Can America Ever Overcome the Scourge of Racism?
A Saturday Prompt
On March 21, 1861, several weeks before the start of the Civil War, the Confederacy’s vice president, Alexander H. Stephens, delivered his infamous “Cornerstone Speech,” which laid out a Confederate vision of white supremacy. “Our new government’s…cornerstone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery—subordination to the superior race—is his natural and normal condition,” Stephens stated from Savannah, Georgia. “This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical and moral truth.”
This sickening statement—this deeply immoral view of man in a country predicated on the notion that all men are created equal—helped justify a bloody war that led to the death of some 700,000 Americans. Tragically, such racism is not a relic of a bygone era when slavery was legal; rather, it is a driving force for the man currently occupying our White House.
Yesterday Donald Trump posted a deeply offensive and racist video clip depicting President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as apes. Inevitably, his chief propagandist Karoline Leavitt insisted the resulting furor was nothing more than “fake outrage” and Trump himself asserted that “No, I didn’t make a mistake.” Trump also claimed that he wasn’t responsible—he blamed some unnamed staffer for posting it.
Yes, the post was eventually deleted, but the damage was done. It was appalling enough even to awaken South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican senator. He called the image “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House” and insisted Trump “should remove it.” The usually careful House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, did not contain his anger, speaking for so many of us: "F**k Donald Trump and his vile, racist and malignant behavior. This guy is an unhinged bottom feeder,” Jeffries said in a video post. “President Obama and Michelle Obama are brilliant, caring and patriotic Americans.”
There is a lot to say about the utter disgrace of a so-called president who attacks a previous U.S. President and First Lady in this despicable way. When questioned by reporters on Air Force One, Trump boasted about his achievements on behalf of Blacks and boasted, “Black voters have been great to me. I’ve been great to them.” He added, “I am, by the way, the least racist president you’ve had in a long time, as far as I’m concerned.”
This from the man who quickly sought the wholesale elimination of programs pursuing diversity, equity and inclusion on the first day of his second term. This from a man who demonizes people of color and predominately Black countries and has worked aggressively to strip away the public’s access to the historical truths of slavery and structural racism in America. This central feature of his agenda was captured in an executive order entitled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”
Add to this the Department of Labor campaign employing heroic images of white men and this message: “One homeland, one people, one heritage. Remember who you are, American.” We shouldn’t doubt that his deadly deportation operation currently driving Hispanics and other people of color out of America is fundamentally aimed at achieving white supremacy.”
Pay attention to what he does, not just what he says.
This brings me back to the white supremacist worldview of the Confederate Stephens. It’s not hard to draw a direct line between his words of a dominant white race and the actions and underlying mentality of Donald J. Trump, whose racist practices date to at least 1973 when the federal government sued him and his father for racial discrimination by refusing to rent apartments to Black applicants.
Many tens of millions of Americans not only voted twice to put this man in the White House, but also continue to support him with great fervor, underscoring the motivating power of racism and the need to scapegoat others. He has been aided and abetted by Vice President JD Vance, who heinously pushed the lie of cat- and dog-eating Haitian immigrants and the white-supremacist ideology of the “great replacement theory.” The Haitian immigrant community in Springfield, Ohio is riddled with fear because of this racist hostility and the threat to drive them out.
It’s hard not to think that America has seriously regressed in its fight against racism and the pursuit of inclusion and equality. The outrage over Trump’s racist post is a sign that there are plenty of Americans who yearn for a more just, less hateful society. But what do you think: Can America ever overcome the scourge of racism? Could these Trump years intensify that effort once he’s gone? Is the long history of racism and the poison of slavery too powerful to overcome? Will this always be a defining characteristic of America?
As always, I look forward to reading your observations and the opportunity for the America, America community to learn from each other. Please do be respectful in your remarks. Trolling will not be tolerated.
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We must.
“To accept one’s past – one’s history – is not the same thing as drowning in it; it is learning how to use it. An invented past can never be used; it cracks and crumbles under the pressures of life like clay in a season of drought.” - James Baldwin
Can we? The possibility is always there. The question is, do enough Americans have the determination to persist in driving these vile notions out of acceptance?
I think we do. The folks out in the streets protesting are fighting for that day. The folks boycotting Target, Chick-Fil-A, Amazon, and the like are fighting the elimination of DEI programs through the power of the purse. But it takes all of us. As CSNY once sang,
"Teach your children well. Their father's hell did slowly go by. And feed them on your dreams..."