Whites Are Fighting Again

The Civil War was largely fought among White people who wanted to preserve their way of life that included slavery and White people who viewed slavery as wrong and wanted to end it.  I posit that today White people are heating up and taking sides for another battle for the soul of this nation.  There are those who want to “Make America great again” and those who seek a more inclusive and just society that honors the human dignity, contributions, and freedom of minority groups and women. Although we minorities care deeply about these matters, in the end this is a White person’s fight, first because there are so many of them and second, they continue to occupy just about all of the positions of power and influence.  I start by looking at the current demographics and the trends.

As of 2016, non-Hispanic Whites made up about 63% of the U.S. population.  Add in the White Hispanics and we’re talking about 78% of the country.   Blacks are around 13%, Asians around 5%, and less than 1% are American Indian and Alaska Native.  Hispanics as an ethnic group span all races and they make up 15% of the population.  The politics of the day has relegated all Hispanics and White people of middle-eastern descent as members of “out groups”.  So, why the fuss?  Fear?  Why are some White people complaining that people of color are taking over? And why do so many complain that they as a group are discriminated  against?  I think having the first black president scared some of them.  I also think their fear may stem from a peek into the demographic future.

The birth rates for ethnic minorities, particularly non-White  Hispanics is high.  About 50% of all births in the U.S. in 2012 were to people from minority groups.  It is estimated that U.S. born children of recent immigrants will account for most of the continued population growth.  This trend towards more people of color is threatening to some Whites who seem desperate to maintain their majority and more importantly, their “privileged” status.

The changing demographics also represents cultural infusion.  Some people are afraid of change and others may be afraid of the unfamiliar.  Muslims have been in the U.S. for a very long time, but only now do we hear fears that they want to introduce Sharia Law.  Some are just simply closed-minded.  For example, my husband (no, he isn’t white, but I’ll use him as an example).  He pretty much always declines my offer to sample the Indian and Persian food I am so fond of. I stopped making the Mexican food I grew up with because he won’t eat it.  His refusal is always the same, “I didn’t grow up eating those foods”.  And my response is, “So, try something new; you might actually like it.”  But he refuses.  Personally, I view learning about and enjoying what other cultures bring to the table as enrichment, as adding to my life experience.  But others may see this as somehow threatening to their sense of self in ways I fail to understand or appreciate.

I pity many of the White people tucked away in their 90% plus White states like Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming.  They are missing out on the cultural richness our diversity has to offer.  But perhaps they do travel to other states often enough to get a taste of different cultural offerings.  Or maybe they are satisfied reading books or watching television and videos. My guess is that   the inaccurate and exaggerated media depictions of people of color has a chilling effect on their desire to step outside their vanilla comfort zone.  But I wonder if these isolated White folks and the preservation of their relatively minority-free lifestyle is at the center of the brewing White on White battle.

The battle is between two notions of what America should be.  On one side you have the white supremacist, white nationalist, the alt-right, KKK, and neo-Nazis who believe they have a God-given right to rule this nation.  They see themselves as the founders and only real Americans and so they believe the jobs to be theirs, the wealth to be theirs, and the power as rightfully belonging to them. On the other side are the anti-fascist and Anti-racist groups.  As with the Civil War, both sides care passionately over what America will become.

Will America be a country where all aspects of wealth, power, and opportunity returns to white straight Christian males or will America be a nation where there is equal opportunity and access to wealth and power?  Will America be a nation where White men will actually have to compete with women and people of color for a change?  The fact is, White men were entitled and didn’t even know it until recently.  They enacted laws, policies, and practices that favored them while disadvantaging everyone else.  They hired and promoted each other all while holding each other to lower standards than those for women and minorities.  But that system of “White privilege” has been exposed and challenged by words like multiculturalism, diversity, inclusion, and equity.  And they don’t like it!  They want to return to those good old days when the best advancement opportunities were theirs alone to pursue.  Compare the character and intelligence of Barack Obama to Donald Trump and the picture of what entitlement looks like is crystal clear.  The fear that there are more Barack Obama types in the wings of government and corporations is frightening to them.  It is time for White Americans to choose sides according to the proponents of both sides.

Some Whites have chosen the anti-fascist/anti-racist side because they reject the notion of White supremacy and believe in basic fairness.  They might also be allies to their minority friends or family members.  Even more Whites might find themselves at risk of loosing their equal opportunities and join this battle because they are also female, gay, an immigrant, Jewish, or Muslim.

Unlike the Civil War, I hope this battle is fought and won without further violence.  I hope it can remain a battle that is online, in street marches, at the kitchen table, and in the voting booth.  White people (and a few people of color) have joined anti-fascist groups like Antifa and TORCH Network (both known for taking direct confrontational  action), AWARE (Alliance of White Anti-racist Everywhere) and SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) and the ARA (Anti-racist Action Network) and Antifascist Network (led by college professors).   The overall strategy of these groups seems to be to “Expose, oppose, and confront” as well as to provide antifascist education and culture building.

To my White friends, colleagues, and family, the battle is at your doorstep.  Will you be neutral and just stay out of it like many in Hitler’s Germany did with disasterous results like electing Donald Trump?  I hope not.  The question you must ask yourself is this: which side will you be on because war is at your doorstep?