Trump encouraging racism for political gains - Prof Anthony Appiah

A renowned Philosopher is predicting the US will go through a difficult period in many things including problems with race relations if Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, is voted as president.

Prof Kwame Anthony Appiah, a professor of philosophy at the New York University Law School, in an exclusive interview with Nicholas Opoku of Joy FM Thought Leadership Series, says he believes there’s a willingness amongst a good number of Americans to do something about racism.

However Donald Trump is encouraging racism with his comments ahead of the November presidential polls.

“Almost everything Donald Trump has said about this matter has been profoundly counter-productive,” he said.

“Rather than discouraging it, he’s brought it out of the woodwork and encouraged it. Whether or not he’s personally racist, I have no idea. But that isn’t the problem, the problem is he’s encouraging it [racism] for his own political ends and that’s bad”, he noted.

Prof Anthony Appiah is of the view that racism is as a result of many things which are embedded in American social life but efforts being made to address it could be thwarted if Donald Trump is voted into office as US president.

“...one thing we could very usefully do is to get Donald trump to shut up. And maybe the American people will do that when they don’t vote him into the Presidency,” he said.

Prof Anthony Appiah made these remarks prior to the prestigious 2016 BBC Reith Lecture in Accra on October 15, 2016, which he delivered on ‘Mistaken Identities’.

Racism in the United States has been a major issue since the colonial era and the slave era.

However, many cited the election of Barack Obama, the country’s first black president in 2008 as a step forward in race relations.

Ahead of the November presidential elections, the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton has a 12-point lead over Donald Trump and has reached 50 percent support nationally among likely voters, a new ABC News tracking poll shows.

Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com