Reports confirm Donald Trump's dad was arrested at Klan rally, and that those arrested were "berobed

[Capt. Obvious]

?

Fred Trump, the father of millionaire presidential candidate Donald Trump, was arrested at a Ku Klux Klan rally as a young man, according to a 1927 New York Times story. Vice put in the legwork on corroborating the nearly-century-old one-sentence report. They not only found other reports of his arrest, but the startling fact that those arrested were "berobed".

The [Queens County Evening News] mentions Fred Trump as having been "discharged" and gives the Devonshire Road address, along with the names and addresses of the other six men who faced charges. Yet another account in another defunct local newspaper, the Richmond Hill Record, published on June 3, 1927, lists Fred Trump as one of the "Klan Arrests," and also lists the Devonshire Road address.

Another article about the rally, published by the Long Island Daily Press on June 2, 1927, mentions that there were seven arrestees without listing names, and claims that all of the individuals arrested were wearing Klan attire. ... While the Long Island Daily Press doesn't mention Fred Trump specifically, the number of arrestees cited in the report is consistent with the other accounts of the rally. Significantly, the article refers to all of the arrestees as "berobed marchers." If Fred Trump, or another one of the attendees, wasn't dressed in a robe at the time, that may have been a reporting error worth correcting.

BoingBoing

[MADem]

1. He looks like a cruel so-and-so who might like the Pointed Headgear look. nt

[COLGATE4]

12. There's a story from one of the Donald's biographers

(don't recall which one) that, when his first wife, Ivana was invited to a family dinner at a fancy New York Restaurant headed by Father Trump she decided to order fish. The Donald had to tell her that she couldn't do that - that Father always ordered steak for everyone and therefore she was going to have streak. Period.
Trump comes by his overbearing attitude naturally.

[MADem]

24. Ivana--the SMART Trump!

[True Dough]

2. "I like people who weren't captured."

Guess this makes dad a loser, x2.

[unblock]

4. hahaha!

[unblock]

3. the donald is nothing like a klansman! the blacks love him!

he says so himself!

[Person 2713]

5. Why were they arrested ? I didn't see it did you?

[BumRushDaShow]

27. See post #26

I am looking at the article from the NYT "Time Machine" (I have a subscription).

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12512388581#post26

[yodermon]

6. wtf, i literelly *just* saw that episode of House of Cards. It this life imitating art

or did the writers "know" this already?
Hmm hope this isn't a spoiler.

[oasis]

7. Donald's a chip off of the old block. nt

[Funtatlaguy]

8. The berobing revealed very small

Hands.....

[PearliePoo2]

9. So Donald got his racist views the old-fashioned way!

He inherited them!
From pops passed on to son...apple doesn't fall far from the tree..etc.

[anneboleyn]

10. Wow! So much for that African-American outreach. Trump kept promising "the blacks" would vote

for him in huge numbers, that he got "the blacks," etc etc.

This says a hell of a lot about Trump's racism. I think it runs deeper and much more powerfully than anyone who trusted his nonsense realized. I guess Trump forgot to mention that his father wasn't just a "social" member of the klan who went one time for the punch and cookies but was a full-on pointy-hat-wearing klan asshole who got ARRESTED for it? Oh, yes, I am sure he instilled a love for all of humanity in son Donald, and he encouraged Donald to rent to and/or sell to people of color. Sarcasm.

[whatthehey]

11. Which rationally says, if anything, a little bit about a dead racist 90 years ago.

Bill Clinton's stepdad, who raised him, was an alcoholic abusive spouse and parent. Hillary's dad was a Goldwater Republican who always wanted Bill to switch parties and slash capital gains taxes.

Nobody is their father, least of all a couple decades before they were born.

[Blue Idaho]

15. No one is born a racist...

You have to teach someone to be a racist. Someone had to teach Donald to hate people of color, women, and Jews.

[whatthehey]

20. Which only leaves us with several million possible culprits. But hey let's assume it's one of them.

In reality of course it's many many many culprits. Every racist book, show, article, movie, joke, report, friend, acquaintance, relative is what makes people racist, mixed in with institutional bias, racial profiling, parochialism and insularity.

