While Athletes Speak Out, Trump Drops the Ball with Black Voters
Trump or his office tweeted real condolences to Aldridge's family a few hours later, this time with the correct spelling of Wade's name.
Trump loves Chicago for its murders. He frequently has talked about Chicago's homicide surge with a typical right-wing talk show host's narrative: It's President Barack Obama's adopted hometown with his former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, as mayor and, in the right wing's view, lots of failures of Democratic policies.
"In so many communities under Democratic control, we have bad schools, no jobs, high crime and no hope. It can't get any worse," Trump said Saturday in Des Moines. "To those suffering, I say: Vote for Donald Trump and I will fix it. What do you have to lose?"
To lose? How about our dignity, for starters.
Sure, there have been Democratic failures in black urban communities. Black Chicagoans have welcomed allies in past decades who have been willing to help, regardless of what party those allies come from.
But Trump has offered himself not as an ally but as an amateur politician, less interested in African-Americans than in easing concerns of fellow Republicans who, according to polls, think he is a racist. Such are the hazards of political incorrectness.
The tragic irony for Wade and his family is that the death of Nykea Aldridge came a day after Wade appeared by satellite during an ESPN town hall in Chicago. The subject: gun violence and what role athletes can play to help fight the problem.
The town hall continued a conversation that began in the ESPY sports awards in July. Wade joined with fellow NBA Stars, LeBron James, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony to open the telecast by declaring the crises gun violence and police profiling to be "bigger than basketball."
"We want kids to look up to us," Wade said, "and see what we need to be as a culture, community and country.
Athlete activism is a new and, I believe, underappreciated trend in this era of Black Lives Matter and lots of "Second Amendment people," as Trump recently called the gun lobby.
LeBron James, for example, has promised to pay college tuition for kids who want a degree in Akron. Bulls point guard Derrick Rose is donating $1 million to After School Matters, a Chicago apprenticeship program.
We can argue about whether everything these and other well-intentioned athletes do is the right thing, but it's encouraging that they want to do something at all. The issues are too important to be left to politicians.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@tribune.com.)
(c) 2016 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
