Trump’s attack on Black America: Birtherism was always about more than Obama’s birth certificate
Trump’s attack on Black America: Birtherism was always about more than Obama’s birth certificate
Spreading birther rumors, Trump sought to delegitimize the first black president and belittle all African-Americans
by Chauncey Devega at Salon
http://www.salon.com/2016/09/20/trumps-attack-on-black-america-birtherism-was-always-about-more-than-obamas-birth-certificate/
"SNIP................
Ultimately, Trump’s disavowal of his claim that Obama was born outside of the country — and is thus ineligible to be president of the United States — will do nothing to change the minds of the 61 percent of Trump supporters who have embraced such a fiction. And there may be a backfire effect to Trump’s recent announcement: It is the nature of conspiracy theories that the more they are denied and refuted that their credibility and power often grows among the faithful.
At its core, birtherism is an effort to delegitimize Obama, the United States’ first black president. This ploy did real harm to Obama’s ability to conduct the people’s business and confront the dire challenges facing the United States after the disastrous George W. Bush presidency. Plain and simple: Birtherism was and is a national distraction and embarrassment.
On a fundamental level, it’s just tedious, run-of-the-mill conspiracy theory fare mated with white supremacist invective. U.S. presidents are often dogged by conspiracy theories — that America’s first black president Obama would be targeted by a conspiracy theory that mines white racism for its force and power should not be surprising.
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The assertions that black and brown men (and women) are taking opportunities from white men that the latter are “entitled to” and have “earned” are absurd. These claims are the fitful projections of white racist paranoiac thinking. Unfortunately, such delusions hold great power over white conservatives. The feeling that “undeserving” black Americans are somehow “taking” opportunities from white people is a hallmark of the white racial resentment and overt bigotry that Trump and other Republicans have used to fuel their political campaigns
....................SNIP"
