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The Memo: Charlottesville anniversary puts Trump and race under microscope | TheHill

posted onAugust 12, 2018
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Article snippet: MORE’s attitude to race is under the microscope at the first anniversary of fatal racist violence in Charlottesville, Va. Trump’s reference to “some very fine people on both sides” after white supremacists converged on the Virginia city and a counterprotestor, 32-year-old Heather Heyer, was killed, sparked outrage and prompted even many Republicans to distance themselves from him. The furor did nothing to water down Trump’s willingness to step into sensitive, racially charged areas, however, a fact underlined by the president's tweets in the past week. In fact, NFL players who take a knee have been clear that they are doing so to protest police violence toward African-Americans and racial injustice more generally. A week before, Trump tweeted criticism of NBA star LeBron James and CNN anchor Don Lemon, casting aspersions on the intelligence of the two men, both of whom are black. Trump has also repeatedly hit Rep. MORE (D-Calif.) as having a “low IQ,” remarks that many observers saw as having a racial subtext. “He is saying what his base wants to hear,” said Johnetta Elzie, a prominent civil rights activist who came to the fore after the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014.  “They believe black people are dumb or should ‘shut up and dribble.’ The things that he said about LeBron, him saying that protest is un-American when I feel like protest is the most American thing possible — it is incredible to me that people are buying into thi... Link to the full article to read more

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