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  • 2018-04-22 (xsd:date)
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  • Is 'Sleepy Eyes' an Anti-Semitic Slur? (en)
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  • President Donald Trump came under another round of criticism on 22 April 2018, after tweeting at NBC News host Chuck Todd with a nickname that has long been used in anti-Semitic circles. That day, the president wrote: The remark came after Todd appeared on the Today show to discuss an announcement by North Korea that it would suspend both nuclear testing and launching intercontinental ballistic missiles ahead of both a scheduled summit with South Korea, and a prospective summit with the United States. So far, in this potential summit North Koreans have gotten a lot of out it, what has the United States gotten yet? Todd asked: A search of the president's Twitter history shows that he has referred to Todd as sleepy eyes on several occasions, going as far back as February 2012; in September 2011, he first called Todd sleepy. Trump referred to Todd again as sleepy eyes in 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2017. In February 2016, he also referred to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush as sleepy. Trump also called Todd sleepy eyes and a sleeping son of a bitch during a speech in Pennsylvania in March 2018. His most recent use of the phrase led to accusations online of anti-Semitism. Aaron Breitbart, the senior researcher for the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, took exception to the criticism surrounding Trump's remark. I don't think in that context it was meant as an anti-Semitic remark, Breitbart told us. The [term] 'sleepy eyes' in itself, has no anti-Semitic connotation. Todd addressed the sleepy eyes nickname in an interview published in November 2017, saying that the president thought it was funny. However, he said, Trump did not give a reason behind it. I've asked him what the sleepy eyes means. He doesn't know, Todd said at the time. He said once 'I give someone a nickname I stay with it. Sometimes I give someone a nickname and I can't remember how I came up with it but I stick with it.' The Meet The Press host — who was raised in the Jewish religion — added that he did not take offense at being called sleepy eyes. Breitbart did confirm that while the descriptor in and of itself is not anti-Semitic, it has been used by white nationalists and Nazis in documents containing lists of telltale physical markers for Jewish people, including one document circulating online that was promoted by a user on the white nationalist web site Stormfront: An excerpt from the 1938 anti-Semitic children's book Der Giftpilz (The Poisonous Mushroom) also makes reference to eyes being a Jewish physical marker: The title of Der Giftpilz comes from propaganda distributed by Nazis and Nazi sympathizers: Ultimately, Breitbart told us, one must consider the source when trying to determine whether sleepy eyes is being used as an anti-Semitic insult. If a guy says, 'You've got sleepy eyes,' generally that means I look tired, he said. To me that's not an anti-Semitic remark. (en)
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