Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor and excellent Facebooker, quotes the fierce American folk singer, poet, and labor activist Woody Guthrie on an important man from the past who is still with us today.
Donald Trump and his father Fred.
Quote of the day:
“I suppose
Old Man Trump knows
Just how much…
Racial Hate
he stirred up
In the bloodpot of human hearts
When he drawed
That color line
Here at his
Eighteen hundred family project.”
— Folksinger Woody Guthrie, 1953 (in a song about Fred Trump, Donald’s father, who, according to Guthrie, wouldn’t rent to African-Americans).
It’s an incredible story, best heard I think on radio, as in Ari Shapiro’s terrific piece last Friday on NPR: “Ain’t Got No Home”: Why Woody Guthrie Despised Donald Trump’s Father
But Woody’s words on the racism of Trump need seeing, too:
“Beach Haven ain’t my home!
I just can’t pay this rent!
My money’s down the drain!
And my soul is badly bent!
Beach Haven looks like heaven
Where no black ones come to roam!
No, no, no! Old Man Trump!
Old Beach Haven ain’t my home.”
— Woody Guthrie, 1959 (in another song referring to Fred Trump)
Kit Stolz 