New documents reveal how Donald Trump’s racist dad inspired Woody Guthrie’s most bitter writings

[IDemo]

In December 1950, Woody Guthrie signed his name to the lease of a new apartment in Brooklyn. Even now, over half a century later, that uninspiring document prompts a double-take.

Below all the legal jargon is the signature of the man who had composed “This Land Is Your Land,” the most resounding appeal to an equal share for all in America. Below that is the signature of Donald Trump’s father, Fred. No pairing could appear more unlikely.

Guthrie’s two-year tenancy in one of Fred Trump’s buildings and his relationship with the real estate mogul of New York’s outer boroughs produced some of Guthrie’s most bitter writings, which I discovered on a recent trip to the Woody Guthrie Archives in Tulsa. These writings have never before been published; they should be, for they clearly pit America’s national balladeer against the racist foundations of the Trump real estate empire.

Recalling these foundations becomes all the more relevant in the wake of the racially charged proclamations of Donald Trump, who last year announced, “My legacy has its roots in my father’s legacy.”

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/new-documents-reveal-how-donald-trumps-racist-dad-inspired-woody-guthries-most-bitter-writings/

I suppose
Old Man Trump knows
Just how much
Racial Hate
he stirred up
In the bloodpot of human hearts
When he drawed
That color line
Here at his
Eighteen hundred family project ....

[bklyncowgirl]

1. Wow, interesting. Six degrees of separation indeed.

The apple does not fall far from the tree.

[JudyM]

2. Deserves more coverage. Great post, thanks.

Last edited Thu Jan 21, 2016, 03:29 PM - Edit history (1)

Our candidate should use it at rallies.

[malaise]

12. Enjoy

[JudyM]

14. Thanks, you too!

https://m.

[malaise]

15. Thanks

[malaise]

16. This needs a hashtag and the words about Trump's father

Should be everywhere by now - excellent

[JudyM]

20. Go for it!

It'll be especially important if he Wins the nom.

[malaise]

22. This will make prime time news tonight

Trust me - I'm not on Twitter

[JudyM]

24. That'll work, too. I hope someone sets up a hashtag for it, though, such a good idea.

[malaise]

25. Folks are on it

https://www.google.com/search?q=woodie+guthrie+donald+trump%27s+father&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=twitter+woody+guthrie+donald+trump

[JudyM]

26. :) :) :)

[napkinz]

34. I posted this earlier but it applies here in a different way ... TRUMP GETS A WOODY!

[malaise]

35. You're in fine form

[napkinz]

36. :)

edit: waiting for someone to reply, "IT'S YUUUUUGE!"

[Brickbat]

3. Great find.

[malaise]

4. Were it up to me this would have

500 recs already

Huge post - thanks

[appal_jack]

5. What a stark contrast back then, and now.

In his notebooks, (Guthrie) conjured up a scenario of smashing the color line to transform the Trump complex into a diverse cornucopia, with “a face of every bright color laffing and joshing in these old darkly weeperish empty shadowed windows.” He imagined himself calling out in Whitman-esque free verse to the “negro girl yonder that walks along against this headwind / holding onto her purse and her fur coat”:


I welcome you here to live. I welcome
you and your man both here to Beach Haven to love in any
ways you please and to have some kind of a decent place to
get pregnant in and to have your kids raised up in. I'm
yelling out my own welcome to you.

"Old Man Trump's" heir is quite apparent. May many of us take up the Guthrie's torch; la lucha continua.

Massive k&r,

-app

[malaise]

13. This needs graphics and a Woody song

Last edited Fri Jan 22, 2016, 01:12 AM - Edit history (1)

I suppose
Old Man Trump knows
Just how much
Racial Hate
he stirred up
In the bloodpot of human hearts
When he drawed
That color line
Here at his
Eighteen hundred family project ....Woodie Guthrie

This need to be on billboards everywhere

[meaculpa2011]

6. I delivered the Long Island Press...

to the Guthrie home in Queens. Woody lived in many places in and around New York City, but the house in Howard Beach is where his kids grew up after he was stricken with Huntington's Disease.

[MynameisBlarney]

7. Helluva legacy, innit?

Teh Turnips old man was such an flaming douchecannon, he inspired Guthrie to write such songs.

I guess in a way, we should thank Ol' Man Turnip for that.

Nah....fuck him, his fascist prick of a son and the horses they rode in on.

[muntrv]

8. Prifiteering off of public housing? The Trumps are socialists!

[berni_mccoy]

9. Thom Hartmann Just Called out this post! woot! congrats!

[malaise]

11. It is a HUGE post

very important

[randys1]

17. And if teaparty knew about it that would cement his nomination...they HATE

people like the Guthrie's

[malaise]

19. The base will divide on Guthrie

there are many factions.

