Donald Trump claims that he is not a racist. So do most Americans. How true is it?
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Since the comments in which he called Haiti, El Salvador and every single nation on the African continent a “shithole,” much of the country has spent the last five days debating whether or not Donald Trump is a racist. Frankly, this debate is a compleDonald Trump claims that he is not a racist. So do most Americans. How true is it?
Since the comments in which he called Haiti, El Salvador and every single nation on the African continent a “shithole,” much of the country has spent the last five days debating whether or not Donald Trump is a racist. Frankly, this debate is a complete and utter waste of time since we know, through his very own words and deeds, that Trump is a racist and has demonstrably been so for his entire adult life. Of course, he claims to be the “least racist person” ever interviewed. This is not at all surprising. Even though Trump lies as easily as most people might breathe, we have no reason to not believe that he doesn’t think that he is racist. One of the realities of racism in the United States is that very few people actually believe that they are racist, even though they were absolutely socialized into a racist country and world. “I’m not racist” or “I’m not prejudiced” is a disclaimer that far too many white people proclaim often, particularly in conversations with people of color. Upon hearing those three little words, most of the time, people of color instantly brace ourselves for a racist, insensitive or willfully ignorant comment from the speaker that we have to decide whether to address or ignore. After a while, this becomes exhausting—as we are consistently burdened with enduring countless microagressions, indignities and outright hostility from white people who believe themselves, above all, to be “good people.” This investment in being a good person essentially positions racism as the beliefs and behaviors of “others”—absolving said person of the responsibility of having to look in the mirror. Good, bad, or indifferent, almost zero white people will own up to being a racist. So it should not surprise us that Donald Trump thinks that he isn’t a racist either, though he clearly does and says racist things. Part of the issue is that racism has come to mean many things in the United States. It has been so diluted and manipulated over time that we don’t fully understand what it means and who is responsible for it. To a certain extent, we freely admit that racism has existed in the past and that aspects of our country were built on it. We know that racism is bad. But, somehow, in our wishful thinking about what America should be, instead of what it actually is, we have created the conditions where many believe that racism no longer exists and where people no longer practice it. Read more