How far back does anyone's ancestry go completely free of prejudice or bigotry? Is there even any such thing? Do you have blameless parents? You have not improved on their attitudes one whit? Either all three of you are susoiciously perfect, or you are lazy for not getting better than they are, or yes like most of us you have exceeded the last generation in racial justice.

By passing the blame on to Fred, in effect we deny Donald the agency and the responsibility for his own bigotry. It's Fred who did that, not him. But that's bullshit in many ways. He chose to be the way he is. He chose not to rise above Fred's racism. Millions if not billions did better than that. Almost anyone of his age whose family stayed in Germany instead of leaving like his had parents who supported, at least passively, the Nazi regime (yes there was a German Resistance, but it was a small part off the country). Are they all anti-semites today? Does no German of Trump's age eschew racism against Gypsies, homophobia and Aryanism? Of course they do, because they are not their parents any more than Trump is. And the ones who are still bigoted? They made that choice based on societal norms, ignorance, fear, insularity, and all the other reasons above, not their fathers. So did Trump.

[PatSeg]

34. Well said

My views on many social issues do not necessarily reflect what my parents taught me. Trump had choices just like the rest of us, but he has often bragged that he has not changed since he was a child. He really does seem to be stuck in another era.

[Blue Idaho]

37. I get what you are saying - but don't underestimate

The importance of having a racist as a dad. Those early years are all about shaping a kid's world view and many don't escape it. How do I know? My grandfather was a Klan member and my dad - love him as I do - did not escape the racist beliefs he was raised with. He could behave in public - but that didn't change who he was in private or with his closest friends. Of course the world fed him a bunch of re-inforcements but many of his beliefs were baked in the cake before he met the rest of the world. To be honest, one of the biggest reasons I was raised with an open mind is down to my mother. She refused to let my dad spread his toxic bias to us kids when we were too young to realize how poisonous those ideas were and are.

Later in life his racism became more open - to the point where I had to tell him that if he was going to continue to talk that way I was going to stop visiting him. It always was a big problem between the two of us. For what it's worth I hold him responsible for his beliefs, but I also know where they came from.

No doubt the world is full of angry, hateful people and the message can be picked up in lots of places. But ignoring the racist in your house seems short sighted to me.

[PatSeg]

16. This is true

And I think Trump's racism can stand on its own without any help from his father.

[anamandujano]

25. Good point.

[TeamPooka]

36. You either rebel or become your parents. The Clintons rebelled, Trump became his dad. nt

[whatthehey]

39. There are a whole lot more opotions than those

In fact the vast majority of people absorb some part of their worldview from their parents but also absorb the (obviously) different zeitgeist of their own generation.

[LuvNewcastle]

38. My great-grandfather was in the Klan.

My grandma told me about it when I was a kid -- it was her father. It certainly wasn't something she was proud of, but it was a fact. Being from Mississippi, it wasn't a big surprise. I'd say that the vast majority of white people with deep roots here have at least one or two people in their background who were involved in racist organizations. I think she told me about it so I wouldn't grow up to judge other people's families and think I'm better than them. That's the lesson I took from it, anyway.

[whatthehey]

40. I doubt many of us have reliably 21st Century style liberal ancestors very far back.

Hell even for the parents of all but the younger demographics here that would be a tall order.

[Blue Idaho]

13. I see the nut didn't fall far from the tree...

One can only imagine the dinner table conversations between Donald the dumbshit and his racist daddy...

[jimmil]

14. Proves nothing

I can't stand Trump any more than the rest of you but this is nothing but dirt that proves nothing. A LOT of people, especially from the south, had many family members that were and are racists but it doesn't prove anything about the person.

[Cryptoad]

19. When taken in whole scheme of thangs it proves alot!

[stevenleser]

29. No one is saying it, by itself, proves anything.

But it is another piece of the story in a narrative. And all of those pieces lead in one direction.

[DustyJoe]

17. Trump book opening

Now he can show the world he can write a book to rival 'Dreams from my Father' by penning an ode titled 'Sins of my Father'.

