When Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, a large segment of the white community became concerned that the country they knew and loved was slipping away. After all it was not so long ago that the mere idea of a black President would have been met with laughter and derision. While a large segment of white Americans did celebrate the election of an African American, a not so insignificant segment was determined to ensure that another African American would never make it to the White House.
Through his birtherism con job, Donald Trump became the vehicle for white backlash. Sadly, the Trump bandwagon was even able to leverage the inner Stephen of Django Unchained of African Americans such as Kanye West, the late Herman Cain and ministers like Darrel Scott who endorsed him or Brooklyn pastor A.R. Bernard who joined his faith leaders team. Bernard to his credit got out before the cancer of Trumpism could debilitate his ministry. Republican Senator Tim Scott must realize that there is no way he can ever win the Republican nomination even if he unleashes his inner Stephen.
With the advent of subjects like the 1619 Project and discussions about critical race theory, politicos on the extreme right became emboldened in their efforts to protect a mythological worldview they believe is under attack.
Donald Trump did not create today’s tension he simply exposed the depth of disdain of a segment of the nation for a new world that was diverse and multi-ethnic. Even amongst so-called progressives there was a certain animosity. People like tv host Bill Mahr constantly bragged about how much money he gave to Obama’s campaign and then lamented that the President didn’t come on his show as if he had bought a thoroughbred stallion that should jump at his command.
Republicans claim they want to attract black voters in larger numbers but they tend to be quite clumsy, perhaps intentionally, in their approach. Former GOP Chairman Michael Steele echoing Johann Goethe who said “you must go to the place where the thing you want is native” called on his colleagues to go where the black community lives. Of course this was rejected. Republicans such as Senator Rand Paul, like to talk about the GOP’s history of being against slavery but the part of that history they don’t discuss is the virulent feelings many Republicans felt towards blacks. Despite his authoring of civil rights legislation in 1866, Senator Lyman Trumbull, a Republican from Illinois, said: “I want to have nothing to do either with the free negro or the slave negro. We, the Republican party, are the white man’s party….I would be glad to see this country relieved of them.” or Henry Wilson, who helped found the Free Soil Party and became a leading Radical Republican. said “So far as mental or physical equality is concerned, I believe the African race inferior to the white race.”
Today it would be impolitic to speak as blunt as Trumbull or Wilson. Nonetheless, they have created a veneer behind which they hide their antagonism. The new veneer is the so-called “wokeness agenda.” Behind this attack is a disdain for diversity which to a large segment of the white constituent is code word for the black community and on a grander scale their bogus claim of replacement theory. The comments by Mussolini wannabe and potential presidential candidate Ron DeSantis on the recent closure of Silicon Valley bank “This bank, they’re so concerned with DEI and politics I think that really diverted from them focusing on their core mission,” reveals his not so veiled animosity towards communities of color. This is a sign of things to come from the man who recently posed with a picture that had the word facist all over it.
Behind the veneer of criticizing so-called woke culture is a strong desire to return to the mythology of yesteryear. The reality is what makes that time special for this segment of the population is that in their mind people of color knew their place. What is at stake is a return to a time when the only acceptable history in polite circles was that which emanated from conservative white society. Let’s be clear there are elements of so-called woke culture which can be questioned and critiqued. Nonetheless, it pales in comparison when it is juxtaposed against how elected official such as DeSantis, or Virginia Governor Glenn Younkin, and others are attempting to whitewash history through legislative decree or fiat.
Their goal is twofold. One is to appeal to the pernicious emotionalism of their base who are afraid of a changing world. Secondly it is to prevent people from recognizing and understanding the complete history of the United States. The opponents of full historical disclosure are many and determined to create a sanitized version of American history. Those who lead this hypocrisy are fully aware of the corrupt nature of their efforts. They know that full historical disclosure will not endanger their place in society from a political, economic and social perspective. However, they are also aware that the constituency they are appealing to are emotionally attached to the false narrative of American history.
