What's Fair to Donald Trump Should be Fair to Keith Ellison
But that was a different, far more radical Keith Ellison, he says, than the one who was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2002.
When his former activism emerged as an issue in his 2006 campaign, his renunciation of those past associations was clear and forceful. "I have long since distanced myself from and rejected the Nation of Islam," he wrote at the time, "due to its propagation of bigoted and anti-Semitic ideas and statements, as well as other issues."
The new quotes unearthed by CNN came from his earlier period. Although Ellison had defended the right of others to speak, CNN did not find anti-Semitic statements that he had made himself. Even so, he said, he regretted his earlier reluctance to properly judge those who did make anti-Semitic and homophobic statements.
I find it ironic that Ellison's remarks, for which he has apologized, were brought to my attention partly by angry readers who had defended Donald Trump's right to insult entire groups of people with no apologies. Is Trump's demand to be "treated fairly" too precious to be extended to Democrats?
I don't recall any apology, for example, for Trump's phony birther campaign in which he led us on a merry chase after President Barack Obama's birth certificate that he had to know was bogus from its very beginnings.
The closest he has come to an apology for his various blows against "political correctness" came in a 90-second videotaped acknowledgement of regret for a decade-old audio tape in which he boasted about grabbing women's genitals. Does accountability matter anymore?
That's why I don't disagree with the nonpartisan ADL or anyone else who wants Ellison to account for his past controversial statements. If politicians are not accountable to the public for what they say or do, our democracy is meaningless.
But those who say they have changed for the better should be allowed to prove themselves. "Give him a chance," is the mantra we hear from Trump loyalists, now that he is about to be sworn in as president. Fine. But Ellison deserves a chance, too.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@tribune.com.)
(c) 2016 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
