GED Section: White Erasure
In D.L. Hughley’s Notes from the GED Section, DL talks about how Stephen A. Smith’s recent comments suggesting that continuing to label Donald Trump a “convicted felon” might be disrespectful or even counterproductive. Never one to bite his tongue, Hughley delivers a sharp history lesson on accountability, double standards, and the power of the truth.
Hughley wasted no time addressing the elephant in the room. While Stephen A. Smith argues for a certain level of decorum, Hughley countered with a simple, undeniable fact: “He is a convicted felon.” The segment broke down the reality that titles aren’t just names we call people; they are descriptions of their actions. Hughley argued that if the former President wants to shed the label, he needs to shed the behavior that earned it. From grifting and self-enrichment to slapping punitive tariffs on everyday people, the point was clear—you can’t act like a felon and then get upset when the community calls you one.
The commentary dug deeper into the blatant disrespect Trump has shown toward others, highlighting a double standard that often infuriates the Black community. Hughley pointed out the hypocrisy of demanding respect for a man who has famously called reporters “piggy” and inferred that the Obamas, our Forever President and First Lady were “apes.” The segment posed a critical question: Why is the bar so low for the highest office in the land? While our community is often told to go high when others go low, Hughley questioned why the man in the White House gets a “carve out” to behave beneath the dignity of his station without consequence.
READ MORE DL HUGHLEY STORIES:
- GED Section: White Erasure
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Perhaps the most poignant moment of the broadcast came when Hughley connected current events to a broader historical struggle. He noted that just because you stop calling something by its name doesn’t make it disappear. Removing “twice impeached” from a picture in the Smithsonian doesn’t change the history books.
Hughley closed with a mic-drop moment that speaks directly to the African-American experience regarding history and erasure. “Whenever rich and powerful people don’t like something, they remove it,” he noted, before delivering the line of the day: “Black people invented the written language. White people invented the eraser.” It was a stark reminder that while narratives can be manipulated, the truth remains strictly the truth
