So many thoughts about this moment and its connection to history. Very grateful to George W. Bush (43)’s speechwriter, Michael Gerson, for pushing past the temptation to ignore 45, his vitriol, his white nationalism and how those ignited a fire that exploded in El Paso this past weekend. Gerson raises many valid criticisms and concerns, and forcefully condemns the evil that is white supremacy. He also shares a few thoughts that bear unpacking in service of us understanding fully the ugliness of this moment and the ways in which white supremacy and racism are furthered.
In the last several weeks, I’ve had a few discussions about racism … It took our media 19 months into 45’s presidency to use the word, “racist,” in condemning his statements -directed at Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib-urging them to return to their countries despite 3 of the 4 being native born citizens, and the 4th, Omar, being a naturalized one.
It’s important to get on the same page about what racism is before proceeding to how it works because over time, the common understanding of racism has narrowed to calling people of color by a fairly short list of epithets and little more.
According to Merriam-Webster: Racism. 1 : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.
What this definition points out is that racism is rooted in an ideology of racial supremacy, or in the U.S.: white supremacy. Compounding this fact is that in this country white supremacy has been furthered by both public and private interests. White supremacy enabled one group of people to enslave another in service of their economic interests (Note: I will return to things enabled by white supremacy in a second post coming shortly). White supremacy has also been at the root of federal government activity, including the Missouri Compromise, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act both of which involved the U.S. Congress legislating regarding the boundaries of slavery, and the Dred Scott case — a U.S. Supreme Court case, which held, among other things that Black people were not citizens under the U.S. Constitution, reconstruction era, and Jim Crow laws.
Black GI’s Encounter post-WWII Systemic Bias
It’s also important to point out the race discrimination enabled by the federal government against Black G.I.’s post-World War II. As the GI bill was being drafted, the chair of the House Veteran’s Affairs Committee, John Rankin (D-MS) fought to ensure the bill would help as few Black people as possible by ensuring that programs were administered by the states rather than the federal government. Additionally, the federal government co-signed GI home loans, but did not guarantee them, which enabled private lenders to freeze out (or red-line) poor neighborhoods, and to deny loans outright to Black GI’s seeking them. Ultimately, very few Black GI’s were able to qualify for home loans –2 of more than 3,200 loans in 13 MS cities, and fewer than 100 of 67,000 loans in New York and northern New Jersey suburbs–and therefore, Black families were unable to purchase homes and acquire home equity, which is typically the single largest source of wealth American families have. Even now, Black families and Black communities continue to suffer harm because Black GI families’ lack of access to the family wealth derived from home equity drives the racial wealth gap and means that they, their heirs, and their communities have substantially less personal wealth.
How Private Entities and Citizens Reinforce and Support White Supremacy
Assuming that we are more serious than ever about challenging and rooting out white supremacy, we need a clear understanding of how it works. It’s not merely calling someone the N-word, and it’s not just the President making nationalistic comments that label African nations, S**thole countries, and referring to places where people of color live as infested and migrants and refugees as “vermin that will pour into and infest our country.”
We need to be clear that institutional racism (when the state, driven by racial ideology, acts in ways that further white supremacy) is often aided and abetted by private institutions and individuals. The example of the bias Black GI’s faced is instructive: members of Congress known to support racial segregation pushed to ensure that states rather than the federal government implement the GI bill. Private banks then acted in furtherance of the racial bias that the Congress’ embedded in the bill. The appalling and frightening story that Gerson relates in the op-ed is a further example: “The sheriff responded by arresting her [the widow of a lynched man who demanded justice for her husband] and then turning her over to the mob, which included women and children. ‘[she was subsequently] stripped, hung upside down by the ankles, soaked with gasoline, and roasted to death.'” Note particularly here the synergy between law enforcement and the public: we see the modern version of that in white people calling the police to complain about their presence and behavior in public parks, in Starbuck’s, while selling water and most recently, while proposing marriage.
Finally, the El Paso murder is an example of the way that private individuals carry out violence on behalf of the state: 45 repeatedly denounces immigrants, refugees and those who disagree with him on the handling of detainees at the southern border. He further fails to denounce cries of, “shoot them,” made with reference to refugees at a rally. Are any of us surprised when a mass shooting takes place with clear evidence of racial animus and which, though using terminology identical to 45’s (“invaders”) attempts to exonerate him ? This is the worst form of systemic racism, when non-state actors are motivated and/or weaponized by the state.
Our charge here is clear: to challenge and reject any attempt to reinforce white supremacy wherever we see it and whenever we hear it. I will give #POTUS44 the last word: “Such language isn’t new.. It has no place in our politics and our public life. And it’s time for the overwhelming majority of Americans of goodwill, of every race and faith and political party, to say as much – clearly and unequivocally.”
Thoughts from the Rabbit Hole 