To be clear this disdain extends to other groups as well. The extreme rights hatred of the LGBTQ community is well documented with their efforts to curtail the legal rights of that community. Their exuberance over ending a constitutional right for a woman’s right to choose is less about being pro-life and more about how a woman’s right is subject to the males whim.
When you add all these up it is rational to come to the conclusion that the right wing segment of the nation wants to move the nation back to a time when heterosexual white males were the dominant image of American society. Trump and DeSantis are both vessels of that mission.
The question is how shall these challenges be confronted.
While it doesn’t get as much attention as the election denying, anti-history crowd the good news is that younger people including the overwhelming majority of white youth are not fragile and timid as people like DeSantis would have you believe. For the most part they have not been raised with the white supremacist beliefs of people like William F. Buckley or William Shockley. In fact as one witnessed the Black Lives Matter movement, a large component were whites of all generations. They do not believe that full historical disclosure will limit their academic, political, economic and social potential. They see people like DeSantis and Trump as petty, timid men. It is this voting block that in many cases prevented the projected red wave from occurring during the last mid-term elections. That is one reason there was lamenting about the youth vote by people like Brigitte Gabriel who has advocated for barring young people from voting or FOX TV Jesse Waters who believes young voters have been brainwashed. The youth vote is poised to confront this head on. The challenge however is convincing them that their vote will matters this time around. In 2022, a Harvard poll found “there was a sharp increase in youth believing that “political involvement rarely has tangible results” (36%), their vote “doesn’t make a difference” (42%) and agreement that “politics today are no longer able to meet the challenges our country is facing” (56%). Despite the young vote turning out in record numbers this belief could potentially dampen their desire to vote over the next few years creating a wide opening for the extreme right to win elections. From an electoral perspective those who oppose the anti-America right-wing extremists have a numerical edge when it comes to the vote. Nonetheless, citizens especially the youth vote must understand that their vote is the most powerful weapon they have in the public square. While protest is good, without an accompanying vote, it merely serves as an emotional catharsis. Those who are progressive or moderate must make the argument that without the vote you get the right of freedom of choice taken away. Without the vote you get bills whose intent is to suppress the vote. Without the vote, blacks will continue to be incarcerated and sentenced to prison terms greater than whites. Without the vote, restrictions are placed upon the LGBTQ community. Without the vote, child labor protection laws are weakened and banking regulations are weakened making the banking system more vulnerable. Without the vote, transportation regulations are watered down leading to an increase in rail accidents.
In many respects the nation has never been more welcoming of diversity whether culturally or socially despite the increase in hate crimes against people of various ethnic backgrounds.The younger generation is more open than ever to know the full story of this nation and is loathe to return to the day of sanitized history. The difference is that the anti-history constituent tends to be much louder and vociferous in their protests against a non-existent teaching of subjects such as critical race theory.
The second way this can be confronted is through the courts. While a lot of attention is paid to the Supreme Court, the lower courts play a huge role in the nation. As a result the electoral process is not only important for policy but to pick who will choose the judges that will protect hard rights.
The key for those who seek a more perfect union is to engage in an intentional organizing effort to create a new multi-ethnic pushback against the anti-democratic forces within the nation. The idea of this is not new as evidenced during the civil rights movement. Stacey Abrams is a great example of how organizing can yield great electoral results.
The GOP knows it has a huge demographic problem. Nonetheless, rather than shifting its message it will continue to use legislation to either shrink the electorate or make it harder for those who are ideologically opposed to them to cast their ballots. If those tactics fail they will once again resort to claiming fraud in order to create chaos.
The nation is at a crossroads but the good news is that the pro-democracy forces by their sheer numbers will decide which direction the nation will take. Nonetheless, they must decide whether they will take the necessary action to protect the nation.
John Stuart Mill said “One person with a belief is equal to a force of ninety-nine who have only interests.” Those who love democracy must be as willing to save it as those who seem willing to destroy it.