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Black History Month in the Trump Era [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-02-21

I hoped that watching President Trump’s speech in the East Room of the White House yesterday would not be as infuriating as most of my friends predicted, but I was wrong. Like most of his speeches, it starts with praise and ends with a firehose of self-aggrandizing gobbledygook punctuated by names he can remember and the inevitable talk of his election victory. He even went as far as to talk of proposed statues nationwide in parks and public venues. “Today, we pay tribute to the generations of Black legends, champions, warriors, and patriots who helped drive our country forward to greatness. And you really are great, great people,” Trump told the crowded room. He then went on to list a bevy of familiar Black American names to him and those who advise him:

Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Coretta Scott King, Frederick Douglas, Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali, and Kobe Bryant will go up at the National Garden of American Heroes. Trump described the “works of art that will be produced" for the park as “beautiful.” Of course, statues of most of the people named already exist, but Mr. Trump will take the opportunity to take credit for them. Much like his wall on the southern border, his health program, and his infrastructure program, the National Garden of Heroes—the place for these proposed effigies—does not exist.

What he does, not what he says…

The ceremony yesterday was an insulting farce—to be placed in the paying attention to what he does, not what he says round file. While Mr. Trump filled the room with black Trump supporters, some of whom have questions and, at best, are ambiguous about their blackness, like Tiger Woods and Sage Steele. While a group of black men and women bowed to Trump, what he has done is make it harder for other black men and women of merit to achieve success. The work by Mr. Trump to make America Whiter again is best described by the now (White House briefing room) banned Associated Press, which wrote:

Trump spent that month abolishing decades of diversity efforts throughout the federal government and beyond, removing many Black employees from the federal workforce, and leading a culture war on “woke” diversity, equity and inclusion policies he disparaged as “dangerous” and “immoral” race-based programs.

Donald Trump has acquired the amazing ability to elevate hypocrisy to new heights. He espouses an idea, contradicts himself with his actions, takes credit for any accidental victories, and blames others for failures. His flurry of statements, misinformation, finger-pointing, and credit-grabbing is so dizzying that even his devotees are left speechless or scurrying to correct any semblance of public disagreement. So, while Mr. Trump tosses into the mix the deserved and accepted names of members of the black community for further recognition, the people left off, I believe, are those who affect our lives every day and are purposely never mentioned. So, thank Sarah Boone the next time you iron a shirt on your sculpted ironing board. When your security camera lets you know who is at your front door, thank African American nurse Marie Van Brittan Brown. When the colors and processing speed from your pc monitor jump out at you playing your favorite video game or bopping to your favorite music video, say thanks to Mark Dean.

These stories and many more can be found at 8 Black Inventors Who Made Daily Life Easier.

Your Vote is Still Your Voice

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