Can you believe it?

By Dr. E. Faye Williams
TriceEdneyWire.com Columnist

Can you believe #45 who went to the White House with the help of Russians stood before the world and bragged about Frederick Douglas with no recognition of why Douglass didn’t celebrate the 4th of July? He bragged about Harriet Tubman – a woman he refuses to place on the $20 bill simply because President Obama set it up. Does he know the student protesters who sat in at the Woolworth counter in North Carolina were not bragging about how great America is? As he put on his expensive show, I wonder if he thought about the men in New York that he declared were guilty, but still hasn’t said he was sorry or wrong. Do you think they were celebrating with Trump about the wonders of America’s justice system?

He had the unmitigated gall to brag about women gaining the right to vote and about the Civil Rights Movement. Women are still trying to get an Equal Rights Amendment and daily we work to save the rights our ancestors often died to gain. Many of the things he uttered are things his party and he are trying to destroy.

Children at the border are crying out to be treated like human beings, and he never mentioned their plight that “only he can change” but doesn’t. All he has to say about the family separation and squalid conditions in which they live is they should’ve stayed where they came from. Forget about America’s welcoming words of “Give me your tired, your poor…”

Did he even notice only a handful of people of color were there in his cheering squad? He only invited special friends and donors. We do not even matter, but we knew that before he read his often-erroneous lines. Like slaveowners, lynch mobs and other racists, he did nothing to make us feel better or believe he had anything in mind to improve our lives. Obviously, he’s never read Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave is the 4th of July?” What Douglass said long ago still has meaning to this day.

Trump was okay having people he invited to make him look good sitting in the rain while he bragged about things somebody wrote for him and that he showed no understanding of what he was saying. He said there’s nothing America cannot do, so what is he waiting for?
Where’s his health care plan for all? Decent home for all? Livable wage plan for all? Climate change plan? Structural improvement plan? Where are his aspirational words for the future of all Americans? He read from a teleprompter words someone wrote for him without even recognizing the errors.

We could’ve read what he said much faster because we wouldn’t have had to constantly stop and applaud ourselves. Who brags about war and destruction? This wasn’t a day celebrating our military. We do that on Veterans’ Day because all of us have had kin who fought and died in America’s wars.

This was an occasion to soothe his fragile ego. It was a waste of taxpayers’ money. We gained nothing from a flyover where most of us were indoors avoiding the rain. Those of us who live in the District of Columbia just had more of our tax dollars spent to make him feel like his “strongman” buddies Putin, Kim Jong-Un and others.

His salute wasn’t for the masses. Most of what he talked about we learned in our history classes in grade school. He claims the generals are his while he was a draft dodger who now pretends he loves the military!

There comes a time when you just can’t take it anymore. Come on people, Congress and Courts. Do something.

This article originally published in the July 15, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.