Politicians' Racism Exposed

       There are many white historical figures that Mrs. Applebaum and others tell us are heroes but are, in fact, incredibly racist. The first one I want to mention is Abraham Lincoln. The movie Lincoln portrays him as an anti-slavery, anti-racist hero. The movie ends with Lincoln discussing his goals to give black folks reparations for the many, many years they were enslaved. The writers of the movie made it seem like his assassination prevented him from giving black folks reparations, as if they would have reparations today had he not been killed.
       However, this entire persona people give Lincoln is false. First of all, reparations was never a topic Lincoln discussed. The only reason Lincoln wanted to abolish slavery was to win the Civil War. As Lincoln said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” He knew that the United States could not be both a slave country and a free country. So he abolished slavery to weaken the Confederacy and give the Union a better chance at winning the Civil War. Although I am very glad he brought about the abolishment of slavery, he never actually thought black folks deserved to be free or were equal to white folks.
       Another historical figure a lot of teachers and white folks deem as heroic is Ronald Reagan. Many Republicans think of Reagan as the absolute best president and leader this nation has ever had (i.e. my AP Gov teacher was obsessed with him). But Reagan was not great. He voted against all the Civil Rights Acts showing his lack of desire to see equal rights for black folks. He also caused mass unemployment and income inequality that still have repercussions today. By implementing massive tax cuts and subsequently cutting many government programs, Reagan set up low-income Americans to lose even more money, thus making the wage gap even larger. Additionally, by defunding mental institutions, Reagan created wide-spread homelessness.
      Although there are many historical figures that are actually not as heroic as history textbooks make them out to be, there are also some politicians and leaders today that are just as bad. I would discuss how incredibly racist Donald Trump is, but I don’t think I need to convince any of you (if you’re curious, just Google “Trump racist,” and I’m sure a thousand articles will pop up). Although I believe Hillary Clinton to be a way better presidential choice than Donald Trump, she still has definitely had her racist moments. One moment that especially stands out is her labeling young African Americans as “super-predators” that needed to be contained. She said this in support of a crime bill that has been a huge contributor to the mass incarceration of black folks and people of color we see today. Also, Clinton perpetuated the incredibly racist lies about Obama not being born in America.

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Pledged: William McLain