[saidsimplesimon]

10. Thank you, IDemo

Perhaps Mr. Trump and Mrs. Palin should consider the words of this song from Arlo Guthrie. Those who continue to suggest a military solution to conflicts in the Middle East, Asia or any location on the map are "cray, cray" (did I get that right Larry Wilmore fans?).


<iframe width="420" height="315" src="

" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Donkees]

18. Bernie sings!

[malaise]

21. Holy Shite TIME has gone with this

http://time.com/4188991/woody-guthrie-donald-trump-fred-trump-songs/
<snip>

For two years, folk icon Woody Guthrie was a tenant in one of the Brooklyn apartment buildings managed by Fred Trump, father of current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The living arrangement apparently inspired bitter songwriting about what Guthrie called “racist” housing practices by the real estate mogul.

Donald Trump has linked his legacy with that of his father, whom Guthrie wrote about with disdain in song lyrics that were never published, according to Will Kaufman, a professor of American literature and culture. Kaufman found Guthrie’s old lease and writings in the Woody Guthrie Archive in Tulsa, Okla., and posted them on TheConversation.com.

In his notebooks, Guthrie wrote:

I suppose

Old Man Trump knows

Just how much

Racial Hate

he stirred up

In the bloodspot of human hearts

When he drawed

That color line

Here at this

Eighteen hundred family project

The Department of Justice sued the Trump real estate business in the 1970s for violating the Fair Housing Act, according to the New York Times. After Trump Management filed suit against the government, the two sides reached an agreement that “did not constitute an admission of guilt” by Trump or his company.

[countryjake]

37. Here's the original article that "Time" refers to, plus a timely Woody song...

Woody Guthrie, ‘Old Man Trump’ and a real estate empire’s racist foundations

https://theconversation.com/woody-guthrie-old-man-trump-and-a-real-estate-empires-racist-foundations-53026




And here's a cover of Woody's song, "The Ferguson Brothers Killing", done by Raymond Crooke on YouTube:

In the early hours of February 5, 1946, Officer Joseph Romeika of Freeport, New York, shot and killed two brothers, Charles and Alfonso Ferguson. These two men, with their other brothers, Joseph and Richard, were refused coffee at the bus station's tearoom, and left after an argument between Charles and the tearoom owner. As they waited at the bus station to go home, Romeika, who had been called by the tearoom owner, stopped them and lined them up against a wall with their hands up. When Charles, who was actually unarmed, threatened to pull out a pistol and made movements towards his waist, Romeika shot him dead. Alfonso moved towards the officer, who shot him dead too, the bullet also wounding Joseph.

An inquiry by the district attorney of Nassau County before an all-white jury ruled that Romeika had acted justly. A number of groups, including the American Jewish Congress and the American Civil Liberties Union, complained to Governor Thomas Dewey and asked him to appoint a special investigator to the case, but this second inquiry also found no wrongdoing on the part of Romeika, the district attorney or the grand jury.

A month later (March 5, 1946) Woody Guthrie wrote this twelve-verse song, using the melody of "Streets of Laredo." He begins by stressing Charles' military record, and the fact that he has just reenlisted. The song then focuses on the injustice of their treatment by the tearoom owner, the police and the courts, pointing out that this happened in New York, not in the deep south. The song ends with the effect their death will have on their families.

This song, like "The Blinding of Isaac Woodward", shows the involvement Guthrie had with the Civil Rights movement at this time in his career.

[malaise]

38. Thanks so much for this Countryjake

[countryjake]

39. ...

[valerief]

23. I included Trump Sr. in one of my fashion doll picture stories set in 1962.

I wrote this story last year, way before the UK talked about banning Trump Jr.



Story starts at http://vdbooks.com/doll/rc.htm

In the story, I made Trump Jr. a leprosy doctor.

[malaise]

27. Great work

I did not know his KKK fascist daddy was banned from France

[valerief]

29. I made that up! I wrote the story last year, way before the UK talked about banning Trump Jr.

I didn't even know doctors could be dumb when I made Trump Jr. a doctor in the story.

Sorry for the confusion.

[malaise]

30. So he wasn't banned from France

What a pity - looks so real

[valerief]

32. No, he wasn't. I tried to be silly in my story and it turns out

it was close to reality (re Trump Jr.)!

[malaise]

33. Prescient indeed

Hahahahaha - good one

[countryjake]

28. A great big KICK and wishing for a thousand recommendations!

Thanks so much for sharing this, IDemo.

[KamaAina]

31. Now more than ever...

[malaise]

40. Yes

indeed

[Person 2713]

41. +1

[panader0]

42. K and R

[countryjake]

43. kickety

[RoccoR5955]

44. Well if Woody was against tRump, so am I!

Someone should inform Arlo too.