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Home / Too late for anti-Trump protests, says Steve Harvey
Too late for anti-Trump protests, says Steve Harvey
2016-11-17Staff Report 2 Durban World famous comedian and motivational speaker Steve Harvey says anti-Trump protests that continue across the United States of America serve no purpose, as the electorate failed to exercise their democratic rights at the polls. Harvey made the remarks last Friday during the first-ever Essence Festival in Africa, which was held in Durban, South Africa where he also shared some inspirational hints on how to succeed against all the odds. Tens of thousands of people marched across the United States on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in protest against Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the just-ended presidential election. “The truth of the matter is that he is president. Even if you protest he’s still going to be president, because of the electoral system in our country. You can march, but what they should have done is voted. “Nine million Democrats set up this voting process and voted for Barack Obama. Nine million were absent from the polls the other day. That nine million, that’s the whole difference in the election,” he said. Harvey went on to say: “You know now that we got Trump. This is what it is, you can get on the streets and protest and he is still the president. You can walk from San Francisco to New York, but he’s going to be the president. We‘re just too late now. All that marching should have been done prior to the polls. He is the president. There’s nothing we can do now.” About 2 000 protesters marched along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan over the weekend shouting ‘not my president’ and other slogans. The protests in big cities like New York and Chicago on Saturday, as well as smaller ones, such as Worcester, Massachusetts, and Iowa City, were largely reported as peaceful. Protesters rallied at New York’s Union Square before taking their cause down Fifth Avenue toward Trump Towers, where they were held back by police barricades. The Republican president-elect was holed up inside his tower apartment, working with aides on the transition to the White House. Demonstrations against Trump also took place internationally. A group of Mexicans at a statue representing independence in Mexico City expressed concern about a possible wave of deportations. One schoolteacher said it would add to the unrest that already plagues Mexico. About 300 people also protested Trump’s election as the next North American president outside the U.S. Embassy near the landmark Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Among those railing against Trump was controversial filmmaker Michael Moore, who tweeted a demand that Trump should “step aside”. In Portland, one person was shot and injured by a man who got into a confrontation with a protester. Harvey last week also expressed appreciation towards South Africans and Africa at large for warmly welcoming him to the continent. “We love it here. This is our motherland. This is Africa, where we originate from. Without you we don’t know who we are. Genetically we‘re the same. I have been looking at all of you and we look just the same. The women look just like our women,” he said saying jokingly he does not want go back to America. He sense of humour is God-given, he says, and urged people to identify their talents and use them. He said he was once homeless but persevered. When Harvey first quit his job to take a chance at being a comedian, he said he found himself separated from his wife, out on his own and living on as little as $50 (N$700) a week, later becoming homeless. Harvey has turned his comedic chops into a multi-million dollar enterprise as an actor, TV personality, talk show host, best-selling author, entrepreneur and humanitarian. He is the host of the Steve Harvey Morning Show radio programme and the popular TV shows Family Feud and Celebrity Family Feud, The Steve Harvey Show, Little Big Shots, and the new competitive reality programme, Funderdome. – Additional reporting by Toronto Star. 2016-11-17Staff Report 2
