Trump’s rally rings some bells. The reaction to Trump’s scheduled rally in Tulsa was so strong, rescheduled for June 20th. Same town.
Bell #1! June 19th is Juneteenth. Trump and his staff were ignorant and didn’t know anything about Juneteenth? Trump and his staff knew that June 19th was Juneteenth but didn’t care? AP claims it’s the latter. Trump claims it’s the former. When there is more than one version of a story, do you ever believe Trump? Either way, Trump comes across as weak and confused. Weak for giving in. Confused for either not knowing or not anticipating.
Juneteenth commemorates the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation to slaves in Texas by General Gordon Granger. Texas, farther away from the fighting than any other state, was the last state in which the emancipation Proclamation was read. Black churches in Texas began celebrating the date in 1866, celebrations which spread across the South. By the 1920s, the celebrations had a commercial element. By the 1960s and 70s, the celebrations became part of the civil rights effort and a recognition of African-American arts. Recently there have been efforts to persuade Congress to make Juneteenth a national holiday. Trump’s choice of June 19th for a rally was not part of the Juneteenth national holiday movement.
Bell #2. Trump holding a rally in Tulsa in June rings another bell. Tulsa is the site of America’s worse race riot, of an American pogrom directed at African-Americans. The riots were on May 31 and June 1 1921 – close enough to Trump’s June rally so it could mark the 99th anniversary of the event. At the time of the riots, Tulsa had the wealthiest black community in the country. Like almost all racial atrocities in the South, this event began with an accusation that a black man, a shoe shiner in this case, had attacked a white woman, an elevator operator. Rumors that the young man had been lynched led to armed black men gathering at the court house and a firefight. Whites gathered in numbers and, supported by aircraft, attacked black neighborhoods, killed as many as 300 people, injured far more, and destroyed enough property to have left 10,000 African Americans homeless.
Bell #3. Trump is holding the rally in the Bank of Oklahoma Center which seats just under 20,000 people. The Center reports that seven events have been cancelled or postponed because of the Coronavirus. Trump’s people are considering doubling down and scheduling a second rally. They claim they have 300,000 applications to gather together, cheer Trump on, while waiving any Trump liability if they catch Covid-19 as a result of being there.
Bell #4. Later in the summer. August 27, 2020, Donald Trump, having escaped coronavirus distancing restrictions in North Carolina, will give his acceptance speech in Jacksonville. Who would have thunk it? Another anniversary of another event. Axehandle Day in Jacksonville. August 27, 1960 – sixty years to the day. The KKK, so they say, decided to teach the kids sitting in to integrate lunch counters a lesson. They chased them with axe handles and baseball bats. Unfriendly axe handles and baseball bats. The authorities? They watched. Until a black street gang called “The Boomerangs” decided to play some defense. The authorities decided to step in. On the side of those wielding the axe handles and baseball bats.
A four alarm fire.