DC Politician Has Bizarre Conversation in Holocaust Museum, Leaves Early
In an apparent effort to make good on a promise he made after apologizing for recent remarks interpreted by some as antisemitic, a council member in Washington, D.C., made a trip to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
That visit only resulted in additional criticism when Trayon White Sr., a Democrat, asked a series of apparently ill-informed questions and disappeared about halfway through the tour.
Following a social media post last month in which he blamed “the Rothschilds” for “controlling the climate,” White received widespread backlash for promoting what is generally seen as a conspiracy rooted in bias against Jews.
The councilman apologized for his comment and any offense it caused, declaring that his post was not meant to be antisemitic and vowing to learn more about the issue.
I really do apologize. I work very closely with the Jewish community and never want to offend anyone, especially with Anti-Semitic remarks. pic.twitter.com/TvUgf55UeF
— Trayon White (@trayonwhite) March 19, 2018
His statement was enough to convince Jewish leaders, including fellow council member Brianne Nadeau, that he was sincere.
“I believe he is being truthful when he says he didn’t realize what his statement implied,” she said, using the incident to call for ending hate and bigotry in all its forms.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, White visited the D.C. museum about a month after his controversial comment. In the weeks that have passed, however, it appears he has yet to gain a firm grasp on the atrocities of the Holocaust.
After looking at one photograph of a woman being humiliated by Nazi guards as they marched her through the streets, White asked tour guide Lynn Williams if they were “protecting her.”
The woman pictured was wearing a sign around her neck proclaiming that she was “a German girl” who had allowed herself “to be defiled by a Jew.”
Williams replied that the Nazis were “marching her through.”
White replied that “(m)arching through is protecting,” leading the tour guide to offer a more candid explanation.
“I think they’re humiliating her,” Williams said.
The awkward exchanges continued when the tour passed images of German soldiers in a firing squad aiming at Polish Catholic priests.
“Were they actually manufacturing these weapons?” he asked.
Even though White reportedly left the museum without explanation a short time later, the aides who joined him continued — even adding to the notable questions asked during the tour.
One of the councilman’s staffers asked a rabbi if the Warsaw Ghetto used to separate Polish Jews was like living in a “gated community.”
Rabbi Batya Glazer replied that it was “more like a prison.”
Though he did not offer a reason for his early departure, White spoke to reporters a short distance from the museum where he was spotted standing on the sidewalk.
“I’ll be coming back to see more of the museum,” he said. “I didn’t get a chance to see the whole thing.”
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