Is America Doomed to Repeat Its Racist Past?

[sheshe2]

The minority that wants to hate has a passion however twisted, that most of the majority does not. And now they have the president of the country in their corner.



Each week of the Trump era brings some new, specific thing to be depressed about. One week it’s the future of the Constitution. Another it’s contemplating the shame of the United States starting a nuclear war. Another it’s something else.

In the wake of Charlottesville, it’s been race. More specifically, for me, the horror of the racial future that awaits us in both the short and longer terms. In the short term, it seems virtually certain that we’re in for another Charlottesville, and another, and another. It’s hard to think of any logical reason why the neo-Nazis wouldn’t march again; they got lots of publicity—not much of it positive, but as the old saw has it, they spelled their names right. And the president of the United States had their backs.

So one suspects that we’ll see more of these, and that the president will do what he has always done in cases like this and vacillate between reading a script with all the verve of a hostage and then saying and tweeting what he really thinks. It seems nearly impossible that it will dawn on him that as president he embodies the nation and should strive to represent both, or all, sides. He’s far too small-minded and insecure for that. And besides that, it’s increasingly hard to dispute the argument that this guy who does and says a lot of racist things is just plain racist, so he’s going to keep doing and saying racist things.

So that’s the short term. At the risk of tempting you to click away from this column and read something less morose, I have to say that right now, the long term for our country looks even worse.

If we look at our nation’s entire racial history, we see a pattern, and it’s not a reassuring one. I divide that history into six chapters.

Read More:http://www.thedailybeast.com/is-america-doomed-to-repeat-its-racist-past

[HughBeaumont]

1. Wouldn't "repeat" imply that it, at some point, stopped?

[johnp3907]

2. No.

It's doomed to repeat its racist present.

[Solly Mack]

3. Past? Racism in America has never been in the past.

Police brutality, and the abuse of uniform and power, is a constant in America for African-Americans. Racism isn't only the physical violence against people - it's job and housing discrimination, it's being followed around in stores, it's the disparity in justice for people of color. It's a host of everyday blindsides that can crush a person.

What happened in Charlottesville was horrible. No one (save for the racists) would question that.

Yet let no one pretend that that was the spark of things to come. An ebb and flow kind of thing - because it isn't. Racism always flows in America...sometimes the flow becomes a rushing wave....but it always flows.

Yeah, it's more obviously worse at times - because of the stories that make the news. The day to day racism doesn't make the news.

But each day in America, someone - many someones - is dealing with the ugly face of racism in their daily lives.

Yes, I read the article.

[sheshe2]

4. Well of course it has always been here.

I am well aware of that, Solly. However the 'Resident has embraced it, lauded and applauded it. He donned his hood and declared himself as a proud racist.

[Solly Mack]

6. I was responding to the piece, not you. Sorry if it seemed otherwise.

Yes, Trump has embraced it because that's who he is - a racist authoritarian.

And, yes, unless the republicans in Congress become something they are not, it's only going to get worse in all ways.

I don't think republicans will become something they are not.

I think they will continue to pretend that nothing too horrible is happening.

A lot of Americans are also pretending that.

But I also think a lot of Americans pretend racism isn't a real and tangible evil until something horrible happens - like death.

And even then, some Americans still rather cling to the belief in "law and order" that can do no wrong than to recognize what is actually happening.

Again, I'm sorry, sheshe2.

I meant no offense to you.

[sheshe2]

9. Thanks, Solly.

I just don't bother posting here much anymore. To much pain since the election.

They will allow trump because...

The GOP will continue with a blind eye to pass the most vile legislation to deprive the most needy in this country, destroy heath care, SS, Medicare and the very Medicaid that helped my dad die with some dignity at the age of 93. They legislate for one reason only and that is to line their pockets.

I am appalled at the rise of violence from white supremists. KKK and WTF? NAZIS as well. Under Don it is the norm now and the rule of the courts and the constitution is now null and void.

We are on the brink and I can only hope we survive.

Once again, thank you, Solly.

[Solly Mack]

18. I wish I could hug you for real.

I wish I could say you were wrong about the GOP.

Post when you can or just give me a holler.

I want to know how you're doing.

[brer cat]

16. I agree, Solly.

"They want to hate." That to me is the very essence of what we are dealing with. We can't educate that away or shame it away or legislate it away. It is who they are and they will procreate and pass it on.

What cycles isn't racism but the public face of racism. I can remember back in the 1950s when it was common to see horrendously racist cartoons in our newspapers and ads in magazines; in the 1960s some people were still casually speaking of n***** without giving it a thought. These types of things disappeared in the mainstream, but they were always still very much alive. I think that many of us white people placed too much stock in the visible progress that had been made without looking beneath it to reality of the struggle going on beneath the surface. Charlottesville shocked a lot of people but it shouldn't have. Trump made it safer for them to strut their vileness, but he didn't birth them. They have been living among us all along.

[Solly Mack]

19. I agree with you.

Everything you said.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Not so much a repetition as a continuation.

Racism has always been part of our culture, unfortunately. Trump has just empowered it and validated the prejudices many people have always had but didn't express as openly.

[guillaumeb]

7. If many white Americans deny that there was a racial past,

and I include among those "many" the self-described "heritage not hate" segment that glorifies a flag of slavery,

and many white Americans claim that the Obama Presidency was "proof" that this is a post-racial America,

and many white Americans claim that Interstate cross check and voter suppression are not racially motivated,

I would say that the US is still repeating the same racist actions as prior to the 1964 CRA, but in a slightly different form.

The success of the modern GOP is based on gerrymandering, suppression, and racism.


Recommended.

[sheshe2]

10. "The success of the modern GOP is based on gerrymandering, suppression, and racism."

And lies. Always lies, Always cheats. That is all they have!

[guillaumeb]

11. The lies are necessary to support the narrative.

Like the recent one about white people being disadvantaged by equal rights for all.

If any of these right wing Trump supporters had read any history, they would see that one of the reasons that white working families are doing badly is because the rich are taking more and more at the expense of everyone else.

[sheshe2]

12. And they VOTE for them every damn time.

Talk about stupid.

[guillaumeb]

13. At a certain level stupid cannot be fixed.

I hate to think it and write it, but there it is.

And my time spent reading at DI only confirms it. The place is either infested with trolls and bots or idiots. The few sane voices are like lights in the darkness.

[haveahart]

8. America stays in this time warp.

[Baitball Blogger]

14. Repeat?

It has always been here.

[Raine]

15. There's never been a break in it, it continues because it was never otherwise

it can't repeat what never ended.

[heaven05]

17. already started

creating a new page for future history books for their confederacy and klan hate toward all not white. The civil war never ended for the black american either....Jim Crow was the new confederacy and it never really disappeared.