変化の兆し？　白人主義者が米予備選敗退、差別に揺れた町に黒人市長誕生

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】全米が白人警官の暴行による黒人男性死亡事件への抗議デモに揺れる中、アイオワ州の共和党予備選で連邦下院の議席を18年間守ってきた白人至上主義者とされる現職議員が敗退し、かつて人種差別をめぐって暴動が起きたミズーリ州ファーガソンでは黒人初の市長が誕生した。米社会の変化の兆しといえるかもしれない。（写真は米共和党のスティーブ・キング下院議員）
　米国では先週、ミネソタ州ミネアポリスで非武装の黒人男性ジョージ・フロイドさんが警察に拘束された際、首を膝で押さえつけられ死亡。全米で抗議デモが激化している。
　こうした中、数々の人種差別的な発言で知られるアイオワ州選出のスティーブ・キング下院議員（７１）は２日夜、１１月の米連邦議会選挙に出馬する共和党候補を決める予備選で、党主流派の支持を獲得した対立候補のランディ・フィーンストラ州議員に敗れた。
　アイオワ州は１９９４年から共和党の牙城。キング氏は、下院議員の立場を利用して排外主義や扇動的な主張を広めてきた。その点で、ドナルド・トランプ大統領やその特徴である政治的ナショナリズムの台頭を大いに予兆する存在だった。
　２０１９年には「白人国家主義者、白人至上主義者、西洋文明──なぜ、これらの言葉が攻撃的とされるようになったのか？」と発言し、物議を醸した。
　一方、６年前に非武装の黒人青年マイケル・ブラウンさんが白人警官に射殺され、数週間にわたり激しい抗議デモが続いたミズーリ州ファーガソンでは、黒人女性のエラ・ジョーンズ氏（６５）が、黒人として初の市長に当選した。ブラウンさんの事件は、「Ｂｌａｃｋ Ｌｉｖｅｓ Ｍａｔｔｅｒ（黒人の命は大切）」を訴える運動が広がるきっかけの一つとなった。
　ジョーンズ氏は、「今こそ私たちの時代だ」「まさに私が人々のために正しいことをするべき時だ」と地元紙セントルイス・ポスト・ディスパッチに語った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/06/05-14:00）

A US congressman accused of being a white supremacist lost his re-election and a black woman won the mayorship in a town once ravaged by race riots -- possible heralds of change in a nation convulsed by unrest.
Tuesday night's elections followed the killing last week of an unarmed black man in police custody in Minneapolis, violence that was caught on video and plunged the United States into tumult, with protests raging nationwide.
Iowa Representative Steve King, a divisive House Republican known for several racist comments over his 18 years, lost his party's primary race to a state lawmaker who had mainstream party support.
King's opponent Randy Feenstra won by nearly 10 points over the controversial conservative, earning a congratulatory tweet Wednesday from President Donald Trump who said Feenstra would make a great congressman.
Feenstra would still have to defeat a Democratic challenger in November. The seat has been in Republican hands since 1994 and the rural district is deeply conservative.
King, 71, parlayed his House seat into a platform for espousing his nativist, firebrand views, and to a large degree he foreshadowed the rise of Trump and his brand of political nationalism.
King repeatedly has caused uproars over his unfiltered remarks.
White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization -- how did that language become offensive? King asked in 2019.
The anti-immigrant congressman's history of racist comments has made him a pariah in Washington.
Also on Tuesday, the town of Ferguson, Missouri elected its first black mayor, Ella Jones, some six years after the police killing of an unarmed black teenager there set off weeks of protests and helped bring about the Black Lives Matter movement.
It's just our time, Jones, 65, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It's just my time to do right by the people.
The pair of results come as the United States finds itself a nation in crisis, rocked by several days of protests in dozens of cities.
Trump, in a bid to quell the violence, has threatened further military mobilization against the once-in-a-generation demonstrations.
On Monday night federal forces used smoke bombs and pepper balls, painful projectiles that release a chemical irritant, to break up a non-violent protest outside the White House.
Several Republican lawmakers have remained silent about the dramatic and controversial action, but there were some rare GOP voices of concern.
I did not think that what we saw last night was the America that I know, Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski told reporters on Tuesday.
Polls show more Americans disapprove than approve of Trump's handling of the unrest.
Trump is also underwater with voters on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Both issues are expected to be key factors in November's election, when the presidency and congressional seats are contested.