“Of course, the white men and women who consider her approach taking the “low road” care little about the death threats directed at her because they are not the subjects of Trump’s hateful rhetoric, his xenophobic immigration policies, or his penchant for viewing black people with opinions as property rather than as free human beings. The majority of white journalists condemning Waters refuse to confess that their whiteness inoculates them from his bigotry and that it compels them to prioritize the humanity of the abuser over the discomfort of the victims who face Trump’s abuse. There is no “both sides” debate between a black woman who is using her mouth to resist hate and a white supremacist who can write racist policy. But the dissent against Waters has little to do with so-called civil discourse. Waters is an easy target because she is a black woman. She is loud outspoken, angry passionate and divisive candid. She is also the most disrespected and unprotected woman in America, as Malcolm X proclaimed about black women. That fact explains why much of white America—journalists and all—sympathizes with Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a white woman who functions as a modern-day Joseph Goebbels, over Waters, a black woman who is challenging the fascism that Trump is normalizing on a daily basis. It tells us that no matter how high black women ascend in the power structure of America, their standing will always take second place to white women, their racism be damned.”
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Trump and Friends Come for Maxine Waters, a Black Woman Who Doesn’t Give a Damn About Your Calls for Civility by Terrell Jermaine Starr