Nothing shocks me these days with the level of racism still prevalent in America that is a part of the Trump effect. But this one sent chills down my spine with the matter-of-fact nature with which this politician said what he said about trains and ‘the coloreds’ that should embarrass the country.
This Minnesota mayoral candidate unleashed a racial rant about trains and coloreds that one must watch to believe. The Trump effect makes this speech vogue.
Many in the majority population tend to believe that the discrimination and abuse people of color speak about ad nauseam is either the playing of the race card, a crutch, or a begging for pity. It is not. Under the Trump era, many feel the freedom to release their inner racist demons even as they held it in in the past. Ironically, it may be cathartic to America that those with these feeling expose themselves. For the aggrieved, it is less stressful to know who they are than to assume based on involuntary actions and responses.
The Trump Effect in action
RawStory reported the following about Hopkins, Minnesota mayoral candidate Bob Ivers.
A candidate running to be mayor of Hopkins, MN let fly with a mind-bogglingly racist rant during a debate about light rail lines that has to be seen to be believed. …
“You listen, and you listen real close,” Ivers said during a candidate forum with incumbent mayor Molly Cummings.
“It’s another socialist ruination of a town,” he went on. “And this is what’s going to happen, and everybody be forewarned, and you listen, and you listen real close. All the Chicago and Detroit riffraff that’s moved into ‘Welfare-apolis,’ they’re going to get on that train. And you know where they’re going to end up? They’re going to end up down at the depot. And they’re going to end up with yours, and yours, and yours granddaughters, and daughters, and grandsons. And I predict within two months of that coming through here, there’s going to be a shooting down at that kid’s depot. So everybody think about that.”
Later in the forum, Ivers described the population of Hopkins as “90 percent white,” with “10 percent coloreds and Mexicans and Asians that are here.”
But, he warned, if the light rail line is built, “you’re going to have all the ethnics you want.”
Welcome to the America many of us knew existed. Now, can we do something about it?