Nikki Giovanni (Brett Weinstein/Flickr)
Poet Nikki Giovanni wants Donald Trump’s presidency to crash and burn and said Black Americans voting for him was like a vote for slavery.
“My heart breaks for the next generation with these fools in the White House,” she said. “Asking us to give Trump a chance is like asking Jews to give Hitler a chance. I read that 8 percent of Blacks voted for him. That’s like a vote for slavery.”
Giovanni, 73, blasted Trump in The Huffington Post, Wednesday, Jan. 25, remarking on an Edison Research exit poll that reported 8 percent of Black voters chose Trump on their ballots.
“The best thing that could happen to America would be if Trump and Pence were on a plane that crashed and burned,” Giovanni said, declining to rephrase her statement. She also placed the responsibility of resistance on the younger generation like the Black Lives Matter activists and the millions of people who walked in Women’s March protests around the nation.
“I’m so proud of the smart people in Black Lives Matter. They are doing their job and working to fight racism,” the writer said. “The women who organized the Women’s March were standing up for Black lives. They marched for reproductive freedoms and equal pay. They are very smart to do what they are doing. It is comforting to see people of all colors joining the fight for equality.”
Giovanni expressed extreme disappointment, however, in Martin Luther King III’s decision to meet with Trump ahead of the inauguration. Giovanni said the elder son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. allowed himself to be “used as a photo op” by Trump.
“Trump used him in his battle with a good man like John Lewis,” the activist said. “Trump used King’s son to pretend like he cares about African-Americans. It was disgraceful. I would not dream of shaking the hand of the bastard that insulted a great man in history, like Congressman John Lewis. Lewis was marching with his daddy. They marched for civil rights. When Trump called, [MLK III] should have said no. There is nothing to say to a man like Trump.
“If I had a chance to talk to Hitler, I’d say nothing,” Giovanni said, comparing Trump to the architect of a Nazi regime responsible for the deaths of more than six million Jewish people. “If Satan sits next to you, what do you say? Satan is not looking for conversation. He wants a weakness to exploit. Trump also would not listen and only a fool would try to reason with him. He is beyond redemption.”
