Trump’s attack on Lewis smears black communities
Trump stereotypes black communities with his attack on the civil rights icon.
In response to a series of tweets from President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday that attacked civil rights legend John Lewis for taking no action to improve his “crime infested” district that’s in “horrible shape” and “falling apart,” much of the country immediately jumped to Lewis’ defense.
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Deeply offended by Trump’s suggestion that Lewis — who has been beaten and arrested for marching for racial justice and voting rights — is “all talk and no action,” dozens of lawmakers fired back on Twitter with examples of his significant contributions over the past several decades.
But this response to Trump’s tweets sidesteps the fact that, in addition to personally insulting Lewis, the president-elect’s comments also rely on an offensive racial stereotype about the black community — one that Trump has a very long history of parroting.
Accusing Lewis, a black congressman who represents a majority black district, of blithely presiding over a terrible, crime-ridden hell hole reveals a lot about Trump’s assumptions about places where black people live.
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