Charlottesville and Our Racial Fault Lines: Symbolic Victories or Structural Changes
Charlottesville and Our Racial Fault Lines: Symbolic Victories or Structural Changes
Rodney D. Coates, Professor
Department of Global and Intercultural Studies
Miami University
Recent events in Charlottesville once again remind us of our torturous racial history. Therefore it is rather strange that many were shocked with the level of hostility associated with the removal of this symbol. Perhaps if we utilized a sociological imagination (Mills 1959) we might better evaluate this current moment. Utilizing this imagination, I would argue that removal of these symbols, while important, are not sufficient to significantly alter the racial narrative and racial outcomes. If we look at recent events, not only these symbolic battles but those occurring in the political domain suggests that symbolic victories do little to change the racial realities so many face in our country. So let us first look at some of these symbolic victories.
When Barack Obama was elected President in 2008, many believed that the United States was now a post-racial society (Schorr, 2008; Kelley, 2008; Steele, 2008). On the contrary, however, not long after Obama’s election and inauguration, campuses saw an uptick in visible racism (Grasgreen, 2012; Johnson, 2016). The 2016 U.S. presidential campaign and election exposed an extremely fragmented and polarized American electorate (Tyson & Maniam, 2016; Jacobson, 2017; Harkinson, 2017), characterized by deep racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, gender, educational, and residential divides. The recent levels of increased racial violence, harassment, and discrimination coupled with rising levels of stress and anxiety provide further evidence of these significant divisions (Williams & Medlock, 2017; Davis 2017). In 2015, the last year data were reported, there were 5,818 hate crimes, an increase of 6.5% from the previous year (Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 2015). In the first month after the most recent presidential election, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) documented a record 1,094 hate and bias incidents. And the number of hate groups has increased for the last two years (Bates, 2017). According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) the number of anti-Semitic incidents rose 86% in the first three months of 2017. From 2004 to 2015, roughly 250,000 American citizens experienced hate crime victimization annually (U.S. Department of Justice, 2017). Although these data are troubling, racism in America has deeper roots than these events or either presidential tenure. It is longstanding, systemic, and institutionalized, with far-reaching effects on all members of the nation.
One would have to be blind not to acknowledge that racism is a reality that effects all too many citizens (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012; Chesler, et al., 2005; Coates, 2008; Quaye & Harper, 2014). Novelist Chimamanda Adichie (2009) warns of what happens when all we hear is a single story, about a single people, country, or group. When this is the case, we make critical mistakes as we stereotype, marginalize, and delegitimize others. Much of the single story that has occupied public discourse regarding race has focused on people of color, absent from this narrative have been whites, particularly the white poor. Frequently these groups have been targeted by not only political but also alt-right movements. Such organizing, currently can be traced to white responses to the civil rights movements, has been the focus of much sociological attention and analysis.
The 60s with so much promise was soon dwarfed as the racial state reemerged with a vengeance. The retreat from civility associated with extreme right wing politics pushed the nation sharply to the right. Ultra conservative candidates such as Barry Goldwater articulated the need to return to the racial state and helped articulate a modern version of the white identity politics. Driving both processes was what has since been termed Angry White Male Syndrome (AWMS) (Kimmel 2014).
AWMS is not new, it's been around for some time. Politically, AWMS has given rise to a number of quite effective campaigns where candidates have been able to manipulate and capitalize upon these pent up frustrations. For example, George Wallace, during the early 60s articulated their views when he declared “In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever". Ronald Reagan identified this group as a "silent majority" which was neither silent nor a majority. This 'silent majority' represented the disenfranchised, core of Americans who rejected civil rights and women rights, and were staunchly pro-American defenders of militarism, capitalism, and imperialism. In 1992, Ross Perot and Patrick Buchanan tried to ride this wave of white male paranoia into the White House. Newt Gingrich and then George Bush would also tap into this fear, or what Jude Davies calls a "crises of representation" where at the core one finds discontent by perceptions of being displaced by "others". The current manifestation of AWMS is being played out in the GOP campaigns with the most obvious example being Donald Trump.
Donald Trump effectively marshaled various white identity groups and capitalized on white angst, anger and fears with his slogan “Make America Great Again”. As explained by Michael Kimmel (Conroy 2017) these angry white males in the United States often coalesce into political, far-right extremist movements. Kimmel also pointed to a 2008 report by homeland security that demonstrated the significant and unexpected rise of right-wing extremist movements. Fueling these movements are notions of humiliation which leads can also lead to violence (Conroy 2017). And we saw this violence erupt as anti-racist and alt-right forces collided in Charlottesville. The real question before us, as sociologists, is where we go from here.
The marches and counter marches shines the spotlight on our racial fault lines, but they are ill-equipped to do more. Critical sociologists can provide the analytical tools to not only reveal, but also point to ways by which these racial fault lines may be deconstructed. Simply put, the problems at the core of white anger and people of color victimization are structural. Removing the symbols of this anger and victimization may provide some measure of psychic relief for people of color, but only serves to aggravate the angst of poor whites. We can continue to fight these symbolic battles and relish the symbolic victories or we can choose to dismantle the racial structures which manipulates white anxieties often at the expense of people of color and other marginalized groups. We might discover that “hurting people hurt others” and that many of our policies; many of our actions have only aggravated the fault lines. We could also suggests that these universities and public sites become more open and inclusive by providing scholarships, training, and access to marginalized people. Perhaps a start would be to recognize that not only people of color and gendered/sexual minorities are marginalized, but also poor, whites. Through such a process, maybe, just maybe we can provide some healing of our various racial wounds.
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