Faizel Patel – 06/11/2020
As the tortuous US presidential elections heads to a conclusion, an American activist and political commentator says not all Americans who voted for the re-election of President Donald Trump are racist.
Phyllis Bennis was speaking to Radio Islam on Friday about the US Presidential election, which is likely to be won by Democrat Joe Biden.
Biden took the lead in key battleground state Pennsylvania where a victory for the former vice president would push him past the threshold of electoral votes needed to win the White House.
With Biden’s imminent victory, Trump has become unhinged claiming without any evidence that he was being robbed of a second term.
Speaking to Radio Islam, Bennis says while there are divisions among people in the US, the goal should be to unite Americans.
“I think when we look at the issues, that The Trump administration has so powerfully reflected, whether its racism, the empowering of extremist violence among fascist elements in the street, xenophobia, Islamophobia, misogyny, anti-Semitism. All these terrible phenomena that we saw n very naked form during the Trump years have actually been part of US politics and US history from the origins of this country.”
Bennis says while half of Americans voted for Trump not all Americans are racist
“We have to be careful. There is systemic racism across this country, Islamophobia systemic, misogyny is systemic and all of us and I don’t exclude myself. I fought against racism for many years, but I certainly grew up white in a racist country and that means I am affected by it. I think we have to be careful not to say that everyone who voted for Trump is a racist.”
Bennis says the US elections results would have been available quicker if the country had a democracy that actually functioned like a democracy based on a one person one vote.
She says the US election system is discriminatory.
“So you can imagine people here particularly in communities of colour, the frustration is extraordinary or having to deal with this system. That’s why you have situations where like in 2016 Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by more than three million and yet Donald Trump won the electoral college. That could happen again, although right now it’s looking much less likely.”
Bennis says while the country will not descend into civil war if Biden wins the election, there is a danger of significant violence that may erupt from some of Trump supporters.
Listen to the interview with Phyllis Bennis.
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