sargent
June 5 at 10:37 AM

Today, President Trump will preside over a celebration at the White House that he claims will “honor our great country,” after abruptly canceling a gathering with the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles over the flap involving football players kneeling to protest police brutality and systemic racism.

Trump insisted that the Eagles “disagree with their president because he insists that they proudly stand for the national anthem,” an assertion that carries echoes of dissatisfaction with their failure to submit to his will as well as any anger over treatment of the flag. Of course, as The Post reports, no Eagles knelt in this manner, and the team privately conveyed to the White House that fewer players than expected would show up. Trump told the lie about kneeling Eagles to justify the cancellation in part because he anticipated low turnout, which he hates. But let’s not let the true import of Trump’s action today get lost in the usual spectacle of Trumpian lying and megalomania. His true message is that African American dissenters protesting in the quest for racial equality — in a manner he claims to find offensive — have no place at a celebration of this country’s heritage over which he is presiding.

In his statement canceling today’s event, Trump claimed that the Eagles do not want to place “hand on heart, in honor of our great men and women of the military.” Instead, he said, he will preside over “a different type of ceremony” that will “honor our great country” and “loudly and proudly play the national anthem.”

In other words, whether any Eagles ever knelt or not, Trump’s explicitly stated justification for disinviting them is that they did kneel to protest the national anthem. That this is a lie is beside the point. The justification he is offering is itself a deliberate statement, and a reprehensible one. After all, what if some Eagles had knelt, as he claims? His argument is that in carrying out this act, they have disqualified themselves from attending a celebration of our national heritage at his White House.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/06/05/trump-just-sent-a-horrible-message-about-african-american-dissent/

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[unblock]

2. it's not just this one event. the entire backlash against kneeling has been incredibly racist.

it's all been "shut up and quit complaining about this whole 'getting shot by the police thing'! now dance for our amusement!"

once again, *no one* has been disrespecting either the flag or the anthem or the military or veterans.

once again, *kneeling* is not a sign of disrespect. not before royalty, not in a church, not when proposing, and not when done quietly while the anthem is playing.

the entire objection has been to pretend that alerting america to the fact that americans are getting shot is somehow disrespectful in order to avoid addressing the problem and to shift focus to the method of alerting people that americans are getting killed.

it is so deeply racist as to be dehumanizing.

this latest is just more of the same. it's not worse. it's always been horrific.

[gollygee]

9. +1 nt

[blkyank1]

18. There has always been an.....

Air of resentment between white working class fans and black athletes. The resentment flows from knowing those black
athletes are millionaires, get to walk in elite white social cycles and have access to white women. Most of those fans
can push that aside under the belief that they are taking care of "Their player" who will be working for them on gameday.

It's modern Mandingo fighting where you care for your prized players so they can make money for you on your fantasy team
or Vegas betting line.

The unspoken condition of this arrangement is that the player "Know his place" and remember who he is working for.

The player can enjoy his money,get his momma a big house, drive a high-end car, wear flashy clothes and have beautiful
women (black, white or both) on his arm. But he can not under any circumstances ruin the fantasy by having a social conscious
and bringing the real world into the world of sports.

[tulipsandroses]

3. Straight out of the Lee Atwater playbook

But, I don't think he is even that Savvy, he is just a straight up garden variety racist -

[Cha]

4. Fucking Fraud.

[duforsure]

5. He demands people

Be submissive to him , or else. The more people do it, the more he'll demand.

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. He's whole life in a nut shell.

[MountCleaners]

6. Get a load of this racist shit

Fox used a picture in which they are actually praying.



(Not that there is anything wrong with kneeling, but...)

Blatant appeals to white outrage.

[dalton99a]

13. Typical lie from goddamn liars

[Boomerproud]

15. When they were called out on this lie, Faux "apologized for the "error".

The only people who will accept that will be, well, Faux viewers. When will Shep Smith, Chris Wallace , Juan Williams and yes, even Brit Hume (is he still around) finally get a true conscience and say "Enoughs enough" and give their two-week notice and turn their backs on the propaganda machine?

[spanone]

7. this 'president' takes my hate level to places it's never been before.

[bdamomma]

21. He makes me curse

and feel disgust like I never felt before, He is destroying our country, and Mr Putin gladly publicizes he contacts tRump regularly on the phone. WTF.

WE got to rid ourselves of this disease that has afflicted us.

[spanone]

23. 👍🏼😐

[magicarpet]

8. Blatant in your face racism under the guise of....

Nationalism and Patriotism. As if respectful protest was always thought as un-American. The Boston Tea Party was really a tea and cookies party for the King of England, he had a schedule conflict so consequently the King was a no show. But the King sent his very best regards, and hired German Hessian mercenary soldiers to take his place at the festivities. A good time was had by all who could attend.

[beachbum bob]

10. no surprise here

perhaps those in the black community who voted for trump should consider what they did

[Blue_Tires]

11. The message is horrible, but the bottom line is

Trump won't face any negative consequences, and the "Traitorous uppity overpaid negroes" will get big play on Fox News and it's gonna be catnip for his base...

[blkyank1]

20. Not only that...

But Trump's base thinks black people are gullible and being manipulated by Democrats into demanding social justice
when they were perfectly happy back in the old days when everybody knew their place. They think the Democrats
use welfare and Affirmative Action as tools to get blacks to support them.

They think that black people are more primitive than whites and need to be tightly controlled for their own
good least they give into to their greater propensity of violence and reckless sexual behavior.

They think the high incarceration rates and high profile shooting incidents are the price that still needs
to be paid to control the black population under the same beliefs from the era of slavery that black people
are not ready(and likely never will be except for some exceptions) for social and political equality.

They think its meddlesome liberal whites (mostly from the Northeast and Pacific Coasts) who don't really know what it
takes to control blacks like southern whites do, who are the real problem for insisting on equality for blacks as some kind
of liberal/Yankee plan to destroy southern white culture by enlisting blacks as cultural foot soldiers.

[Historic NY]

14. Every damn player should stay in the locker room....

fuck Trump, Fuck the owners, there aren't enough white players to fill out the teams. Trump should not be able to dictate to foootball or any other sports or free speech protest.

[blkyank1]

22. That's pretty much what Trump wants.....

The GOP can't really run on anything that actually helped the white working class, so they need to go
full-on culture wars to turn out their supporters. I bet most NFL teams will elect to avoid the whole thing
(or seek a tactical advantage with more prep time) by staying in the locker room. Which will be covered
by the RW media as another example of the white ownership letting the "Inmates run the asylum"

Funny thing is the NFL has had much power over the media coverage of it in the past regarding long-term health
effects on the players but they seem afraid to tell the networks not to cover the National Anthem like they didn't
back in the 80's and 90's during the regular season, or face losing the NFL broadcasting rights.

Back in the 80's and 90's, it was fairly rare to show the National Anthem until the playoffs when it was more
a prop to show the greater stakes of a playoff game.

[Honeycombe8]

16. The Philly Mayor said many of them weren't going to go, so the cancellation was to save face....

esp since Trump is all-consumed about numbers, appearance of things, and not being embarrassed by low turnouts.

[spanone]

17. He's a Screaming Racist. Nothing More.

well, he's an asshole too.

[mainstreetonce]

19. When ever he leaves the WH

He will never attend a public event,especially a sporting event without being booed..