Appearing as a guest on Saturday's Velshi show on MSNBC, contributor Eddie Glaude accused President Donald Trump of putting on "white political theater" that "plays fast and loose" with the deaths of blacks with the upcoming rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma -- a city known for a horrific massacre against black residents in 1921.
Glaude similarly took aim at former President Ronald Reagan for speaking at the Neshoba County Fair in Mississippi in 1980, and surprisingly even hit former Democratic Bill Clinton for speaking at Stone Mountain in Georgia iin 1992.
Host Velshi brought up the rally in Tulsa as he suggested that President Trump possesses "tone deafness" on the issue:
ALI VELSHI: And, by the way, people told him this when he first announced this rally in Tulsa. And he said, "Well, it's a celebration." It's part of this tone deafness of the President as it relates to the current zeitgeist of Americans realizing that African Americans do have a harder time on almost every aspect of society.
EDDIE GLAUDE, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Ali, tone deafness might be a generous read in the sense that I think that President Trump and the folks around him are always trying to figure out how to leverage white resentments in particular sorts of ways.
After explaining the significance of the Juneteenth holiday on June 19 that commemorates the freeing of slaves in Texas after the Civil War ended, he accused Presidents Trump Reagan, and Clinton of disrespecting the deaths of blacks with campaign events:
GLAUDE: It's, in some ways, Ali, it's white political theater that plays fast and loose with our dead and our tragedy. It's the latest -- I mean, I'm thinking about President Clinton's tough on crime speech at Stone Mountain in 1992, playing fast and loose with our tragedy, thinking about Ronald Reagan's speech in 1980 at Neshoba County Fair playing fast and loose with our dead and our tragedy. This is part of that white political theater that exploits white resentment, deepens divisions, and appeals to our darker angels, I believe, Ali.
With regard to Reagan, it was not mentioned that, if one were going to campaign in Mississippi, the Neshoba County Fair was the best place to campaign in spite of its relative proximity to the site where an infamous murder of civil rights activists had taken place 16 years earlier.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Saturday, June 13, Velshi on MSNBC:
8:10 a.m. Eastern
ALI VELSHI: Eddie, let me just ask you about this Juneteenth thing in Tulsa. Tulsa is an important place for African Americans. It's a site of a tragedy in 1921 that the mayor has come out and talked about recently. In fact, I think he was on about two weeks ago talking about it. I don't pretend to know every holiday out there, but Juneteenth is an important one for African Americans, and it's certainly one that the President should have been sensitive to.
And, by the way, people told him this when he first announced this rally in Tulsa. And he said, "Well, it's a celebration." It's part of this tone deafness of the President as it relates to the current zeitgeist of Americans realizing that African Americans do have a harder time on almost every aspect of society.
EDDIE GLAUDE, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Ali, tone deafness might be a generous read in the sense that I think that President Trump and the folks around him are always trying to figure out how to leverage white resentments in particular sorts of ways. Juneteenth is an important moment on what we might call African Americans' alternative celebratory calendar. It recognizes the fact that in Galveston, Texas, that those who were enslaved had heard two years later that the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued, and then they realized that they were free. Remember, it was two years later.
We don't get the end of slavery, of course, until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, but the idea is that there is this moment -- this date just like January 1st used to be a date on that calendar celebrating the abolition of the slave trade. August 24th was the day of abolition of West Indian emancipation day. These were important days over the course of the 19th century and Juneteenth in the 20th century and the 19th century to celebrate African American freedom, but even against that backdrop, you mentioned, very quickly, Ali, the Tulsa massacre. Even if he's not going to deliver that speech on Juneteenth, it's still against the backdrop of this extraordinary example of white violence -- of murder, over 300 people dead.
It's, in some ways, Ali, it's white political theater that plays fast and loose with our dead and our tragedy. It's the latest -- I mean, I'm thinking about President Clinton's tough on crime speech at Stone Mountain in 1992, playing fast and loose with our tragedy, thinking about Ronald Reagan's speech in 1980 at Neshoba County Fair playing fast and loose with our dead and our tragedy. This is part of that white political theater that exploits white resentment, deepens divisions, and appeals to our darker angels, I believe, Ali.
And let me say this very quickly. Derrick Scott was just murdered or killed screaming, "I can't breathe," and a police officer in Oklahoma said, "I don't care." That's the backdrop of this.
