THE SOFT BIGOTRY OF LOW EXPECTATIONS: The Shameful Character Assassination of Trayon White. This “shameful character assassination,” mind you, consists of calling out an anti-Semitic member of the D.C. City Council who happens to be African American. There’s certainly an argument for presuming ignorance rather than malice when someone says something as stupid as “the Rothchilds control the weather,” but not based on the race of the speaker.