Trump headlines yesterday focused on the billionaire’s refusal to denounce David Duke, notorious former grand wizard of the KKK, who told supporters that voting against Trump would be “treason to your heritage.”
But Trump’s problematic coziness with white supremacy goes far deeper than the billionaire claiming he’s not familiar with the identity of the former KKK leader (which contradicts Trump’s earlier and clearly stated feelings on the man — in 2000, he called Duke “a bigot, a racist, a problem”).
Yesterday, a group of neo-Nazis and white supremacists, including those belonging to the Traditionalist Worker Party, repeatedly physically and verbally assaulted a young black woman.
Witnesses also told Shaun King for the New York Daily News that the group “threw punches and kicked” other campaign rally attendees of color, and led the crowd in chants of “You’re scum, your time will come, you’re scum, your time will come.”
This follows a rally on Feb. 29, when more than 30 black students attending a Trump rally were removed from the arena at Valdosta State University in Georgia, reports USA Today.
The students, who attend Valdosta State — a white-only campus until 1963 — were not protesting the candidate. It’s unclear why they were removed, and, according to USA Today, the Trump campaign and local law enforcement officials have both denied responsibility for removing the students. Though he claims the Trump campaign’s detail is responsible, Valdosta Police Chief Brian Childress said he doesn’t disagree with the decision. He’d heard the students were using profanity, and that Trump “had the right to tell folks he didn’t want to be there, that they had to leave,” as he had rented the venue, he said.
“While we have already widely reported that white supremacists are openly proclaiming that they are fully emboldened and energized by Trump, the natural progression of their romance with Trump is now on full display,” writes King.
"All we want is justice, peace, and equality," another rally attendee told the Daily News.
"All of us are peaceful protesters, but we clearly walked into a deeply racist and violent atmosphere at the Trump Rally. Some of us who were taken out of there by police, by black officers I might add, were actually told that they wanted to get us out there for our own safety."
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