Wow, so many ruffled feathers.
This is a thread about the President of the US, and I was speaking about the political context in the US, not the UK. Other North American contributors as well as I have tried to explain that the language and way people see themselves and others with regard to socio-economic class, the pervasive influence of Christianity, the legacy of the nation's foundation on genocide and white supremacy, all make the current political context completely different from the UK.
The precursors of the white Trump voters in what British people would see as the "working class" (although most wouldn't use the term themselves), were the ones getting up petitions to stop black, brown and Jewish people moving into their towns and subdivisions and fighting to keep non-white workers out of "their" unions and out of "their" better paying skilled jobs. They were shouting in the faces of Black children trying to attend all white state schools. They served on juries that acquitted other white "working class" people for torturing and killing African American people. Some watched the lynchings. Some committed them. Like it or not, generations of white Americans across the socio-economic classes and education levels have contributed to and benefited from the systematic exclusion and abuse of non-white Americans.
The fact Trump stood on an openly racist, xenophobic, Islamaphobic platform and attracted the majority of white voters across the socio-economic strata surely shows that a goodly portion of white Americans are at the very least content, at the most very enthusiastic about perpetuating, even extending race-based injustice.
If you think this is bullshit, how do you explain the massive difference in votes for Trump between white people of all social classes and people of colour, especially African Americans? How do you explain why white people from blue collar communities voted overwhelmingly for Trump when they knew his promises of well paid secure manufacturing jobs were bogus and his policies were destined to harm them (but they knew some of his policies would harm Black and brown people more.)
When Sanders says Trump supporters aren't racist or sexist and Democrats have to listen to them, even if he means "not all Trump supporters," it
still sends the message to non-white Americans, and those white women who didn't back Trump, that he doesn't give a shit about their plight. I'll accept that British folks may not "hear" all the dog whistles - like with the attacks on Maxine Waters coming from left and white, including "progressive" women like Emma Vigeland. But it's not that hard to find views of non-white Americans out there to fill in the knowledge blanks.
Listen to white working class people too, but don't assume their religious talk is just a silly quirk or dismiss their bigotry as just being a bit misguided. Sure, some live sheltered lives. I used to think the bigotry came from ignorance and lack of access to alternative views or experiences. Well, that argument holds no water in the internet age. They're not stupid and the insularity is their choice.
Believe me, they ain't going to convert into red flag waving socialists no matter how many Sanders speeches they hear or how many fancy political tracts you give them. Christ - as someone who grew up in an 86% Trump voting white rural working class community, I wish it would happen, but it won't.
The rightward march of the GOP, the audacity of a Black man in the oval office, and the pompous bigotry of the Trump administration has validated and emboldened them.
The impact of the Trump administration will be worldwide, so I'd have thought those who don't like what he's doing would be interested in listening to, maybe even supporting those who are working hardest to bring it down, not slate them for being hung up on "identity politics," but hey, there you go.
