Donald Trump (Twitter)
Ahead of the finale of the presidential election Nov. 8, Black Twitter has taken aim at Donald Trump’s rhetoric.
The hashtag #IfTrumpWereBlack sprung up online yesterday after Van Jones’ earlier commentary on Trump’s troubling behavior.
In the weeks after Jones’ video surfaced, many Black users described the hypocrisy of the Republican presidential candidate.
Stand up comedian Davon Magwood took aim at Trump’s “make America great again” slogan. He stated if the former host of The Apprentice were Black, dissing the U.S. would result in calls for him to leave the country.
https://twitter.com/davonmagwood/status/794244641545592832
NoChillMood wrote press would describe Trump as an “angry Black man who needs to be stopped.”
#IfTrumpWereBlack the media would label him an Angry black man who needs to be stopped
— NoChillMood (@ritaag) November 3, 2016
Comparatively, Martin Luther King Jr. – a man deemed peaceful in the years since his 1968 assassination – boldly discussed how white people viewed race.
“Whites, it must be frankly said, are not putting forth a similar mass effort to re-educate themselves out of their racial ignorance,” King said in his 1967 book Where Do We Go From Here. “It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn.”
King’s views ultimately lead to his murder, when James Earl Ray stopped his call to action by gunning the activist down.
In addition to NoChill, another user shared a provocative #IfTrumpWereBlack tweet.
Derenic Byrd pointed out actor Wesley Snipes’ conviction for not filing taxes. Authorities released Snipes from prison in 2013 after serving a three-year sentence. On the other hand, The New York Times reported Trump took advantage of legal loopholes to avoid handing over his earnings. During the 1990s, he looked to crawl out of a monetary hole caused by bankrupt casinos.
#IfTrumpWereBlack He would be in jail! pic.twitter.com/3ezOnr7ujq
— Derenic Byrd (@DerenicByrd) November 3, 2016
Still, Black Twitter saw the humor as well.
Tara remarked on all the sniffing Trump did during the presidential debates.
If Trump were black he would have had to taken a drug test for all that sniffing #IfTrumpWereBlack
— Tara (@InnocentlyNat) November 3, 2016
But there was at least one attempt by a Trump backer to hijack the hashtag to support the presidential hopeful.
Dangerous Carrie used a colorblind approach to her argument.
https://twitter.com/carrieksada/status/794263005110280192
