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At a White House event to honor World War II veterans of Navajo descent, Trump referred to Senator Elizabeth Warren as "Pocahontas" because of her alleged Native American descent. His remark has sparked a number of responses, calling it "offensive" and "derisive." However, the White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has defended it, claiming that it is not a racial slur, and even accusing Senator Warren of lying about her Native American heritage "to advance her career."
While the accusations against Senator Warren are plausible due to policies like affirmative action, I think it is still unacceptable for Trump to use racially insensitive remarks. Additionally, I don't understand how referring to a Native American as "Pocahontas" isn't a racial slur. He basically associated her with the first Native American person that came to mind with no other legitimate reason, which I construe as racism.
What do you think? Do you believe the White House's defense of Trump is legitimate? Do you think Trump referring to Senator Warren as Pocahontas is racist?
16 comments:
Trump’s exact words about Elizabeth Warren to the Native American veterans at the event were: “You were here long before any of us were here...Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas.” There’s a lot wrong with this statement, as you said in your blog post. Calling someone “Pocahontas” whose name isn’t actually Pocahontas is racist because of exactly what you said: it lumps all Native American people in with one person, Pocahontas. He also implies that many people besides himself call Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas,” which is untrue as well. He also takes cheap shots at politicians from the opposing party at an event during which veterans are supposed to be honored, which is also worrying and offensive to veterans.
It's absolutely embarrassing for the President of the United States to make such derisive remarks towards a member of the Senate. To not only poke fun at but also question the validity of someone's racial background only further depicts Trump as a bigoted, self-centered excuse of a President. We've seen similar remarks about President Obama's birthplace, and this definitely isn't the first time Trump has made fun of Senate or House officials. We have also yet to see Trump apologize for such actions instead of forcing his secretary to defend them with more accusatory remarks.
I was reading through the article and I found that some Republican Party members called President Trump's remarks a "joke." I don't really see what's so funny about him calling Senator Warren Pocahontas. Whether or not she was lying about her Native American ancestry, calling her Pocahontas really displays President Trump's ignorance more than anything else, as he kind of puts out the first Native American name that comes to mind---Pocahontas, "lumping all Native Americans under one person" as Meiling said. Furthermore, I find it very disrespectful that during this ceremony of honoring Native American veterans, he finds a way to insert politics. There was no need for the statement which disrupted his relatively kind speech. In the end, what should have been a good opportunity for Trump to show his compassion and consideration for others, turned into another opportunity for people to roll their eyes at him.
It was incredibly inappropriate for President Trump to make that remark especially at an event that was supposed to honor the World War II Native American veterans. I don't think the White House's defense of his comment was legitimate since what he said was racist. If something could be interpreted as offensive the President of the United States should probably just avoid saying it at all. Emily mentioned that Republican Party members were saying it was a "joke" but as the leader of a very diverse nation President Trump should not be making "jokes" that offend people in his country.
I do not believe that the White House's defense of Trump was legitimate because they were basically saying that calling someone a name (a person in history) based on their race is okay, and that it does not really matter since Elizabeth Warren may not actually be a native american. For example, we cannot go around calling black people Martin Luther King for many reasons, but especially, that each person has their own identity and should not have to conform with other people who share their race. Therefore, I do think that Trump referring to Senator Elizabeth Warren as Pocahontas is racist because she is not Pocahontas, and is not claiming to be someone like Pocahontas.
I think that Trump's calling Senator Warren "Pocahontas" just further shows his immaturity and inability to make a speech without going out of his way to attack someone. I'm not sure if "Pocahontas" is a racial slur but it is certainly a stereotype and definitely a middle-school-level nickname. I don't think Sanders' defense of Trump is justified either, Trump clearly intended to offend people--that's just what he does.
i believe that the situation could be intepreted in both ways due to the facts of the environment and the situation. The term"pocahantas" is not a deragatory term itself.However, given the situation it is during the event of honoring native american decent, it can be seen as innapropriate
I think Trump referring to Senator Warren as "Pocahontas" is a racial slur. There was no valid reason for him to call her that, even if she's native american, there is still no valid reason. I also do not think it was appropriate for the secretary to defend trump and accuse Ms. Warren of lying. First of all, you can't say something wasn't disrespectful if it wasn't aimed towards you because you were never the one attacked. I see it more as a childish act for the secretary to do that, as well as accuse her of not being native american.
I agree with Marlene. I think that people are just so used to Trump's stupid actions they feel like a name- calling is not as big of a deal. It is super inappropriate especially because he most likely does not know the true story of Pocahontas, and only the Disney movie.
I agree that referring to Senator Warren as "Pocahontas" is a racial slur. I think it was a completely inappropriate place for Trump to refer to Senator Warrens racial background. His comment was not relevant to the topic of the speech and pinpointed Senator Warrens background. I also agree with your statement that calling her "Pocahontas" lumps all Native American people with a single person. I think Trumps comment was disrespectful and inappropriate and, therefore, Sanders defense of Trump wasn't justified either because Trumps comment was obviously inappropriate.
It's obviously racist to call Warren Pocahontas. There's no way to defend it and even if Trump has a problem with her, this was not the platform to address it on. The speech that the Navajo man gave about his presence in World War Two was powerful and was the highlight of the night until Trump unnecessarily decided to bring up Warren. The white house's defense is clearly not legitimate but at this point it's what people expect. Every week or so, Trump will say something offensive and out of pocket, then the white house will proceed to defend him, make up something to distract people, and then blame someone else. I think the worst part of Trump's remarks are how they contradict the speech given before he spoke. The speech pointed to America's diversity and how powerful we are when we come together and ignore our differences. That's right when Trump name called Warren and caused yet another fiasco.
While the accusations against Warren are plausible, Trump's statement is not acceptable even if the accusations turn out to be true. The defense against Trump's comment also seems childish and immature as well, as all it does it attempt to shift the blame to Warren. The definition of racial slur is "a derogatory or disrespectful nickname for a racial group, used without restraint". Like Elena said, Trump generalizes all Native Americans as "Pocahontas" with this one statement, which is most certainly derogatory and disrespectful.
Building on the comments above, I think that the slur towards Warren was unnecessary and racist. Unfortuately people look up to Trump since he is the head of this country, soI feel like with his slur, it will promote more sublte racism which is really sad.
I think that everyone has their different points of view when it comes to what is racist or not. In my opinion, calling someone a nickname based off their race is racist. Even though Pocahontas has no negative connotation to it, it is still a nickname that is based off of her race. Trump should be more considerate and careful of what he says because he is the president. The white house press secretary has no right to accuse the Senator of not being what she says she is.
Like most others, I agree that Trump referring to Warren as “Pocahontas” is completely inappropriate and constitutes a racial slur. The fact that this was part of Trump’s address at an event to honor WWII veterans of Navajo descent only makes this all the more insensitive. According to the article, Trump has used this slur to refer to Warren multiple times in the past -- Trump evidently has not learned from past experiences. Regarding White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ comments, I don’t believe that the legitimacy of Warren’s Native American heritage is relevant to this discussion or serves as an adequate excuse for what Trump said. It seems that the White House is attempting to distract from the troubling nature of Trump’s comments.
Agreeing with many others who have commented, Trump was extremely inappropriate and unprofessional by calling Senator Warren "Pocahontas." Although, I am not surprised that those words slipped from our current president's mouth. At this point, people aren't even taking Trump's words seriously anymore because we have a general sense that he doesn't even know what he's saying most of the time. Nonetheless, his racial slur was still unacceptable and highly derogatory to Senator Warren and Native Americans as well.
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