The Persistence of White Supremacy (Part 1 of 4)
It is vitally urgent that we confront the racism that is embedded deeply across the entire spectrum of American society but has found a home in the Republican Party. America’s day of racial reckoning was always going to have to occur for America to live up to the ideals that are written in the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution; but only a man like Donald Trump could so aggressively exploit America’s racial divisions to empower racist forces such as The Oathkeepers and the Proud Boys to overthrow the government.
While many Trump supporters are angry about their diminishing economic opportunities, the coup would not have been possible without racial animus as its driving force. During the coup attempt many Black people took to social media to point out that Black Lives Matter protesters would not have been able to get that close to the Capitol without being met with extreme resistance from law enforcement. Pictures have been circulated which show the military force arrayed against peaceful BLM protests versus the lack of law enforcement that met the coup attempt. I found these comments interesting. They made sense from the perspective of many Black people, but they also struck me as a bit off key. It wasn’t as if Black people were arguing that they should be able to attempt a coup as easily as the white supremacist group that stormed the Capitol. Rather, they were pointing out that in America peaceful protest by Black people are treating as insurrections, but an actual insurrection by White people was met with minimal resistance.
The United States Government was ill equipped to deal with a racist insurrection because America has yet to recognize how widespread and embedded white supremacy is in the American cultural psyche. Ever since the beginning, America has been two nations. It has been a nation that aspires toward a diverse and inclusive democratic melting pot where all people are treated equally, but it has also been an exclusive anti-democratic nation based on white supremacy. Throughout America’s history these two America’s have clashed militarily, legally, politically, and culturally. America instituted a police state to enforce slavery and discourage slaves from escaping. Black codes established a formal legal structure for white supremacy. Slavery was protected by politicians who claimed southern states had the right to support it. In the minds of the average American, Black people were not equal to White people in any form and this sentiment was supported by social norms and religious institutions. Time and time again Americans (White Americans in particular) would contemplate the existence of white supremacy against the concept of freedom, equality, and inclusion for all and choose to compromise with white supremacy instead of eradicating it. One America stands for equality of all people, the other America seeks to preserve white supremacy. This contradiction threatens to tear the country apart.
In my next 3 entries I will describe how white supremacy has persisted in America despite pitched military, legal, and political battles. I will also reflect on what is needed for America to finally win its culture war against white supremacy. This is a culture war America must win if it is to survive as a democratic nation.