Steve, I am a huge fan of yours. I literally stop and listen whenever you speak on TV. I salute your honesty, professionalism and high standards. But I want to tell you that a majority of our fellow citizens should have been aghast long ago. And failure to morally reject 1/
..racism and to understand the centrality of racism to Trump's appeal is why we are a country degraded on the nat'l stage and why our democracy teeters on the brink. Mr. Trump had a documented history of housing discrimination for which he was sued by the federal govt. 2/
i do not recall his being questioned abt this in one debate or interview.He called Mexican immigrants rapists, made racist claims of voter fraud, had to be compelled to "disavow" endorsement by the Klan, described as equivalent white supremacists and those marching against it. 3/
When he won the election thousands of pages of newsprint were devoted to understanding the "pain" of white voters who voted for Trump and suggested that minorities - the victims of discr - had pushed white voters to racism by demanding, unrelenting, the end of racism. 4/
Every statement by Trump that demonstrated his low regard for ppl of color devolved into endless questions abt "whether" he is racist or jtuast "down-to-earth" and "accessible." It took actual Nazis marching with swastikas to convince many that we are dealing w/racism. 5/
This same impulse by "good citizens" - to deny racism - in voter i.d. laws, in the demand that recipients of Medicaid work for health coverage, in stop-and-frisk, and mass incarceration - is why we are here. Not just b/c of Trump. 6/
We had show on endless loop actual videos of police officers choking to death and shooting unarmed, fleeing African Americans in the back, to make many "good citizens" think there might be a racism problem in policing. 7/
I have often said that civil rights work provides a window into the flaws in the foundation of a democracy. We have been showing "good citizens" these flaws for decades. Now the rot of racism has been normalized and spread. What will the majority of "good citizens" do. 8/
Yes, voting is important. But the problem of racism is not just about Donald Trump. It is abt the willingness of "good citizens" to accept & confront that racism is a threat to the integrity of this country. Whether it is in the White House, the state house, the workplace, 9/
...the bank, the voting booth, the grocery store, the business meeting, the newsroom, the church, the sporting event, the hospital, the bench, the halls of Congress, and on and on. Those of us who have devoted our lives to this are doing a svc to this country. 10/
But when a majority of "good citizens" believe that it is their patriotic duty to affirmatively push back against racism - at the dinner table, in the boardroom and newsroom, in their places of worship & workplaces, in the classroom - then we will move this country forward. 11/
And it should now be evident that our democracy cannot survive unless we are prepared to confront, condemn and eliminate racism and racial inequality. Racism has become a national security vulnerability. No racist is patriotic. Period. 12/
