DC Councilman Blasted Again After Holocaust Museum Tour

WASHINGTON, DC — A D.C. lawmaker who has been criticized recently for comments about Jews visited the Holocaust Museum on Wednesday, but has received renewed criticism over his comments and actions at the venue, which tells the story of the Nazi slaughter of Jews in Europe. Councilman Trayon White Sr., of Ward 8, made some strange comments during the guided tour, and abruptly left halfway through, according to The Washington Post.

If White's goal by visiting the museum was to boost his image and build relationships with Jews in the community, or to better his understanding of their immense suffering in the Holocaust, then his success was questionable at best. His words and abrupt departure drew criticism from many, including members of the Council on which he serves.

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington has been "heavily involved" in White's public image after he purported a conspiracy theory about Jews, according to the Post. In a video uploaded to White's official Facebook account March 16, he had a controversial way of showing his surprise over the weather.

"Man, it just started snowing out of nowhere this morning, man. Y'all better pay attention to this climate control, man, this climate manipulation. And D.C. keep talking about, 'We a resilient city.' And that's a model based off the Rothschilds controlling the climate to create natural disasters they can pay for to own the cities, man. Be careful," he said.

"The Rothschilds are accused of having access to technology that causes the kind of freak weather currently linked to climate change, and of using it to drive people out of farms and rural areas into their inner cities," the conspiracy theory claims, according to Haaretz.

White later apologized, saying he didn't know Jews might consider his comments offensive, the Post reported.

“There’s nothing more powerful than visiting the Holocaust Museum for understanding the culture of the Jewish community, and our concerns about anti-Semitism,” said Rabbi Batya Glazer of the Jewish Community Relations Council.

The tour stopped to see photos of a firing squad of German troops in Poland executing Catholic clergy. White's reaction was, "Were they actually manufacturing these weapons?"

At this point, they were about halfway through the tour. But White was gone.

Rabbi Glazer texted White to find out where he was, according to the Post, and he replied by saying he had to leave for an event. His aides, however, were still in the museum.

Like their boss, one of them showed a lack of understanding of the Jews' suffering at a Warsaw Ghetto exhibit. One aide asked if the ghetto was similar to "a gated community."

“Yeah, I wouldn’t call it a gated community,” Rabbi Glazer said. “More like a prison.”

Glazer found it "confusing" that White left the tour so abruptly, the Post reported. White said he didn't get a chance to see the whole museum, but it turns out he was standing on the sidewalk outside.

The Post reported White, a black man, as saying “... I think it’s a lot of education here, a lot of synergy here between what happened to the Jewish community and the African community.”

Synergy is defined as separate entities working together to create a result better than the sum of what they could have done separately.

White refused to answer when a reporter asked why he left the tour without finishing it.

Later, he said visiting the museum was an awesome experience. "This opportunity has given me the chance to meet a lot of great Jews, a lot of people. A lot of good Jews that I’ve never had the chance to meet before," he said.

Criticism

Some of his colleagues on the City Council are criticizing White over his behavior. “I want to join Councilmember Nadeau’s call for a reprimand of Councilmember Trayon White," said Councilmember Cheh in a statement. "I agree with the sentiments in her statement and believe that a line has now been crossed that requires Council action."

Patch is working to obtain Councilmember Nadeau's statement.

One Reddit user, jabroni26, commented "I think I could fake being anti-Semitic for 90 minutes if I had to. Can't this guy fake being somber in a Holocaust Museum for 90 minutes?"

"I really thought the dude just made a dumb mistake when this nonsense first came out, but the article makes it pretty clear that he shouldn't be anywhere near public office. I don't know if he's anti-Semitic, but he clearly doesn't care if that's how he's perceived" Reddit user TastyRoss commented.

Some commenters said he is a Holocaust denier, others said they hoped he left the museum because he was overwhelmed.

Public response to White's comments has not all be negative. The Post reported that he has been receiving emails from climate control conspiracy theorists, praising him for his comments.

Article image: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Exhibit of shoes found at Majdanek camp in Lublin, Poland at liberation July 1944/Rob Crandall/via Shutterstock