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Why liberals owe Trump a thank you

Michael Greiner
5 min readJul 17, 2019

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By Ralph Alswang, Office of the President — Clinton Presidential Library, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53790424

Unmasking America’s racism

In 2008, with the election of America’s first African-American President, it became the fashion to refer to our nation as entering its “post-racial” phase. Truly, one cannot underestimate the importance of Barack Obama’s election. Not all that long ago, I would have imagined it as likely that we would have a black President as that we would have gay marriage. So much for my prognosticating.

Nevertheless, the entire world took notice when Obama was elected.

By United States Senate — https://web.archive.org/web/20070613015950/http://obama.senate.gov/files/senatorbarackobama.jpg (Was published on the “About” page in 2007), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3810434

It was less than fifty years after segregation was the law in much of the country. The memory of the civil rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s still burned in the mind of many. And just forty years before had the Supreme Court overruled laws banning interracial marriage.

Contrast this with other countries that tore themselves apart, with two “ethnic” groups who looked alike killing each other for perceived wrongs that occurred generations ago. The fact that the United States could move on in such a way was striking.

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Michael Greiner
Michael Greiner

Written by Michael Greiner

Mike is an Assistant Professor of Management for Legal and Ethical Studies at Oakland U. Mike combines his scholarship with practical experience in politics.

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