The art of America is tiptoeing toward an uncomfortable self-examination about race. But President Donald Trump, bunkered down in his fortress behind high fences now ringing the White House, is spurning a building wave of national reflection.

The death of George Floyd in the latest example of police brutality has drawn tens of thousands of people onto the streets and caused some Americans to launch a fresh appraisal of the systemic racism and bias black Americans experience in this country.
Sensing a moment of national reckoning, some major corporations, company managers, major sports leagues and white politicians have felt compelled to speak out. Anecdotal signs of a shift can be seen in Amazon bestseller lists dominated by books about racial prejudice. A story about a heart-to-heart about race between an airline executive and a flight attendant from a rival carrier was a feel-good moment in a wrenching week.
NFL quarterback Drew Brees on Thursday repudiated his own criticism of players who take a knee during the national anthem. “I recognize that I should do less talking and more listening … and when the black community is talking about their pain, we all need to listen,” Brees said.
There is a notable absentee from this broadening debate: Trump. While he has condemned Floyd’s death and promised justice several times, the President, who has a history of flinging racist rhetoric, is not examining his own prejudices.

Instead, Trump has amplified accusations that former President Barack Obama inflamed racial angst, boasted that he’s done more for African Americans than any President but Abraham Lincoln, had federal forces charge peaceful protesters so he could have a divisive photo-op and threatened to send troops into the states.
Trump defended heavy handed action by federal security forces in Washington, DC, on Thursday, doubling down on the tough guy persona that he hopes will reverse his current polling deficit to Democrat Joe Biden in the presidential election race.
“The problem is not the very talented low-flying helicopter pilots wanting to save our city, the problem is the arsonists, looters, criminals, and anarchists, wanting to destroy it (and our Country)!” Trump tweeted.
And then, later on Thursday, Trump shared a letter on Twitter that referred to the peaceful protesters who were forcibly dispersed from a park near the White House as “terrorists.”
The President no doubt believes he is on solid ground in reflecting the sentiments of his base supporters with his hard line. Conservative media is already creating a narrative that reflections on race are liberal virtue signaling and political correctness run wild and that protests represent lawlessness by radicals and are not genuine political uprisings.
There has been violence and looting alongside some protests but most demonstrations are now largely peaceful. Arguing, however, that events of the last week are purely a law-and-order question implies there isn’t institutional discrimination and police brutality to be addressed. National security adviser Robert O’Brien told CNN on Sunday for instance that he thought there was no “systemic racism” in police ranks and that there were just “some bad apples in there.”
Even Attorney General William Barr, who is defending his hardline stand on protests in Washington, DC, said Thursday that while most police officers do their jobs “bravely and righteously” it is also “undeniable that many African Americans lack confidence in our American criminal justice system.”
“This must change,” Barr said.
Trump largely dodged such questions during a Fox News Radio interview this week, admitting that there was a “long term problem” and everybody has “to do better.” But he used the chance to blame the issue on Biden and boast about his own standing among African Americans.
That the President would not want to be part of a growing national appraisal of America’s racial wounds and the injustices black Americans face now, or feel a responsibility to lead it in a moment of deep crisis, is a reflection on his character — and the manner in which he has conducted his administration and campaigns, which have tended to open historic wounds.
The power of the moment — even as the country is battling a pandemic and consequent economic devastation — leaves open the possibility that Trump has misjudged the public mood.
‘A lot of motion but very little action’
There have been many failed “conversations about race” in US politics. Successive racially motivated outrages have produced little meaningful legal or political change. Black families still have less wealth than white families, black Americans still aren’t well represented at the upper-levels of management and are more likely to die from coronavirus and to have poor health care. Not to mention, the previous protests against police brutality haven’t stopped the killing of black men and women in this country.
“Oftentimes there’s a lot of motion but very little action” from firms amid calls for reform, John Harmon, a member of the US Chamber of Commerce committee tasked with correcting the inequality of opportunity, told CNN’s Cristina Alesci.
So there is plenty of reason for skepticism that when fury, sadness and guilt eases over Floyd’s death, nothing will end up being that much different this time.

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