REUTERS
Demonstrators talk during a protest in support of U.S. President Donald Trump outside the American Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, on Feb. 15.
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Donald Trump’s expulsion of South Africa’s ambassador is telling. Trump has offered refugee status to white South Africans who ruled against indigenous Africans under apartheid. As a result, South African leaders have complained of interference by the U.S. for appealing to blatant racism in their country. Trump has not extended a similar offer to Black South Africans.
I remember protesting against apartheid. Nelson Mandela was one of the best presidents the world has ever seen, and he was a freedom fighter against a racial injustice system. Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize, something I hope Trump will never receive.
By inviting white South Africans while deporting nonwhites without any due process, Trump and his supporters demonstrate their disregard for the Constitution, civil rights laws and people of color. We will not be erased. As Mandela said: “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.”
Daphne Barbee-Wooten
Downtown Honolulu
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