How does Trayon White still have a job?

[Anonymous]

None of you know anything about Ward 8. If you did, you'd know Trayon has been a community activist and organizer for almost 20 years.

That's why he was elected, that's why he'll be reelected, and that's why he deserves to be a councilman. Because he's been busting his hump for his neighbors to try and make Ward 8 a better place for the people who live there since he was 20.


I've been familiar with and watched Trayon White from a modest distance for my entire career as a journalist in DC. There are very few people his age who have given more of themselves to DC. He reminds me very much of the young, idealistic Marion Barry of the late 70's.

The fact that he doesn't conform to your white-biased standards of opinion, manner and conduct with regards to topics relevant to white people, is meaningless.

So what if he's less than informed about or even casually indifferent to the Holocaust? That's not his struggle. Black people endured their own holocaust, and some still are enduring it in many ways. That's what Trayon White cares about.

Seeking your approval is pointless to him. As it should be.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Non-DCer here. Seriously, how is this guy still in office?

Oh, you're new here! We have a long history of being ok with local politicians being completely ape shit criminals, but as long as they're from the neighborhood, it's fine, and in fact a point of pride. We love Marion Berry but kicked out Adrian Fenty, our first white mayor.

In broad strokes, chocolate city is run by locals (read: black). The transient rich people (read: white) end up moving back to Ohio or to Bethesda, Silver Spring, etc. So politicans like Trayon don't get pushed out.

This is changing. I think my kids' generation will have a more diverse city council, since there are many types of kids growing up in DC now-- white, black, rich, poor. In my generation anyone who had any means (no matter your race) fled bc of the crack epedemic and riots. Now there are lots of reasons to stay in DC so people with choice stay here. But these changes are fraught around race, gentrification, education, all those fun things with no good answers. My family came over in the late 1800s and every generation since has lived in the DC border except my generation, the siblings and cousins born between 1975-1990 or so, due to what DC was going through. However, now we're back on this side of Western Ave w our kids and thriving. My parents neighborhood was Petworth.

I do not seen Trayon losing his spot on the DC Council. Maybe if kojo nnamdi starts calling for it-- he seems to be a good source of shaming that folks will listen to.

Do you know that the DC Council has a majority of white members (and that excludes the two Council Members named "White"). So much for the "locals" running the city being black. I have known Adrian Fenty for a long time and never once heard him describe himself as white. Kojo Nnamdi has little influence in Ward 8. If anything, being attacked by Kojo would make White more popular to his constituents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of you know anything about Ward 8. If you did, you'd know Trayon has been a community activist and organizer for almost 20 years.

That's why he was elected, that's why he'll be reelected, and that's why he deserves to be a councilman. Because he's been busting his hump for his neighbors to try and make Ward 8 a better place for the people who live there since he was 20.


I've been familiar with and watched Trayon White from a modest distance for my entire career as a journalist in DC. There are very few people his age who have given more of themselves to DC. He reminds me very much of the young, idealistic Marion Barry of the late 70's.

The fact that he doesn't conform to your white-biased standards of opinion, manner and conduct with regards to topics relevant to white people, is meaningless.

So what if he's less than informed about or even casually indifferent to the Holocaust? That's not his struggle. Black people endured their own holocaust, and some still are enduring it in many ways. That's what Trayon White cares about.

Seeking your approval is pointless to him. As it should be.

Gotta love tribalism.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Non-DCer here. Seriously, how is this guy still in office?

Oh, you're new here! We have a long history of being ok with local politicians being completely ape shit criminals, but as long as they're from the neighborhood, it's fine, and in fact a point of pride. We love Marion Berry but kicked out Adrian Fenty, our first white mayor.

In broad strokes, chocolate city is run by locals (read: black). The transient rich people (read: white) end up moving back to Ohio or to Bethesda, Silver Spring, etc. So politicans like Trayon don't get pushed out.

This is changing. I think my kids' generation will have a more diverse city council, since there are many types of kids growing up in DC now-- white, black, rich, poor. In my generation anyone who had any means (no matter your race) fled bc of the crack epedemic and riots. Now there are lots of reasons to stay in DC so people with choice stay here. But these changes are fraught around race, gentrification, education, all those fun things with no good answers. My family came over in the late 1800s and every generation since has lived in the DC border except my generation, the siblings and cousins born between 1975-1990 or so, due to what DC was going through. However, now we're back on this side of Western Ave w our kids and thriving. My parents neighborhood was Petworth.

