A White Backlash

In the article, Race in the American Mind, the progress made in America in regards to racial thinking is detailed, showing how white Americans are much more open to sharing spaces with people of color. However, the article also outlines how African Americans remain disproportionally in poverty and also continue to experience discrimination in housing, employment, and wages. The author is hopeful that America will continue to become less racist, and also sees the viability of Obama as a candidate for president as very telling of growth to come. The author makes a point to refute the idea that any form of “white backlash” is unlikely, and that American mainstream culture will continue to become less and less racist. Eight years later, after Obama has left the White House, the impossibility of a white backlash is not to sure.

            

Though it is difficult to quantify or define a backlash against the racial progress made by the election of President of Obama, it is clear that we have come no close to any sort of ‘post-racial’ society. The re-emergence of hate groups like the KKK and violent, racially-fueled protests like that in Charlottesville, seem to point to a white backlash against a black president and a push for mainstream anti-racism. Even the normalization of Nazi groups can be seen as antithetical to the progress outlined in Race in the American Mind. Though the election of Donald Trump cannot be solely linked to disconcerted white voters, the disproportionate support for him seen in white communities points to a clear racial divide. Further, the policies of the current president are clearly directed to undermine those of Obama—to dismantle any mark that a black president made on the country.

            

However, the rekindling of America’s racist roots after periods of perceived racial progress is nothing new. From the period of Jim Crowe as a response to Reconstruction or the racially charged policies of Ronald Reagan after the Civil Rights Movement, white backlash is ingrained in history. A white culture that has built itself around holding power, unquestioned by other groups, quickly tries to erase progress. The creation of new voter ID laws, redistricting, and the election of Donald Trump all point to such a backlash after the symbolic election of Obama. Those white people who desire to see the continuation of racist legislation that allows for their unquestioned control will support any policies that help to brew hatred and focus it around another race. From Muslim bans to a pushback on immigration, such policies are prevalent today. Is it so impossible that we are seeing a white backlash to eight years of a black president?

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Sources:

Race in the American Mind, Lawrence D. Bobo and Camille Z. Charles

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/05/opinion/sunday/white-resentment-affirmative-action.html