Medina: David West: Donald Trump’s immigration remarks “struck a nerve with me”

[Allen]

David West: Donald Trump’s immigration remarks “struck a nerve with me”

bng-l-warriors-1114-19
Golden State Warriors’ David West condemend President Donald Trump for
his disparaging remarks about Haiti and various African nations. (Nhat
V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
By Mark Medina | mme...@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: January 13, 2018 at 8:07 am | UPDATED: January 13, 2018 at
8:57 am
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2018/01/13/david-west-donald-trumps-immigration-remarks-struck-a-nerve-with-me/


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MILWAUKEE — Nearly every day, Warriors forward David West has become
irritated with what President Donald Trump has done, said or tweeted.
For better and for worse, West has forced himself not to become consumed
with the 24-hour news cycle regarding Trump for a simple reason: “if you
focus on him too much, you’ll go crazy; he’s just not rational or logical.”

West harbored much different sentiments, though, when he read numerous
accounts that reported Trump making disparaging remarks during a meeting
about immigration policy. Various publications cited sources that said
that Trump referred to Haiti and various African nations as “shithole
countries.”

West said that “struck a nerve with me.” So shortly afterwards, West
posted a tweet that outlined in detail how those countries became
impoverished through colonization.

How they became “Shit Holes”… pic.twitter.com/BBYH26Nz1N
— David West (@D_West30) January 12, 2018

“Those are not simple, non-nuanced subjects,” West told Bay Area News
Group before the Warriors’ win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday. “For
him to make that comment about them being ‘shitholes,’ it’s not only
disrespectful to the actual nation. If you think logically, what comes
from ‘shitholes?’ Shit. It’s a direct insult to the people. A lot of
these places have dealt with too much. With the levels of tragedy and
injustice that’s levied on some of these nations, I don’t think anybody
is in a position to judge them or put them down.”
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“You’re talking about Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western
Hemisphere and folks living on less than a dollar or 50 cents a day.
They don’t need somebody in a position like the President of the United
States spitting down on them. To me, it’s just inhumane to further step
on people who are already at a disadvantage, not by their own doing.”

So, West hoped he informed others up by offering some context after
taking trips to various counties in Africa in recent years. There, West
has hosted basketball camps and met with local leaders to help with
providing better access to electricity.

“I felt like it was an opportunity to inform people just about the basis
of all of that and the nature of how he referred to some of those
countries as shitholes, how they became places of not a whole lot of
opportunity and things like that,” West said. “It wasn’t by their own
devices or by being bad people.”

West represents one of many Warriors players that have criticized Trump
in the past year for his divisive rhetoric toward minorities, women, the
disabled and Muslims. The Warriors, including coach Steve Kerr,
questioned Trump for initially refusing to condemn white supremacists
for their role in riots in Charlottesville, Va. last summer. And the
Warriors took offense when Trump spoke at a rally last fall in Alabama,
referring to NFL players that kneel during the national anthem to
protest racial inequality and police brutality as “sons of bitches.”

All of which explained the Warriors’ admitting publicly their unlikely
interest to make the customary White House visit to celebrate their 2017
NBA championships. That prompted Trump to announce on Twitter that he
had no interest in the Warriors visiting, either.

West’s latest critique of Trump went beyond his words. With Trump saying
those things during a meeting with Republican and Democratic lawmakers
to discuss immigration policy, West found it “very disheartening and
very troubling” such words provide a point of reference on Trump’s
decision making.

“That’s probably the most dangerous out of all this. It’s not just
rhetoric and it’s him popping off,” West said. “It’s ‘This is how I
think’ and ‘This is how I’m going to shape my decisions and form my
decisions around my policies.’ What we’re dealing with in terms of just
these ignorant and uninformed concepts that constantly come from him or
people from his camp has made the world more dangerous. It makes him
dangerous.”

So shortly after West fired off his own tweet, Warriors forward Andre
Iguodala retweeted with support. West said he has received “quite a few
of those messages” that expressed appreciation for providing more insight.

Preach https://t.co/wyTonHOsVB
— Andre Iguodala (@andre) January 12, 2018

“I wanted to bring more than a fundamental basic understanding to the
conversation,” West said. “But it’s tough where we are dealing with this
guy.”