On Thursday in North Carolina, Hillary Clinton continued to make her closing argument for the presidency, outlining her record of championing the interests of people of color throughout her career–in contrast with Donald Trump’s history of racial discrimination and divisive rhetoric. Throughout her professional life and candidacy, Hillary has pledged to take on social injustice, including systemic racism and sexism. If elected president, Hillary has vowed to pass end-to-end criminal justice reform and implement common sense gun reform, priorities of great concern to communities of color.
Trump, on the other hand, has throughout his life and this campaign repeatedly instilled division and hate–from championing the racist birther movement and courting conspiracy theorists, to calling for a deportation force for immigrant families and banning Muslims.
Long before Trump ran for president, he was sued by the Department of Justice for racial discrimination at his family’s housing developments in Brooklyn and Queens–in addition to discrimination at properties in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Norfolk, Virginia. Federal investigators were told that Trump employees would mark applications of prospective renters with “C” for “colored” and refused to rent to African Americans. At her event in Winterville today, Mae Brown Wiggins, a registered nurse who was turned away from an apartment Trump managed because of her skin color, introduced Hillary, describing the impact Trump’s actions had on her life.
Years later, in the 1980’s, Trump took out full-page ads in four newspapers calling for the death penalty for a group of black and Latino teenagers who were wrongly convicted of a crime, some as young as 14 years old. Just recently, Trump doubled down on his view that the five men, who were exonerated based on DNA evidence, are still guilty and should go to jail. Trump’s refusal to accept the evidence and admit he was wrong about the Central Park 5 is deeply disturbing, and continues to exacerbate deep and painful wounds borne by the men and their families.
The choice is clear. Americans deserve a president who believes Americans are stronger together, not one whose dark and divisive vision is fundamentally at odds with who we are as Americans.
As the presidential election draws to a close, here’s a recap of Trump’s pattern of discrimination and divisiveness:
A History of Housing Discrimination
- Trump was twice sued by the Department of Justice for discrimination in housing.
- Despite Trump’s claim that many companies were sued for discrimination when he was, the truth is that Fred and Donald Trump’s violation of the law was so egregious that the case made against them was “one of the strongest”
- At the first presidential debate, Trump admitted he was sued for housing discrimination saying, “we settled… it was very easy.”
- Trump’s real estate company had a disturbing practice of marking applications from black families with the letter “‘C’, for ‘Colored.”
- A Trump building manager had the rental application of a black woman and was instructed to “‘Take the application and put it in a drawer and leave it there,’ Mr. Leibowitz, now 88, recalled in an interview.”
- The N-word was used Trump offices and Donald was reportedly was in the room when it happened.
- Black families made up a tiny percentage of renters in Trump-owned buildings.
Trump vs. Central Park 5
- Trump paid for a racially provocative ad calling on New York lawmakers to reinstate the death penalty for five teenage Latino and African American men who were wrongfully accused of raping a woman.
- Trump refused to acknowledge the innocence of The Central Park 5 even after their 2014 exoneration.
The Birtherism Conspiracy Theory
- Trump led the birther movement in an attempt to delegitimize America’s first black president
- Trump continued pushing his birtherism theory to delegitimize President Barack Obama every Trump’s conspiracy theory: President Obama is a Muslim and rendered ineligible for the presidency because he was born in Kenya.
- When asked what he would say to people of color who were hurt by his remarks Trump repeatedly said, “I say nothing.”
Trump’s Hateful Rhetoric
- Trump has failed to appropriately disavow racists and white supremacists like David Duke supporting his campaign.
- Trump said African Americans have “nothing to lose” by voting for him because: “You’re living in poverty. Your schools are no good. You have no jobs.”
- Trump continues to ignore history and disparage black Americans, saying the African American community is in the worst shape “ever, ever, ever” and African Americans in cities are “living in hell” and living in “war zones.”
- Trump retweeted “racially loaded” and “wildly inaccurate” statistics claiming Blacks were responsible for 81 percent of White homicides.
Hateful Movements
- Trump’s campaign shared an anti-Semitic image on his twitter that first appeared on white supremacist websites.
- Trump has received an outpouring of support from hate movements like the alt-right.
- White Supremacists used Trump’s candidacy as a recruiting tool.
- White Supremacists and Klan members supported Trump, comparing his views to their views.
- David Duke said Trump has “Made it OK to talk about these incredible concerns of European Americans today, because I think European Americans know they are the only group that can’t defend their own essential interests and their point of view.
- “Virginia KKK Leader Endorses Trump: ‘What He Believes In, We Believe In.’”
- Trump on being supported by White Supremacists: “A lot of people like me.”
More Discrimination in Trump Organization
- Trump Plaza was fined $200,000 for shuffling Black and female dealers away from a high-rollers table to accommodate the preferences of patron and “reputed mob figure” Robert LiButti.
- Trump Marina was fined for requesting non-Black driver.
- When Trump came to his casino, Black people were allegedly ordered off the floor, according to a former employee in a report by The New Yorker.
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Hillary Clinton Speeches 