Black Prop

Michael Cohen claimed during his congressional testimony last week that Donald Trump is a racist and he’s heard him make racist comments over the years, including, “that black people would never vote for him because they were too stupid.”

Congressman Mark Meadows, a Republican on the House Oversight Committee, was expecting this and had a prepared defense of Trump. He brought out Lynne Patton, an African American business associate of the Trumps who is now working for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Patton’s qualification for her job with HUD was being a wedding planner for Eric Trump.

With Patton standing behind him, Meadows argued, “as a daughter of a man born in Birmingham, Ala., that there is no way that she would work for an individual who was racist.” She would if she’s stupid…or an opportunist. According to The Washington Post, she’s attempting to use her position at HUD to land a reality TV show.

Lynne Patton is another example of Trump surrounding himself with idiots, conmen, mafioso wannabes, and opportunists. It’s very difficult to find anyone in the Trump orbit who is ethical.

There was pushback to Meadows using Patton as a political prop. Democratic representative Brenda Lawrence said, “To prop up one member of our entire race of black people and say that that nullifies racism is totally insulting.”

Democrat Ayanna Pressley asked Michael Cohen, which was indirectly meant for Meadows, “Would you agree that someone could deny rental units to African-Americans, lead the birther movement, refer to the diaspora as ‘shit-hole countries,’ refer to white supremacists as ‘fine people,’ have a black friend, and still be racist?”

But it was Democrat Rashida Tlaib’s comment which truly infuriated Meadows. She said, “just because someone has a person of color, a black person working for them does not mean that they aren’t racist. … The fact that someone would actually use a prop, a black woman in this chamber, in this committee, is alone racist in itself.”

Meadows was outraged and defended himself by claiming he can’t be racist because he has black family members and is friends with the chairman of the Oversight Committee, Elijah Cummings, who is African American. Meadows used the black friend defense to defend his use of the black friend defense.

Republicans still don’t get that having a “black friend” doesn’t mean you’re not a racist. A Pew study found that 9 out of 10 whites who think that most blacks aren’t intelligent, law-abiding, honest, hard-working and/or generous have African American friends. Sometimes, they’re more than friends.

Strom Thurmond was a racist, pro-segregationist Democrat. When his party became more liberal and the Republicans more racist, he switched. He conducted the longest filibuster in Senate history, speaking for 24 hours and 18 minutes in opposition to the Civil Rights Act. The man literally bitched for over a day about black people being able to vote.

Thurmond ran for president in 1948 after President Harry Truman ordered the end of racial discrimination in the U.S. Army, proposed the creation of a permanent Fair Employment Practices Commission, supported the elimination of state poll taxes (designed to prevent blacks from voting), and supported drafting federal anti-lynching laws.

During his campaign, Thurmond said, “I wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there’s not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the Nigra race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches.”

You can’t get much more racist than Strom Thurmond, yet he denied he was a racist. And, if she wasn’t a secret, he probably would have said at some point, “I can’t be racist because I have a black daughter.”

Being a racist troglodyte didn’t stop Strom Thurmond from sleeping with black women and having a child with one. Having a black daughter didn’t stop him from being a racist, and if you’re a Republican, your “black friend” isn’t stopping you. Having black family members and “black friends”didn’t stop Mark Meadows from talking about sending President Obama “back to Kenya” on multiple occasions.

People like Mark Meadows and Trump sycophants need to expand their worlds. It’s good to have friends of a different race, religion, sexual orientation, and political opinions. But when it comes to your “black friend,” stop using them as political props and calling them your “black friend.”

Just call them your friend.

Be Complicit

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

Watch the video.