Photo: Brendan McDermid (Reuters)
Following public outcry, Forbes has taken down an article from its site entitled “Will Surviving Gunfire Be Donald Trump’s Next Appeal To Black Voters?”
This Forbes 30 Under 30 Entrepreneur Thinks History Is A Key To Success | Securing the Bag: Part 2
This Forbes 30 Under 30 Entrepreneur Thinks History Is A Key To Success | Securing the Bag: Part 2
Here’s the Gag: It was written by self-proclaimed DEI expert Shaun Harper. The story was posted on Saturday (July 13) and was called out for its offensive nature. In the piece, Harper stated that Black people in this country suffer from “inexcusably” high amounts of gun violence. He also noted that Trump has a history of using his indictment on several criminal charges and mugshot as a way to make racist assertions about how he connects with Black folks.
“And the Blacks, they love me because they know the terrifying sound of gunshots,’ isn’t that something Trump has ‘actually’ said,” Harper stated in the article. “Hopefully, he doesn’t. But it isn’t all that unthinkable.”
In addition, Harper also drew a shocking parallel to Trump raising his fist after the failed assassination attempt at his campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday to two notable Black figures during the Civil Rights Movement.
“After winning gold and bronze medals for their spectacular performances in the men’s 200-meter race at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, American track athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised gloved fists as they stood on the podium,” Harper wrote.“Hopefully Trump doesn’t claim that his raised fist was an homage to Smith and Carlos, two powerful Black Americans.”
The outrage was swift and well deserved with folks online calling the article racist and wondering how it made it past editors to get published in the first place.
On X, Issac Hayes III wrote: “Uh @DrShaunHarper I’m gonna need you to step to the front of the Black congregation and explain this asinine headline in your Forbes article. Cause this sounds stupid just reading it.”
Harper hasn’t posted publicly on the app since July 9, but he is surely feeling the brunt of his words.