I do not seen Trayon losing his spot on the DC Council. Maybe if kojo nnamdi starts calling for it-- he seems to be a good source of shaming that folks will listen to.

PP. Thanks for going there. Hard to talk about DC-specific politics without bringing up the racial component.

And no, saying that doesn't make us racist. It is pointing out a fact that warrants further discussion.

I disagree. I think that explicitly blaming DC ills on black people is racist by definition.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Non-DCer here. Seriously, how is this guy still in office?

Oh, you're new here! We have a long history of being ok with local politicians being completely ape shit criminals, but as long as they're from the neighborhood, it's fine, and in fact a point of pride. We love Marion Berry but kicked out Adrian Fenty, our first white mayor.

In broad strokes, chocolate city is run by locals (read: black). The transient rich people (read: white) end up moving back to Ohio or to Bethesda, Silver Spring, etc. So politicans like Trayon don't get pushed out.

This is changing. I think my kids' generation will have a more diverse city council, since there are many types of kids growing up in DC now-- white, black, rich, poor. In my generation anyone who had any means (no matter your race) fled bc of the crack epedemic and riots. Now there are lots of reasons to stay in DC so people with choice stay here. But these changes are fraught around race, gentrification, education, all those fun things with no good answers. My family came over in the late 1800s and every generation since has lived in the DC border except my generation, the siblings and cousins born between 1975-1990 or so, due to what DC was going through. However, now we're back on this side of Western Ave w our kids and thriving. My parents neighborhood was Petworth.

I do not seen Trayon losing his spot on the DC Council. Maybe if kojo nnamdi starts calling for it-- he seems to be a good source of shaming that folks will listen to.

Do you know that the DC Council has a majority of white members (and that excludes the two Council Members named "White"). So much for the "locals" running the city being black. I have known Adrian Fenty for a long time and never once heard him describe himself as white. Kojo Nnamdi has little influence in Ward 8. If anything, being attacked by Kojo would make White more popular to his constituents.

I think calling Adrian Fenty white was a joke, like when people call Bill Clinton our first black president.

[Anonymous]

I don't know if it's racist to see clearly that a polition is a home grown kid and thus will not be kicked out, even if he thinks Jews control the weather.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of you know anything about Ward 8. If you did, you'd know Trayon has been a community activist and organizer for almost 20 years.

That's why he was elected, that's why he'll be reelected, and that's why he deserves to be a councilman. Because he's been busting his hump for his neighbors to try and make Ward 8 a better place for the people who live there since he was 20.


I've been familiar with and watched Trayon White from a modest distance for my entire career as a journalist in DC. There are very few people his age who have given more of themselves to DC. He reminds me very much of the young, idealistic Marion Barry of the late 70's.

The fact that he doesn't conform to your white-biased standards of opinion, manner and conduct with regards to topics relevant to white people, is meaningless.

So what if he's less than informed about or even casually indifferent to the Holocaust? That's not his struggle. Black people endured their own holocaust, and some still are enduring it in many ways. That's what Trayon White cares about.

Seeking your approval is pointless to him. As it should be.

OK. If it's your opinion that White rightly doesn't care about other races, religions, and ethnicities, I assume others are free to do the same? I mean, the plight of low income minorities in Ward 8 is "not my struggle." So, should we halve taxes in DC, slash the generous social safety net to the bone, and give a wink and a nod to racist comments directed towards black people?

I don't think this is going to work out as you planned, especially considering the changing demographics in DC.

In any event, the notion that some elected officials are excused from casual racism because it "isn't their struggle," while a long tradition in DC, is really misplaced. I urge you to reexamine your attitude.

[Anonymous]

I respected him as a not that bright a guy who still was willing to work hard for his constituents--which is what we elect politicians to do--until I learned more about his grifting ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of you know anything about Ward 8. If you did, you'd know Trayon has been a community activist and organizer for almost 20 years.

That's why he was elected, that's why he'll be reelected, and that's why he deserves to be a councilman. Because he's been busting his hump for his neighbors to try and make Ward 8 a better place for the people who live there since he was 20.


