Donald Trump’s Tulsa stunt is a new low even for him
Donald Trump has announced that the Cult 45 Rally roadshow will recommence, effective June 19, 2020, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. For an administration allegedly preparing to speak to the nation about race in America in a speech that reportedly is being written by Stephen Miller, the Trump administration remains completely tone deaf to reality.
On a day when Trump and his press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, pressed for the United States to retain names of military bases such as Fort Bragg that are named after confederate traitors, Trump announced his intention to hold his first rally since the pandemic. For those with a knowledge of our nation’s history, June 19 is known as Juneteenth, an important day in black history and a date that should be more widely known. It was June 19, 1865, when the Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, was read to enslaved African Americans in Texas. Juneteenth took place several months after the official end to the Civil War. Major General Gordon Granger read to the people in Texas present:
“The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer.”
So the date of his rally is not a good message. In addition, Tulsa, Oklahoma is a choice that again raises questions of sensitivities to race relations and this administration. During May 31 and June 1, 1921, , the Tulsa Race Riots or Tulsa Massacre took place, when the Greenwood district of Tulsa was attacked by white residents. 35 square blocks of the business district, known at the time as the “Black Wall Street,” were destroyed in what has been called the “worst incident of racial violence in American history.” McEnany might look back after this year’s election and wonder why Trump’s black vote is even lower than the 8% she touted from 2016.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.