Time for an Apology

It was Spring 2017. Donald had been president for three months. A university student and I were in the library coffee shop, a novelty which still amazes this old fart. We were discussing the in's and out's of his research paper about racism and the inequitable distribution of wealth in America. He had command of his research. I was guiding him as to whether he would argue how racism affects wealth distribution, how wealth distribution affects racism, or how the two cannot be separated. I was encouraging him to write about the first or the last.

In the middle of the conversation, Donald came up. (He was a new anomaly to us all. Now he's an old, boring, stupid anomaly better described as the antithesis of reason.) The student, an African American, called him a racist. I asked what was his evidence. He had none. His reaction was instinctual.

I had met the Don on his "private" rented jet with "gold seatbelts." (They were plated with something that looked like gold.) I listened to him talk about his new Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City. He explained in eager detail how he invested heavily in the "front of the house" (areas seen by guests) and put nothing into the "back of the house," where his workers produced banquets, did laundry, and cleaned the hotel. I came away thinking him cheap and unethical but with no cause to think him racist. At the time, I did not know the federal government had sued Donny and daddy for violating the civil rights of African Amerians living in their apartment buildings.

I asked my student to consider Donny more of a manipulator than a racist. In other words, his race baiting was a political tactic as opposed to an expression of belief.

The student stared. His eyes also screamed: "You really believe that?" As we shook hands, I sensed a feeling of distain, pity, or disappointment. It was as if he were saying: "Another White fooling himself about this country and some of its people."

My student was right on two counts..

I wanted to believe Donny was only a manipulator. I wanted it not because it was right but because I didn't want to believe almost 50% of Americans voted for a racist, not in the 21st Century, not after electing President Obama twice.

God, I was wrong. So wrong. His race baiting was born from a belief in racial superiority. He used that belief to create a political tactic and has used with increasing intensity since, as displayed in his recent attack ads against former Vice President Joe Biden.

To my student, whose name I have forgotten, I apologize.