I've been familiar with and watched Trayon White from a modest distance for my entire career as a journalist in DC. There are very few people his age who have given more of themselves to DC. He reminds me very much of the young, idealistic Marion Barry of the late 70's.

The fact that he doesn't conform to your white-biased standards of opinion, manner and conduct with regards to topics relevant to white people, is meaningless.

So what if he's less than informed about or even casually indifferent to the Holocaust? That's not his struggle. Black people endured their own holocaust, and some still are enduring it in many ways. That's what Trayon White cares about.

Seeking your approval is pointless to him. As it should be.

You know his theories about jews is the exact reason a bunch of white supremacists marched on Charlottesville, right? With his views he’s supporting the same groups of people who want to see people like him lynched. Shame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of you know anything about Ward 8. If you did, you'd know Trayon has been a community activist and organizer for almost 20 years.

That's why he was elected, that's why he'll be reelected, and that's why he deserves to be a councilman. Because he's been busting his hump for his neighbors to try and make Ward 8 a better place for the people who live there since he was 20.


I've been familiar with and watched Trayon White from a modest distance for my entire career as a journalist in DC. There are very few people his age who have given more of themselves to DC. He reminds me very much of the young, idealistic Marion Barry of the late 70's.

The fact that he doesn't conform to your white-biased standards of opinion, manner and conduct with regards to topics relevant to white people, is meaningless.

So what if he's less than informed about or even casually indifferent to the Holocaust? That's not his struggle. Black people endured their own holocaust, and some still are enduring it in many ways. That's what Trayon White cares about.

Seeking your approval is pointless to him. As it should be.

You know his theories about jews is the exact reason a bunch of white supremacists marched on Charlottesville, right? With his views he’s supporting the same groups of people who want to see people like him lynched. Shame.

Bingo. +1

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Non-DCer here. Seriously, how is this guy still in office?

Because he's an elected official, and can't simply be fired. He either has to resign, which he's not going to do, or be removed from office, which isn't easily accomplished.

Did I really need to explain that?

Also, this is DC, where constituents are all too pleased to elect corrupt, law-flouting politicians to DC Council and keep some of them in office even when there is blatant evidence of wrongdoing on their or their associates' behalf (see: Marion Barry, Kwame Brown, Harry Thomas Jr., Vince Gray...).

Yeah, only DC has ever had a corrupt official. From your list, Gray was never charged with anything and of those charged, only Barry was ever re-elected to anything. There are corrupt public officials everywhere and there are stupid public officials everywhere. Suggesting DC is somehow special in this regard ignores reality.

Corruption isn’t limited to DC, though DC has enough of a history of electing and celebrating corrupt politicians for Kojo Nmamdi to call it the “District of Corruption.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-dc-became-a-district-of-corruption/2012/07/13/gJQA1ZhiiW_story.html?utm_term=.51eac4d9dc6e

[Anonymous]

Being anti Semitic is one thing. That’s not totally unexpected (I say that as a Jew). But believing and repeating crazy conspiracy theories is another thing altogether. How willfully stupid do you have to be to believe a single Jewish banking family controls weather? If he believes that he no doubt also believes other crazy conspiracy theories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:His behavior at the Holocaust Museum on Wednesday shows that he's either incredibly dumb, incredibly anti-Semitic, or both. He clearly isn't fit to work at McDonald's, much less on the city council of a major U.S. city:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/local/dc-politics/dc-lawmaker-who-said-jews-control-the-weather-visits-holocaust-museum/2018/04/19/0b69ddde-4329-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html?utm_term=.866247e32ab9&__twitter_impression=true

Just as I suspected: he is too unintelligent to meet even the most basic fitness standards for his office. He needs to go.

Is he the best D.C. has to offer? Or, stood we demand better leadership?

[Anonymous]

He's not going anywhere, the folks in Ward 8 eat up this kind of behavior. They see it as sticking it up to the white man.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Non-DCer here. Seriously, how is this guy still in office?

Because he's an elected official, and can't simply be fired. He either has to resign, which he's not going to do, or be removed from office, which isn't easily accomplished.

Did I really need to explain that?

Non-DCer here. No, you don’t. That said, if a white politician suggested a photo depicting african-Americans picking cotton demonstrates happy, rural life, there’d be a million people on the mall demanding his/her ouster. Just wondering why the rules seem different here ...