Trump's history a fact

After reading the column last week from Nancy Burlison, I pondered whether to respond or not. Mostly I thought to let the article speak for itself, for as such, it speaks volumes, mostly about the condition of our society today. Hate is a subject that seems to occupy much of Ms. Burlison’s thoughts. Unable to hear Mr. Trump’s hateful thoughts about African-Americans, Hispanics, Muslims, Arabs, disabled people and women who fail to meet his standard of attractiveness, she blames others for tearing our country apart. Yet, despite her denials, every one of his pejorative comments towards these targets is well documented.

Mr. Trump kicked off his 2016 campaign stating that Mexicans are criminals, drug dealers, and rapists.

He long asserted that President Obama was not a U.S. citizen, that he was born in Kenya.

In 1989 he took out full page ads in four New York city newspapers calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty for five boys of color accused of assaulting and raping a white woman in Central Park.

The boys were exonerated by DNA and the true assailant’s confession after they had served up to 13 years in prison.

Despite this evidence and the five men being compensated $47 million dollars, Mr. Trump still insists they are guilty.

Mr. Trump has pandered to white supremacists.

He has mocked a black reporter and a disabled reporter.

He has paid fines to the U.S. government for racial discrimination in Trump housing.

He has told four minority female U.S. Representatives in Congress that they should go back to the countries they came from.

Three were born in the U.S. and the other is a naturalized citizen.

He has told a U.S. born federal judge to recuse himself because he is of Mexican heritage.

He has cracked jokes about the Trail of Tears, one of our country’s most tragic and disgraceful events.

He ran ads accusing the Mohawk tribe of criminal activity because he thought their casino would be too much competition for his Atlantic City casino. He pitched this idea for his show: “The Apprentice: White People vs. Black People.”

This is just a sampling of Trump’s egregious racism. Unfortunately, there is much, much more. If a person cannot read the above brief list and see racism, then we are talking about two different definitions of the word. To quote former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” It’s time to face the facts and not blame the victims or those who stand up for them.

Rick Shorten

Greater La Conner