I disagree. Trump is not racist but that idiot Obama definitely was and he stirred the pot. Race relations deteriorated sharply during his 8 years.

@icolan Trump was never associated with racist idiots like Al Sharpton or Reverand Wright. Not to mention Maxine Waters or Louis Farrakhan.

@Trajan61 alright, now back up your racist accusations on those listed. I'll give you Farrakan. But you need provide Obama's support of his ideas, the so called racists ones, not those supporting equality. The crickets and elevator music will play while we wait. I'm ignoring all else.

@Beowulfsfriend I agree - BLM movement came out of St Louis and a few brave people that dared videoing police abuse to showcase how a very small minority of police officers abused most people of color. The abusers were mostly white men.

@Trajan61 Of course Obama is racist ,you must be a racist if you would associate with that Illiterater racist pig Al Sharpton and have him as a guest in the White House more than 50 times .

My motivation is to protect American jobs and slow down the population explosion. Don’t see how that is racist.

@Trajan61. Those are viable objectives. Unfortunately you are not the one driving the policy in Washington. The motives of our leader are much more suspect.

@t1nick Trump is not racist.

@Trajan61. It is well documented that he and his father, and his grandfather all were, and he is. There is no other way to interpret his words and actions. He says the necessary things in public when his handlers insistes he needs to say them to avoid crticism and political upheaval. But his actions and words when he is not being handled, his previous business practices and his take on events all point to a very deep seated racism.

@t1nick It’s also well documented that Obama was racist.

@Trajan61. That is incorrect. At worst Obama was too timid in speaking to racist events. He tried to walk a neutral line for 3/4 of his two terms. He agonizingly avoided bring race into the dialogue when it was obvious that racism was involved. Because he was the first black president, he knew the precariousness of his role. As the first black president he knew the world and the nation were looking at him under a microscope. He was setting the legacy for future minorities who have presidential aspirations.

In the last quarter of his term.realizing that his term was winding down, he came out of his shell and stood up against the institutional racism driving the country. If anything he was too timid. The dominsnt culture hates to be held accountable for their poor and borish behavior. Its painful, and they hate to have their behavior thriwn back at them.

@Trajan61 Ya know … anyone with such a fixation on ‘Obama’ in this discussion sounds.. extremely racist.

@Varn Doesn’t Obama’s affiliation with Reverand Wright, Al Sharpton, Eric Holder, Louis Farrakhan and a host of others brand him as racist? I don’t know how you could be more racist than Al Sharpton and Jeramiah Wright. I’ve alway supported conservatives no matter their race but if I oppose someone of another race I’m branded as a racist.

@Varn, @t1nick You and I will have to disagree on that as I consider him to be far more racist than Trump.

@Trajan61 No, these people represent leaders to a contigency of the American population. They have influence with their following. To ignore them is to open yourself up to being blindsided at some time down the line.

Sharpton is an ardent supporter of black rights, and he is a powerful influence in the black community. By meeting with Sharpton, Obama could formulate the response that the Administration needed the black community to hear. A measured response as opposed to a radical message.

Im not sure of your deference to Eric Holder. He is fairly moderate.

Obama immediately distanced himself and crticized Rev. Wright when Wright's statements came out. I will give you this. Obama probably looked the other way on more then one occasion, as Wright's statements were probably weren't his first. He found a pastor whose most of the time was not controversisl. Once he became president it was no longer possible to ignore. He did his due diligence.

Farrakhan is also an influential black leader. It is better to keep the snake where you can keep an eye on its behavior, then to turn your back, ignore, and get bit later on. All leaders have an obligation to listen to different factions in the nation. Doesn't mean they buy the rhetoric, or agree with it. It just means they are smart enough to keep potential problem in their sites.

They also have an obligation to call out a groups behavior when it is not in the best interest of the country. Obama did that, he just did it in a measured and erudite way. I know it turned off many as he came off elitist, but he wasnt. He's a lawyer and realized that words matter. He knew he had to select his verbage exactly to avoid giving the potential for being misunderstood or misquoted. His sin was bering too careful and not letting his emotions come our until the end of his term.

@icolan I think he's referring to population growth due to migration from the south. He has a right to question the impact, but he is wrong in his conclusions as to how immigration is impacting jobs in this country. We arent losing jobs to southern immigrants as they by and large take the jobs most Americans do not want. In fact most of they imigres make better citizens than many of our natural born citizens.

@Trajan61 In the eight successful years of Obama’s presidency ..I not once noted an inkling of racism..

@t1nick Thank you.. That’s the depth of reasoning that keeps me here ~

@Varn. Agreed. Speaking truth is not racism.

@Trajan61. I agree, on this point we will probably never agree. Thats what civil discourse is about. I appreciate your exchanges today.

I unfortunately see Trump as the biggest overt racist since Farrakhan or David Duke.

Many of the claims of racism are true. Long standing policies or behaviors that were racist were left unchallenged because the balance of power made it dangerous to individusls to speak up.

In the present environment, the balance of power has shifted due to demographics. It is now a safer environment to protest and call out racism where it exists. The dominant society hates to be called on its improper behavior, especially if they had been able to get away with it for decades with impunity. Accountability is always an uncomfortable thing. So, "everything is labeled racism today", may be true, but it just might that they always were and still remain so.

Caveat, false accusations will occur just because the law of probabilities suggest they should. Don't be seduced by these occurances. They are exceptions in the greater trend. Exceptions do not make the rule, they are just that, only exceptions.

@t1nick The occurrence of actual racism is the exception, most claims of it are false. Just another example of the 'victim mentality' that has began to plague the people here..

@Captain_Feeldood. incorrect. All it is, is finally calling long standing shit for the shit it has slways been.