Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump owes a lot to his Daddy, Fred Trump. We know that it was old Fred who loaned Donald several million dollars to start his real estate empire, although the actual number of millions is unknown.
Donald himself has also claimed proudly that his Daddy gave him his (ahem) work ethic.
The Guardian reports that old man Fred Trump also taught his son how to become a racist landlord who manipulates federal and state programs to make as much money as possible while cheating his renters.
I am absolutely not making this up.
In the late 1940s, the U.S. was desperately trying to create enough affordable housing to take care of its returning war veterans. Cities like New York were particularly stressed by the need for safe, affordable homes for those who had come back from the fighting in Europe.
To answer the call for new homes, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) provided subsidies and loans to build apartments. Fred Trump was one of the first in line to grab those federal dollars. He knew he’d make a bundle, not only on the subsidized buildings, but also on the rents.
In December of 1950, America’s premier musician signed a lease to rent one of Trump’s apartments. That man was Woody Guthrie, the balladeer who wrote and recorded “This Land Is Your Land” among many other iconic American songs.
Guthrie had achieved fame, if not fortune, by traveling the country observing and writing about the struggles of farmers, workers, migrants, and minorities.
When he moved into his Trump owned housing complex, ironically dubbed “Beach Haven,” Guthrie was probably unaware of the shady background of either the landlord or the building. He wouldn’t have known, for example, that Fred Trump would be investigated by the U.S. Senate for profiteering off of federal contracts. He wouldn’t have been aware that FHA guidelines allowed landlords to avoid “inharmonious uses of housing,” which obviously meant that they could keep Black renters out of white neighborhoods.
What he did notice, though, was that the public housing in which he lived for about two years was shockingly white. Guthrie was not at all comfortable in such a bleached environment. He had never intended to put himself in a lily white building.
So he reacted in the only way he knew how to react.
He wrote a song about the public housing complex where Black Americans were so obviously unwelcome.
The song is called “Old Man Trump.” There is no ambiguity about the target of these stinging lyrics:
“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 ….”
We don’t have a recording of Woody himself singing these powerful lyrics, but that’s OK. Shortly before the Republican National Convention, a group of America’s modern musical activists recorded a version for all of us to share.
The song was recorded by Ryan Harvey, Tom Morello, and Ani DiFranco.
Here it is. Please enjoy this great music, but please remember while you do that the target of this bitter song taught his son all about how to be a racist, money grubbing, completely unethical landlord.
Watch this before you vote.
Featured image via Wikimedia Commons.
