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Black people should and often do feel insulted by the way the white world of politics consistently talks about us like we’re not in the room. The same people who shout “not all white people” have no issue generalizing Black folks when it comes to the subjects of the Black vote, Black welfare recipients, and, of course, the largely fictitious thing they call “Black on Black” crime. And especially now—when the topics of critical race theory, affirmative action, DEI and the slight uptick in Black Trump support are all the (white) rage—it seems like pundits, politicians and Caucasian constituents all default to keeping Black people’s name in their mouths.
This brings us to Forbes, which responded to the shooting of Donald Trump by publishing and then swiftly pulling an op-ed piece titled, Will Surviving Gunfire Be Donald Trump’s Next Appeal To Black Voters?
MORE: ‘Is He Dead?’ Why Black People Are Not Grieving The Failed Assassination Of Donald Trump
Just to put all my cards on the table, I’m going to go ahead and admit I’ve had a silent beef with Forbes ever since the publication allowed a white woman writer to type out the caucasity-infused words: “What her half-sister Kim Kardashian West did for booty, (Kylie) Jenner has done for full lips.” That article was released in 2019 and Forbes never felt compelled to pull it because blatantly playing around in Black women’s faces simply doesn’t result in enough outrage from anyone but Black women. Fortunately, someone who makes decisions for the publication knew somebody else who makes decisions for the publication had messed up by allowing the erroneous Trump shooting link to Black voters to be written, let alone published. (In all fairness, it was written by a Black writer, and I might feel marginally differently about it if it were a Black publication, but Forbes doesn’t have a Black readership or Black management, so giving the article the green light still feels like Black voter speculation porn for white people.)
Don’t get me wrong, I understand where the author was going. For several months, Trump and his MAGA minions have been touting his mugshot, criminal indictments and criminal convictions as the milkshake that would bring all the Black voters to the MAGA yard, because obviously, Black people and criminality go together like peanut butter and jelly, and there’s absolutely nothing racist about saying it repeatedly even to Black people at a Black barbershop. (I can only hope that I’m laying the sarcasm on thick enough here, but if not—*clears throat*—IT’S RACIST AF!!!!) Still, it’s just wild to me that a white man used a bullet to take a small piece of Trump’s ear off and the first thing some writer and some editor thought was: “Hey, let’s immediately make this about Black people!”
It’s not just Forbes, by the way. Here’s Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson (but not that Ron Johnson) reaching around the white nationalist world to bring up CRT and “identity politics” as the reason America is divided during a discussion about the shooting.
As usual, Republican conservatives only consider a thing “divisive” when it’s an ideology they don’t agree with. The white and fragile war on CRT, DEI, Black history and wokeness aren’t “divisive.” Project 2025—which the Heritage Foundation’s president, Kevin Roberts, indicated would be the catalyst for a “second American Revolution” that would “remain bloodless,” but only if “the left” stayed in line—isn’t “divisive.” Republicans threatening another Civil War in response to indictments against Trump isn’t “divisive.”
Meanwhile, Republican conservatives have not hesitated to blame DEI in the Secret Service for the Trump shooting—despite the fact that the assassination attempt wasn’t successful—just because Secret Service leadership isn’t 100% comprised of white men. Now, in this case, the Secret Service director, Kimberly Cheatle, is a white woman, but she’s currently receiving only a fraction of what Black and POC leaders of any industry or position receive whenever anything goes wrong on their watch, and even when nothing really goes wrong at all.
White conservatives are blaming DEI for airplanes falling apart even though pilots and flight engineers are currently around 92% white and male, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. After the shocking collapse of a major Baltimore bridge, it took no time at all for them to start blaming the tragedy on Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and start labeling him a “DEI mayor,” despite the fact that seven out of the city’s last eight mayors have also been Black, and, at any rate, Scott is an elected official, not someone who was hired. Republicans have also repeatedly referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as a DEI hire, despite the fact that VP is an appointed position that also is not connected to a DEI policy.
And so now we have a situation where a white man shot another white man and video footage shows white Secret Service agents rushing to protect Trump and then allowing him to leave himself exposed for a fist-pumping photo-op just after the shooting despite the fact that, for all those white agents knew, there could still have been an active shooter in the area (which one of the reasons a lot of people believe the shooting was staged). Yet, somehow, this event became about everyone except white men.
It’s almost as if conservative America’s default is misogyny, anti-Blackness and general bigotry. Who knew?
SEE ALSO:
After Trump Shooting, GOP Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson Saying ‘Some Folks Need Killing’ Hits Different
MAGA World Claims ‘Biden Sent The Orders’ For Trump To Be Shot
