Hey, It's (far past) Time We Got Going!
Many of us
are relieved that Donald Trump has lost the election so we will not have four
more years. For many of us that relief
takes a huge weight off of us. It is
both similar and different from when Barack Obama was elected president in
2008.
In late 2008
and into 2009 we had hopes that Obama’s leadership would bring about great
changes in Washington. There were
Democratic Party majorities in both houses of Congress as well as with the
presidency.
There was
talk of building a movement for change then.
No movement developed. Mitch
McConnell successfully lead Republic challenges to most everything proposed by
both Obama and the Democratic Party.
Compromise
after compromise with the Republicans failed to get support for healthcare
reform. Finally, a limited, but
significantly improved “Obamacare” was passed and signed into law.
The
remaining six years of Obama’s leadership no longer had the “united” Democratic
Party control and leadership in bringing about change, beyond some proclamations. The Supreme Court legalized gay/lesbian marital
rights and changed some of the discrimination that had previously existed.
On the whole
Obama was a very mixed bag! He couldn’t
do things of substance for Non-White People, needing to keep the white folks
behind him. His efforts lead to the
capture and death of Osama bin Laden.
He ordered drone attacks which killed many opponents of U.S. power in
the third world. His policies resulted
in the deportation of many undocumented people, separating families and not
healing the divides between Latin America and the U.S.
We will
never know how different things might have been if an organized movement had
pushed Obama towards more progressive change.
Today, we
face significant opposite to the upcoming Biden leadership. 70,000,000 people voted for Donald Trump in
2020. Only 27 Republican congresspeople
have acknowledged that Joe Biden is the legitimate leader. Donald Trump has raised over $200 million
that will be used to oppose Joe Biden.
Will we continue
to stand on the sidelines in late 2020 and into 2021? Will we speak positively of Joe Biden, and
not push him to support more that the efforts to confront Covid-19
aggressively.
I see little
evidence of significant change. The
Southern Baptist Convention has spoken out, forbidding the support of Critical Race
Theory within its churches. Where are
the white people organizing and going beyond some momentary criticism of the
move.
When will we
realize that CNN and MSNBC are profit-seeking corporations that only will “go
so far” in the efforts for change. We
will hear the voices of liberal historians talking of the need for an ending of
some of the divisiveness of the Right.
We need to
hear much more! We may not be able to
reach 35-40% of our population, especially at first. 40% of the vote total would have been about
62 million voters. 74 million people
voted for Donald Trump. That leaves a
minimum of twelve million people we should be trying to reach, besides the many
millions of people who didn’t vote.
White people
supported Donald Trump nationally by a 17% margin. Breaking the margins out by college-educated
vs. not-college-educated by gender shows:
Biden only
leading with college educated women = +9%
College
educated men = -3%
Non-college
educated women = -27%
Non-college
educated men = -42%
These
percentages show that we have a lot of work to do!!!
We can “defeat
ourselves” from the beginning and focus upon the “foolishness” of those who either
supported Trump or didn’t vote. We can
focus upon “the hopelessness” of racist people and how Evangelical Christians
are “the enemy”.
Those of us
who are white can also choose to do serious work, particularly with other white
people, in trying to bridge the divide that we face with many other white
people.
We might
want to start by:
1. Listening to some of those who are
opposed to us in various ways,
2. Educating ourselves about some of the
important issues
In trying to
begin to work reaching out to others, we must seek common group with allies and
begin building a movement. Such work
may be done in a variety of ways. We
may want to work in our local communities, finding both allies, and not –
trying to work positively.
We can also
work through national organizations. SURJ
– Showing Up For Racial Justice – www.ShowingUpForRacialJustice.org
– has many local chapters and affiliates focusing upon racism.
Organizing
White Men for Collective Liberation – (OWMCL) – www.owmcl.org
– is a much newer effort of white men trying to reach other white men on issues
of racism, sexism, classism and homophobia.
Local and national foci are both present within OWMCL.
Other
organizations focus upon economic justice, environmental issues,
gay/lesbian/trans issues and similar.
For some,
reading books as well as shorter writings can help inspire activism.
Some books I
have found useful are:
RACISM:
The Color
of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America – Richard Rothstein – (my “favorite”)
Unapolgetic:
A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements – Charlene A Carruthers
So You
Want to Talk About Race – Ijeoma Oluo
Sundown
Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism- James W Loewen
The Years
That Matter Most: How College Makes or Breaks Us – Paul Tough
NOBODY:
Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and
Beyond – Marc Lamont
Hill
White
Fragility – Robin DiAngelo
Raising
White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America- Jennifer Harvey
Subversive
Southerner: Anne Braden and the Struggle for Racial Justice in the Cold War
South – Catherine
Ford
OTHER –
MUST READS:
Strangers
in their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right – Arlie Russell Hochschild (gets very
well at core Trump supporters – in a human/caring manner)
People,
Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent: Joseph E Stiglitz (Nobel Laureate,
Economics Professor – easy to read, deep writing on – monopoly capitalism – general
economic understanding of the U.S.)
Though our
path(s) are far from easy, it is very important that we both grow –
personally, and be(come) active politically in working for positive change
(when we are white people). For white
men, it is particularly urgent! We,
disproportionately, cause the damage.
Absent – our greatly increased numbers, it will be next to impossible
for the work of others to be successful.
In doing,
our important work, we should recognize that others – many of whom are Of Color
have both done the work, and given their lives for this country. It is time, that we stop leaving the work
for others! Thanks!
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