Mitt Romney's latest attempt to discourage people from supporting Donald Trump is to say he will inspire "trickle-down racism." It's a catchy soundbite, but it's not true. And! I didn't want to do this, but now I feel compelled to illustrate what racism is and is not.
This nation has come a long way since the Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863. That was 100 years before I graduated from high school (2nd in my class by the way). I was not admitted to the University of Georgia, because desegregation of higher education was just starting, and the university did not want to admit too many black students.
Ironically, my daughter graduated from the University of Georgia in 1994, which was 31 years later. We have come a long way as a nation.
In the 1950s, while I was in high school, I can vividly remember having to ride in the back of the public transportation buses, or go to jail. When I ran for president in 2011, I owned the bus! We have come a long way.
I can also remember the water coolers in the basement of a local department store that were designated "white" and "colored". Today, the best department stores in America offer me bottled water while I'm shopping. We have come a long way.
I can remember when most black people could only travel by Greyhound bus to cities across this country. Today, I fly first class to any city in America.
I can remember when black people only worked in restaurants. Today, black people own restaurants and they can eat at any restaurant in America. By the way, I was the president of the National Restaurant Association in 1994, and its full-time president from 1996 to mid 1999. We have come a long way.
I don't have enough time or desire to illustrate how far this nation has come, not just for me, but for millions of minorities who have persevered and succeeded despite the media-inspired perceptions of racism. Democrats and liberals use the race card to keep us divided. It's not as effective as it used to be, because people are waking up. Where racism exists in America, it's the exception. It is not the norm.
And yes, we still have more to accomplish. If we can advance our national unity as much in the next 50 years as we have in the last 50 years, we will be an even better nation.
Millions of black people in this country are the beneficiaries of the Constitution and the evolution of law in this nation - from the Emancipation Proclamation through to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
But that progress will not happen if Romney and the NeverTrump ideologues continue to use racism as a lightning rod against Trump to scare people away from Donald Trump. The liberals have tried to label Trump a racist, and Romney is following their lead.
Romney's catchy soundbite is not going to scare people away from Donald Trump, because they know he is not a racist.
Mitt Romney's latest attempt to discourage people from supporting Donald Trump is to say he will inspire "trickle-down racism." It's a catchy soundbite, but it's not true. And! I didn't want to do this, but now I feel compelled to illustrate what racism is and is not.
This nation has come a long way since the Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863. That was 100 years before I graduated from high school (2nd in my class by the way). I was not admitted to the University of Georgia, because desegregation of higher education was just starting, and the university did not want to admit too many black students.
