Donald Trump: There is no systematic racism in the United States

President Donald Trump has roundly rejected claims that systemic racism exists in the United States. Trump stood his ground on the matter when he appeared as a guest at a round-table event in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Matters of racial injustice and police brutality have been in the spotlight in recent months, following the murder of George Floyd and the recent shooting of Jacob Blake.

Floyd was murdered gruesomely when a police officer detained him and placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for close to nine minutes.

Blake, on the other hand, is in critical condition in hospital after he was shot seven times by the police while walking towards his car.

These incidents, and many other similar, have sparked renewed conversations about systemic racism in the United States.

Trump interrupts two black pastors

Two black pastors, James Ward and Sharon Ward, were asked at the event if they thought the violence in the US was a systemic problem.

The pastors were at the event in the company of Julia Jackson, the mother of Jacob, who was shot multiple times in Kenosha.

However, before they could speak, Trump interjected and dismissed claims that police violence was a systemic issue.

He boasted that the US police are doing a great job but admitted there were some bad officers in uniform.

“I don’t believe that. I think the police do an incredible job and I think you do have some bad apples,” the president said.

“You do have the other situation, too, where they’re under tremendous pressure and they don’t handle it well. They call it choking and it happens.”

Structural change 

President Trump agreed that the people of America needed structural change, but said the only change he supports is law and order.

In what seemed like a swipe at Black Lives Matter protesters, he said: “We’ve seen tremendous violence and we will put it out very, very quickly if given the chance.”

He also sidestepped questions about whether systemic racism exists in the US, saying he prefers to focus on “the kind of violence we’ve seen in Portland and here and other places”.

“Well, I think people are calling for structural change. And then you take the people of Kenosha that aren’t here and that you won’t see and that isn’t protesting, but they want to change also. They want to see law and order. That’s the change they want. They want the police to be police,” Trump said.

E A Alanore 

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