As we remember the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we can’t forget Donald Trump’s troubled history of alleged racial discrimination as he attempted to do the same on Twitter today.
Today we honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the 50th anniversary of his assassination. Earlier this year I spoke about Dr. King’s legacy of justice and peace, and his impact on uniting Americans. #MLK50 Proclamation: https://t.co/XXtPO0VX5A pic.twitter.com/SH0esMSyMT
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2018
Seven days after the tragic murder of Dr. King, The Fair Housing Act of 1968 was passed. An achievement he didn’t live to see, but whose legislative importance would last for years to come. Ironically in 1973, The Justice Department sued Donald Trump, his father, Fred Trump, and Trump Management in order to obtain a settlement in which Trump and his father would promise not to discriminate.
Hillary Clinton brought this up during one of the 2016 debates.
“Donald started his career, back in 1973, being sued by the Justice Department for racial discrimination — because he would not rent apartments in one of his developments to African-Americans, and he made sure that the people who worked for him understood that was the policy,” Clinton said back in 2016.
Even though the case was settled after the Trumps countersued for defamation of character, it’s troubling that the current Commander-In-Chief was even part of this allegation. Especially when he invokes King’s name on such an important day. King, in 1966 secured an apartment in Chicago’s slums to stand with the blacks living there in poverty. To put it in MLK’s own words from a speech at Chicago’s Soldier Field, “We are here today because we are tired…We are tired of paying more for less. We are tired of living in rat-infested slums.”
The Justice Department brought charges against the Trump Management company after a subsidiary discriminated against a black man getting an apartment back in 1972. When a white woman named Sheila Morse (who worked for the New York City Human Rights Division testing for discrimination) applied for the same apartment, not only was there one available, she was offered a lease. Morse reported this back to the Human Rights Commission. When the black man returned to the Human Rights Commission and asked why Morse got offered the apartment and he did not, he was told the tenant manager said he was only following orders.
“He (the tenant manager) said, ‘Well, I’m only doing what my boss told me to do — I am not allowed to rent to black tenants,’ ” said Morse.
It turned out that the manager’s higher-ups were the Trump Management company. This is startling news for a President who was reported as calling African countries “Shithole Countries“. Though Trump denies this statement it does remind us that Dr. King’s mission is not complete. In the face of a presidential administration that has not shown itself on the side of the little guy or civil rights, it is not time to give up. If Dr. King had a Dream, we can not let that dream wither before coming true.
