Broad Immunity Isn't New – It's Our History
A Black Eyed History Lesson
Trump acting out shooting someone on 5th Avenue. January, 23 2016
Find an audio reading of this Black Eyed History Lesson above.
Before becoming president in 2016, before he was even the Republican nominee, Donald Trump told a packed rally in Sioux Center, Iowa:
“My people are so smart… and you know what else they say about my people? The polls? They say I have the most loyal people. Did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK? It's, like, incredible.”
And Americans laughed. Called him a clown, a fool, a blowhard, an idiot.
Not all Americans.
Plenty were horrified at this braggadocios mobster behavior. But Black people (to be specific, Black mothers) knew his statement wasn’t a silly boast but a promise, because our experience showed us he was speaking the quiet part out loud. Black people absolutely knew that certain White men could kill certain kinds of people in the middle of the day, on one of the busiest streets in America, and not a single thing in his life would change. Ask George Zimmerman. Ask Kyle Rittenhouse.
White folks have done atrocious criminal acts and never seen the inside of a prison cell. Isn’t this the story of To Kill A Mockingbird? So why were we so many people so surprised by what Trump said? Was it because he wasn’t just a White man but a presidential candidate, and we believed that office to be morally secure? Ask George Washington how many of his enslaved people were killed in broad daylight. Ask Thomas Jefferson the same. Would they tell us the truth? Did they tell us the truth about all their slave-dealing deeds? How “morally” legal was slavery anyway? If these two murderous enslavers are still considered our most revered and honorable Presidents, how virtuously moral is the office of the presidency?
In our country, the very job of White supremacy and patriarchy is to give broad immunity to men like Donald Trump, and he knew it way back in 2016. I beg you not to waste time being surprised if he’s never held accountable for his insurrectionist actions and threats. Instead, take your outrage and vote. We the people are his only judge and jury. He knows this. He said this.
Here’s a brief timeline from EJI to show you just how true Trump’s words were. I hope they motivate you to vote for an old man rather than a perpetually criminally-minded criminal and racist rapist.
A NAACP banner that hung from a window of their headquarters on 5th Avenue. New York City 1936
1782
Mar 8 – Nearly 100 Indigenous People Massacred by Pennsylvania Militiamen
Congress called off the investigation into the massacre because it felt it would “produce a confusion and ill will amongst the people.”
1893
June 3 – 1,500 White People Lynch a Black Man on Illinois Courthouse Lawn
Not a single person was ever arrested and convicted for this murder. Two grand juries refused to bring charges against the three leaders of the mob.
1903
Jun 23 – White Mob of Thousands Burn Black Man to Death in Wilmington, DE
No one was ever arrested, though plenty of people knew members of the lynching mob.
1910
Jun 5 – White Mob Kills Two Black Men Walking Home in Texas
No one was ever convicted for either death.
1912
Oct 3 – Incarcerated Black Man Lynched By White Prisoners Inside Wyoming State Prison
None of the prisoners were ever held accountable for the murder.
1911
Jun 27 – White Mob in Georgia Lynches Two Black Men After Judge Refuses to Protect Them
The lynchers claimed they were innocent. There was no case brought against them since there was no evidence found. The judge was elected to Congress where he served seven consecutive terms.
1921
June 1 – White Mob in Tulsa Destroys Black Community; Kills Hundreds
No one was ever convicted for a single death. No Black family was ever compensated for their property.
1933
Oct 10 – Mexican Diplomat, Farmworkers Killed During California Labor Strike
The eight lynching ranchers were found not guilty by an all-White jury of their peers.
1940
Jun 2 – Black Man Lynched in Alabama for Failing to Call a White Man “Mr.”
There’s no record of anyone ever being arrested or prosecuted for this murder.
1945
Jun 12 – White Police Officer Beats Elderly Black Woman to Death
The officer was arrested and tried by a court of his peers. His lawyer pleaded with the all-White jury: “If we convict this brave man who is upholding the banner of white supremacy by his actions, then we may as well give all our guns to the niggers and let them run the Black Belt.” Ignoring all the evidence and eyewitness testimonies, he was acquitted of all charges.
1946
Feb 12 – Police Chief in South Carolina Beats Black Veteran Isaac Woodard, Leaving Him Blind
The case was presided over by a judge whose father was a Confederate solider. The police chief was acquitted by an all-White jury of his peers.
1959
Mar 5 – Twenty-One Black Boys Burned to Death After Being Locked in Segregated and Neglected Arkansas “Reform” School
After an investigation, no one was found liable for the fire.
1963
Apr 23 – A White Civil Rights Marcher Killed in Alabama
The murderer was arrested but not indicted.
1967
Jun 11– Police Kill Unarmed Black Teen in Tampa, Florida; Civil Unrest for Days
After a 2-day investigation, officials found the shooting was “necessary” even though the 19-year-old had not committed a crime. But because he ran from the police, they considered him a felon resisting arrest and therefore justified in shooting him.
1968
Feb 8 – State Troopers Kill Three Black Students in Orangeburg, South Carolina
None of the state troopers were charged, but one of the program directors of SNCC, whom authorities blamed for the protests that caused a riot and thus the deaths, spent seven months in jail for rioting.
1991
March 3 – Rodney King Was Arrested and Brutally Beaten by LAPD
An all-White jury acquitted 3 of the officers who beat him and could not agree on a verdict for the 4th officer despite the video evidence of the beatings.
1995
Oct 12 – Police Kill Unarmed Black Man in Brentwood, Pennsylvania During Traffic Stop
One of the murderers was not only acquitted by an all-White jury of his peers, but also promoted to sergeant. The charges against the other two murderers were dropped due to a mistrial. Two others involved in the murder were never charged at all.
2016
Jul 5 – Police Shoot and Kill Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
After the US Department of Justice launched a civil rights investigation, none of the officers faced federal charges and no state charges were filed.
2020
Mar 13 – Louisville Police Kill Breonna Taylor During Nighttime No-Knock Raid
The officer who fired 10 bullets into her home was found not guilty on charges of wanton endangerment.
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice. Montgomery AL
I could give you endless examples to punctuate Trump’s words but this one essay can’t possibly cover it all. So let me wrap this up for you…
Can Donald Trump “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody,” and still become the President of the United States? We never really needed the Supreme Court to tell us, “Yes.” Yes, he can.
Like you said, this list is just the tip of the iceberg. I receive EJI's wall calendar every year, and there are horrific crimes against non-white people remembered on all 365 days, and most of the criminals were not brought to justice. How sad is it that every single day of the year we can look back into our white supremacist history and find an atrocious crime that happened on that day.
Yes