[NurseJackie]

18. Fred's middle name was "CHRIST" ??? (Or did someone vandalize his Wiki page?)

[vinny9698]

21. This photo shows racists who are still alive today and have had kids who probably grew up like their

dads.

[Capt. Obvious]

28. Matt Damon the time traveler

[napkinz]

32. Donald Trump ... "In The Good Old Days"

[jimmil]

43. Actually you are wrong......

I am on a Facebook page dedicated to Jackson, MS. The guy pouring the drink on the head of the girl at the bar actually made a comment about that day. Two years later he joined the military and later went to Vietnam. His whole life changed needless to say and his attitude towards race did too. He said whenever he sees that picture he regrets with all his heart the things he did. People do change.

[woolldog]

44. link?

[jmowreader]

22. Fair is fair

Donald Trump is not Fred Trump.

However, I believe in being fair. And if the GOP is trying to hang Bill Clinton and his infidelities and Libyan terrorist attacks around Hillary's neck like millstones, I say Donald Trump's Klansman father deserves the same treatment.

You know the old saying about glass houses, and Trump actually lives in one.

[bucolic_frolic]

23. So some research

Looks like Klan were active on Long Island at that time:

http://brookhavensouthhaven.org/history/KKK/KKK_Long_Island.htm

http://www.oysterbayhistorical.org/uploads/4/9/5/1/4951065/kkk_in_syosset.pdf

[BumRushDaShow]

26. I found the original NYT article (I have a subscription)

From June 1st, 1927 -

WARREN CRITICIZES 'CLASS' PARADES; Police Head Declares Neither Fascisti Nor Klan Had Any Place in Memorial March. KLAN ASSAILS POLICEMEN No Progress Made In Tracing the Slayers of Two Italians -- Seven Arraigned In Queens Battle.

Police Commissioner Warren announced yesterday that he was in favor of fewer "extraneous" parades in this city. He made this known in discussing the disorders incident to the Memorial parade when two Fascisti were killed on their way to join a detachment of black shirts in the Manhattan parade, and 1,000 Klansmen and 100 policemen staged a free-for-all battle in Jamaica.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9806EED6123FE03ABC4953DFB066838C639EDE&legacy=true

The rest is PDF (through their "Time Machine" access to the article scans), but apparently "Fred Trump" was charged with disorderly conduct as part of a group who caused a "near-riot" during a "Memorial (Day)" parade as part of a group of KKK who decided to crash the parade. Several others with him were involved in assaulting officers and "staging" fist-fights and so forth. Apparently the KKK's side of the story (via circulars that they distributed through Queens) blamed the "Roman Catholic Police" for assaulting "Native-Born Protestant Americans". The text from the handbill reads like the stuff we are still seeing almost 90 years later - "Liberty and Democracy have been trampled upon when native born Protestant Americans dare to organize to protect one flag, the American flag; one school, the public school; and one language, the English language..." blah blah forefathers...blah.

[yardwork]

33. White supremacy, antisemitism, anti-Catholic bias.... The full Monty.

Donald is not his father, but this fits the rest of the evidence we know about Trump and his campaign.

[BumRushDaShow]

35. He became a rich entitled playboy

and his speech patterns via usage of terms such as "the blacks", "the Hispanics" and so on, suggests the objectification of "others" not like himself, that he may have grown up hearing - and his own real estate practices emphasized this sort of race superiority. This from someone whose own mother was "off the boat" and whose father's parents were as well.

Fred was apparently 22 when he was involved in this "altercation".

[TonyPDX]

30. Woody Guthrie was right about his landlord, Fred Trump.

[TryLogic]

31. Now check out Mitch McConnell's past, or family history.

[OnDoutside]

42. It wouldn't surprise me in the least to find rabid racism in every oriface of McConnell

[downeastdaniel]

41. The proverbial acorn didn't fall far from his papa, did he? Not that his generation wore sheets,

but the donald had his ways to strike blows against the "blacks" and "the hispanics"...oh yeah he did...