Trump's racist imprecision

By Josie Duffy Rice
Friday Oct 14, 2016 · 1:57 PM EDT

The story of the Central Park Five has always been a story about race. From the moment those NYPD officers first accused five black and Hispanic boys of brutally raping and almost killing a white woman in Central Park, race has been one of the primary characters in a saga that has persisted almost thirty years.

Beginning in 1989, all five boys would be charged and tried in trials that commanded the city's attention. All five would also become fodder for a ravenous and racist media, headline after headline calling them animals and gangsters and savages. Never one to pass up the chance to dog-whistle, Donald Trump himself took out a full page ad in the New York Daily News, calling for the boys' execution—despite the fact that four out of the five were legally children.

“I am strongly in favor of the death penalty,” he told Larry King at the time. “I am also in favor of bringing back police forces that can do something instead of turning their back because every quality lawyer that represents people that are trouble—the first thing they do is start shouting police brutality."

In the same interview, he scoffed at people who implied the boys deserved compassion, perhaps because they had not yet been found guilty. "Of course I hate these people and let’s all hate these people because maybe hate is what we need if we’re gonna get something done."

Trump has a long history of this racist imprecision. At best, Trump treats minorities and women with perpetual distrust. At worst, he thinks hate is what we need if we're going to get something done.

(You know, of course, that years later these men were proven innocent through DNA testing and a confession from the actual rapist. Donalod still wants them in jail.)

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http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/10/14/1582473/-Trump-s-racist-imprecision