Trying to take this man seriously, but his hair is much too distracting. "Donald Trump is respected for his business acumen, but his political commentary leaves much to be desired. He is also accused by political opponents of being a racist and tends to make remarks that confirm, rather than refute, these allegations. This week, Donald Trump went to Twitter to state that he feels that blacks and Hispanics are responsible or much of the violence that occurs in New York City. Rather than considering the root causes of the violence, Trump points to the racial composition of those whom he believes to be responsible for the crime that occurs in urban communities. Trump tweeted: "According to Bill O’Reilly, 80% of all the shootings in New York City are blacks-if you add Hispanics, that figure goes to 98%. 1% white." Fox News host Bill O’Reilly is also known for being biased against people of color. He regularly points to single parent households as the cause of violence. But like Trump, O’Reilly rarely takes note of policies implemented by white males that create unstable situations for families of color. For example, the spike in single parent households occurred after the Sentencing Reform Act of 1986, which gave sentences for crack cocaine possession that were 100 times longer than those for powder. The law was considered to be one of the most racist laws in history, and led to the black male prison population rising out of control. O’Reilly and Trump also fail to mention that much of the violence stems from white-owned gun manufacturers that fail to support laws that keep track of guns so that they deliberately end up in the hands of criminals. This has led to millions of African Americans being terrorized by gun violence at the hands of guns made by white men like Trump and O’Reilly. O’Reilly and Trump were both referencing the 2012 Crime and Enforcement Activity, which says that shooting suspects were 78.2 percent black, 18.9 percent Hispanic and 2.4 percent white. Trump continued: "Sadly, the overwhelming amount of violent crime in our major cities is committed by blacks and hispanics-a tough subject-must be discussed." Trump’s discussion can begin by realizing the role that powerful white men have in creating conditions under which violence takes place. It’s difficult to blame poor and powerless people for the condition of a city that is run by powerful and wealthy white men. If anyone has the power to change the conditions of his city,it would be men like Donald Trump. So, maybe they should start by looking in the mirror to see the mess that they’ve created. That’s what you call personal responsibility, which is a foreign concept for men like Donald Trump."
Posted on: Sat, 08 Jun 2013 03:40:26 +0000
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