Charlottesville Vice Mayor Flawlessly Defends ESPN's 'Queen Jemele'

When ESPN’s Jemele Hill accurately described President Trump as a white supremacist in a series of tweets on Monday, the sports network issued an apology denouncing her comments as “inappropriate.” Then the White House got involved, with Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders calling for her termination.

Some of Hill’s colleagues have come to her defense, but there has been no more eloquent vindication of “Queen Jemele” than Wes Bellamy’s, the Vice Mayor of Charlottesville, VA. Bellamy, whose front row seat to witnessing the terror of white nationalism makes him somewhat of an expert in identifying its purveyors, had an unflinching response to CNN’s Brooke Baldwin when asked about Hill’s tweets:

“I’m trying to find out where Queen Jemele told a lie because actions, again, speak the loudest. For marginalized communities, we’re always asked to be polite. We’re always asked to compromise. We’re always asked not to say certain things. While other individuals are allowed to say whatever they want; they empower and embolden whoever they want, whenever they want. Everyone wants to talk about Mrs. Hill’s tweets, but let’s think about the leader of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke, literally said that they came to Charlottesville to fulfill the promise of their president. They came to take back what was theirs…She should have the right to be able to say what she wants to say in a way in which Trump can attack any and whomever he wants to and whenever he wants to. These pundits do the same thing. But why the double standard for an African American female who’s using her platform to bring about awareness?”

While I wish there was something I could add to Bellamy’s near perfect defense of Hill and her correct characterization of the president, I can’t. He said it all. Trump’s failure to call out and condemn white supremacy was nowhere near a fumbling of a senile old man — it was deliberate and entirely representative of his own belief that “both sides” were to blame for violence in Charlottesville. Perceived “politeness,” or whatever you want to call it, I would say bigoted censorship, be damned. Put Jemele Hill in the White House.

Here’s the full clip of Bellamy’s comments: