When you're a brown girl -- politicized, street and book smart -- you can easily detect when something is hella problematic. By myself or with my homegirls beside me, we squash out the problem as best we can. I'm never really afraid during these instances. It's actually kind of exciting, taking the man head on. But last night, my partner and I exchanged genuinely concerned looks as we listened to Donald Trump accepting his nomination at the RNC.
His ignorant rhetoric is not what freaked me out the most; it was the chanting in the back: "BUILD THE WALL! BUILD THE WALL!" and "USA! USA! USA!" I imagined all these people, with smiles on their faces, right hands in the air, truly believing the words this man spewed out of his mouth, feeling secured by them, empowered by them.
But just like his wife's speech, turns out Trump wasn't being too honest either.
Sorry not sorry to burst your conservative bubble, ya'll.
But here are 10 things Trump totally got wrong.
1. "I will present the facts plainly and honestly... here, at our convention, there will be no lies."
TRUTH: Trump's been lying the whole damn time. There's even a website dedicated to tracking them! On the first day of the RNC, he told 20 lies; second, 21 lies; third day, 14 lies. Even Pinocchio would be ashamed. #SMH
2. "Decades of progress made in bringing down crime are now being reversed by this Administration’s rollback of criminal enforcement."
TRUTH: When we look at FBI stats, violent and property crime has actually been declining significantly in the last 20 years. This is kind of surprising, right, when we remember that since 1980 the prison population has quadrupled.
#prisonindustrialcomplex
So really, other than Obama's clemency initiative (which released over 300 prisoners who received severe mandatory sentences for non-violent drug offenses), what rollbacks are you referring to weird-o?
3. "The number of police officers killed in the line of duty has risen by almost 50 percent, compared to this point last year."
TRUTH: Trump here is taking advantage of the recent police killings to make what's simply a false claim. Yes, this year we have seen more police officers shot and killed; however the total number of law enforcement officers killed on the job has only increased 8 percent, a figure much less than 50. On the real, traffic-related incidents have been the leading cause of death among police officers. Stop it with the fear mongering, grosero!
4. "Decades of record immigration have produced lower wages and higher unemployment for our citizens, especially for African-American and Latino workers."
TRUTH: Okay, okay, first off, stop trying to pit us Black and Brown people against each other. Second, where are your facts that correlate these two claims? Really, unemployment amongst African-American and Latino workers is connected to a much greater socio-economic issue. It's called institutional racism. On another note, can we please give a shout out to the #FightFor15 campaign which has been led by majority Black and Brown folks?
5. "Nearly 180,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records, ordered deported from our country, are tonight roaming free to threaten peaceful citizens."
TRUTH:It's been proven that immigrants (non-US born folks) are much less likely to commit any kind of crime than U.S born people. I don't believe in fronteras, but some of you do and so would say that a person in the U.S who is undocumented is themselves a "criminal." But how does lacking a social security number threaten you, physically, spiritually, or emotionally?
And actually, there are thousands of undocumented people who are not at all "roaming free", but are sitting in a prison cell thanks to Obama's record-breaking number of deportations (2.5 million people). The people ICE targets as criminals have been convicted of minor crimes like "illegal entry", traffic offenses or petty misdemeanors. Don't be proud of this fact, haters. It's destroying millions of peoples lives.
6. “One such border-crosser was released and made his way to Nebraska. There, he ended the life of an innocent young girl named Sarah Root. She was 21 years old and was killed the day after graduating from college with a 4.0 grade point average. Her killer was then released a second time, and he is now a fugitive from the law.”
TRUTH: The martyrdom of the innocent white girl. We've seen this tactic before. Although my condolences go to the Root family, the story needs to be told straight.
Sarah Root died in a car crash 16 hours after she graduated summa cum laude from Bellevue University in Nebraska. She was driving home and was struck by Eswin Mejia, 19, undocumented and drinking. He was born in Honduras and arrived in America at age 16. He was released on bail, and fled. Authorities have not been able to find him, as of July 2016.
#AllLivesMatter, que no? So when do we begin to wonder why this young man left Honduras in the first place? What was his life like in Nebraska? Why do you think he fled?
7. "I have proposed the largest tax reduction of any candidate who has declared for the presidential race this year – Democrat or Republican. Middle-income Americans will experience profound relief, and taxes will be simplified for everyone."
TRUTH:Do you really think a man whose made billions of dollars off corrupted business deals, who has faced 3,500 lawsuits, is concerned for the well-being of non-rich people? Pssssh. In fact, an analysis of Trump's economic policies found that his tax plan would undoubtedly benefit those at the top, while job losses resulting from his policies would, of course, affect lower and middle income households.
8. "Only weeks ago, in Orlando, Florida, 49 wonderful Americans were savagely murdered by an Islamic terrorist. This time, the terrorist targeted our LGBT community. As your President, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBT citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology."
9. "On January 21st of 2017, the day after I take the oath of office, Americans will finally wake up in a country where the laws of the United States are enforced. We are going to be considerate and compassionate to everyone."
TRUTH: Wow! Compassionate to everyone, you say? So then, do you take back what you said? You know, um, to women: “You know, it really doesn’t matter what the media write as long as you’ve got a young, and beautiful, piece of ass”; to Mexicans: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best...They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists…"; to Muslims: "There's a Muslim problem in the world"; and finally, to the whole world: "My IQ is one of the highest — and you all know it! Please don't feel so stupid or insecure; it's not your fault."
10. "My opponent asks her supporters to recite a three-word loyalty pledge. It reads: 'I’m With Her'. I choose to recite a different pledge. My pledge reads: 'I’M WITH YOU – THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.' "
TRUTH: Yes, and we are definitely with you.
