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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIf Trump's not a white supremacist, he does a good impression - By Eugene Robinson
By Eugene Robinson Opinion writer September 25 at 7:54 PM
President Trumps race-baiting attack on African American athletes is nothing new. During the civil rights movement, blacks in the South who dared to stand up for justice were often punished by being fired from their jobs. Trump is demanding that National Football League team owners act like the white segregationists of old.
It was gratifying to see the overwhelming rejection of Trumps hideous rabble-rousing by NFL players, owners and fans. But lets be clear: There is no reason, at this point, to give Trump the benefit of any doubt. We should assume Trumps words and actions reflect what he truly believes.
His opening salvo, delivered Friday at a campaign rally in Alabama, could not have been clearer, or cruder: Wouldnt you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, Get that son of a b---- off the field right now. Out! Hes fired. Hes fired!?
Trump was referring, of course, to players who take a knee during the singing of the national anthem. The practice was started by quarterback Colin Kaepernick and adopted by a smattering of players around the league, almost all of them black as a way of protesting police shootings of unarmed African Americans.
Trump claimed in a Monday tweet that the issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race, but that is a lie. Kaepernicks method of protest had everything to do with race, as its intent was to focus attention on racial injustice.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/if-trumps-not-a-white-supremacist-he-does-a-good-impression/2017/09/25/f070e250-a22b-11e7-b14f-f41773cd5a14_story.html?utm_term=.18616b38f259
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