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By Contributor Nate Morris
As I read through the comments of many prominent white journalists now finally naming the president as a racist, I’m left wondering… what took so long? How was it only yesterday that we’ve moved from calling his comments “demeaning”, “unpresidential”, “disgusting” or “racially charged”, to speaking truth and calling him, the man, the President of the United States, an unapologetic racist?
Was it not true 101 days ago when he threw paper towels at a crowd of Puerto Ricans suffering from one of the most devastating hurricanes in our nation’s history, and followed up that visit by criticizing the survivors and massively ignoring a humanitarian crisis?
Where was this 153 days ago, after the terror attack in Charlottesville, when he called Nazis and KKK members “very fine people”?
Where was it 358 days ago at the Inauguration when he tacitly described communities of color as epicenters of “American Carnage”?
Was he not a racist 431 days ago after winning an election fraught with comments and actions of the same nature?
Were his actions not racist enough 768 days ago when he called for a “complete and total” ban on Muslims entering the country?
What about 942 days ago when he launched his campaign by calling Mexican immigrants “criminals” and “rapists”?
Was he not deserving of the title 2494 days ago when he stoked the fire of the birther movement by stating on national television that he wasn’t sure if President Obama was an American citizen?
Was he not vile enough 29 years ago when he put out a full-page ad in multiple New York papers calling for the execution of five black teens falsely accused of a crime for which they were later exonerated?
Or what about 45 years ago when his business was sued by the Justice Department for discriminatory housing practices after reports and evidence that the complex owned by him and his father refused to rent to black people?
This president is a racist. But this should not be news to us. And this should not be the first time most anchors are uttering this phrase.
White people, we cannot be shy or timid about calling out racism when we see it. We cannot stay silent. We cannot allow hate to fester and grow in dark and hidden places – including in our own hearts. When we do, we are complicit.
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed unless it is faced.” – James Baldwin.
President Donald J. Trump is a racist.
Keep naming it. Keep checking your own biases. Keep fighting back against hate.
Nate Morris is a contributor to the Black Wall Street Times. Nate was born and raised in the Washington, D.C. area and moved to Tulsa in 2012 after graduating from Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia. He received his Master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma in 2015. Nate is a Teach for America alumnus and has worked in schools throughout the Tulsa area. He is an advocate for educational equity as well as racial and social justice throughout Tulsa and the nation as a whole.