Trump worries more about South Africa's nonexistent genocide than real US racism | Opinion

I have always believed the Trump administration contained a troubling undercurrent of racism. The question is how we confront this injustice moving forward.

James E. Causey

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Funny how the Trump Administration can spot racism nearly 8,000 miles away, but not the bigotry right under its nose.

It's outraged by genocide that doesn't exist in South Africa but ignores the descendants of people brought to America on slave ships, forced into free labor, and subjected to innumerable rapes, countless lynchings, and brutalization for more than two centuries.

You've probably seen a video of President Donald Trump welcoming South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to the White House on May 21. The meeting quickly turned from courteous to contentious after Trump accused the South African government of seizing land from White landowners. Trump then played two video clips full of false claims about the genocide of farmers and handed out copies of news stories purporting to expose the truth.

"I don't know, all of these are articles over the last few days, death of people, death, death, death, horrible death," Trump said. "White South Africans are fleeing because of the violence and the racist laws."

Despite Ramaphosa countering those false claims with facts, Trump insisted that when a White farmer is killed, little is done in response. The South African leader acknowledged that while criminal activity does occur in his country, most victims are Black. Additional fact-checking has shown that the images Trump presented of dead farmers are from Congo, not South Africa.

rent of racism. What's surfaced over the first months of his second term is outright intolerance. It isn't just the Ramaphosa ambush or the welcoming of South Africans to be resettled in this country using the same false claims of persecution.

Look at Trump's attack on DEI and his executive orders, which have struck hard at the heart of African American communities, delivering a blow so severe that it cannot be ignored. Or his desire to resurrect Confederate statues and memorials.

Whenever a person of color speaks out about racism, many insist it’s not the case. However, as a Black man who grew up in this country and has been shaped by its realities, I’ve developed an internal radar. You feel it in your bones, and no one should be able to dictate how you feel. You know how you feel when you experience it.

What many felt and feared all along surfaced this week for all to see. I interviewed two Milwaukee historians who offered some context and a challenge about what's next.

Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 was the plan all along

In July, I wrote about being genuinely frightenedby the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 and what it could mean for the poor and marginalized. Trump disavowed Project 2025 when it became a political liability during the campaign. After he was elected, he hired the plan's architects, and they've been enacting the agenda with chilling efficiency.

The fabric of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division has been unraveled. Slavery was abolished in this country in 1865, but officially sanctioned racial discrimination persisted through Jim Crow laws until U.S. Supreme Courtrulings in the 1950s, followed by civil rights and voting rights legislation in the 1960s, began to remove the grip of oppression.

The dismantling of this division will leave a gaping void in the efforts to combat discrimination. For practical purposes it means: No enforcement of fair housing laws, no protections for voting rights, no accountability for hate crimes, and no investigations into police misconduct. This erosion of civil rights protections has created an environment of fear and uncertainty, signaling a dark chapter in the struggle for equality and justice.

The administration is not just rolling back basic protections, it's also trying to knock people down the economic ladder. In March, Trump issued an executive order that led to the layoffs of almost all employees at the Minority Business Development Agency. Last year, the agency supported over 35,000 entrepreneurs.

The Wisconsin MBDA business center closed in April. The agency has been a crucial resource for America’s 12 million minority-owned businesses, facilitating access to over $1.5 billion in capital in 2024. Its closure means the loss of a vital government agency and a key opportunity for many entrepreneurs from marginalized communities.

Trump targeted the National Museum of African American History and Culture, a place on the National Mall dedicated to telling a story that started in 1619 when the first enslaved Africans arrived in the English colony of Virginia.

"Museums in our nation's capital should be places where individuals go to learn, not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history," Trump said in the executive order about parks and museums.

He argues that the museum does not align with the Founding Fathers’ declaration that “all men are created equal.” However, this view blindly overlooks that these same Founding Fathers enshrined slavery in the Constitution and defined enslaved people as three-fifths of a person.

Trump’s executive orders also include plans to replace the statues and monuments of Confederate figures from the Civil War that were dismantled or destroyed amid Black Lives Matter protests following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.

And don't get me started on Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," which will be devastating. According to early estimates by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Medicaid cuts in the bill that cleared the House May 22 will cause 7.6 million Americans to lose their health insurance over the next 10 years. That's just for starters.

Trump's focused on Dutch Afrikaners, not African Americans

Where is Trump focusing his energies? On May 12, a group of 59 people from South Africa, many descendants of Dutch colonists known as Afrikaners, began arriving in the U.S. as refugees under the guise of facing violence and discrimination that would be akin to “White genocide.” Those claims are bogus.

The administration is offering reparations to the group, who will be offered resettlement support, a pathway to citizenship, furnished housing, and will also be eligible for government benefits. Trump terminated U.S. aid to South Africa, citing “egregious” allegations of genocide against Israel and claims of “fueling disproportionate violence against racially disfavored landowners.”

Imagine if Trump expressed the same level of concern for Black lives, including those affected by enslavement, the destruction of Black Wall Street, lynchings during the Jim Crow era, and the numerous instances of violence against Black individuals due to racism.

Rob Smith, a history professor and director of the Center for Urban Research at Marquette University, said that given the negative impact of the executive orders and budget cuts of the Trump administration on Black and brown families in America, the contrast is startling.

“We know what’s happening here,” Smith said. “It’s interesting that Trump seems more concerned about the plight of White farmers in South Africa.”

Will we confront the racism right under our noses?

Historian Reggie Jackson said he isn't surprised by Trump's actions, only the response here in America.

"What intensifies the situation is the unsettling silence of White people who aren’t stepping up to confront this injustice," Jackson said.

Racism is not a hidden toxin; it is glaringly evident and can be proven with clarity and conviction. The real challenge, however, lies in our widespread reluctance to engage in open dialogue about it in this nation.

Confronting this uncomfortable truth would require us to address the deep-rooted issues head-on. Perhaps this is why it’s much easier for Trump to denounce racism when he perceives it occurring 8,000 miles away against White farmers, rather than acknowledging its presence right under his nose.