In this multi-part series, I am going to write about my personal reactions to recent events involving American race relations and try to place them in their complex historical and modern contexts. Below is part III. See issue 252 for part I and issue 253 for part II.

    1. A Strange Time in American Politics: Donald Trump and the Politics of Race in America

 Race and identity politics have been a part of American political life since its inception. However, since the Civil Rights movement of the mid-20^th century, race and racial issues have worked their way into even more aspects of American politics than in earlier years owing in part to the rise of ethnic consciousness and political power among previously disenfranchised groups. In today’s America, African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and other non-whites have much louder voices in the discourse than ever before. They are seeking wider representation in the culture and in the political sphere. The fact of this, and America’s changing demographics (meaning the eventual reality that white people will no longer be the majority in the US in the near future) coupled with a near-decade of economic stagnation has led many to be increasingly anxious about the state of race relations.

 Enter Donald Trump, as of this writing the leading contender for the Republican Party’s nomination for President of the United States.

 For much of his career in public life, Donald Trump has been something of a joke in American popular culture. In the mid-to-late 1980s, Trump, a New York City real estate mogul himself the son of a New York City real estate mogul, was derided by many as being a cartoonish figure of the greed and excess that typified the popular notion of the rich in Reagan-era America. He was also lauded and respected by some who saw him as the living embodiment of American success and his larger-than-life persona and boastful, exaggerated manner attracted many fans. He was famous for marrying beautiful models and living a lavish lifestyle. His propensity for sticking his name in big gold letters on the sides of his buildings became his trademark.

 In 2004, he made the jump to reality television, becoming the host of The Apprentice, a competition program where normal people and celebrities vied to win a position in one of Trump’s companies. This boosted his appeal and provided him with a large platform to increase awareness of the Trump brand. In fact, much of his success has been due to this “branding”: putting his name on other people’s projects or products for licensing fees and/or financial stakes. Trump resumed his place as many Americans’ idea of what a rich, successful man looked like, despite the fact that his business success record has been dubious. His image as a great businessman may be flawed upon closer inspection, but he is still very wealthy.       

 In 2008, Barack Obama was elected president. His political opponents had several legitimate disagreements with him concerning his policy plans and ideas, but some sought to undermine him with nastier, more underhanded means: attacking him using his race and ethnic background. Obama’s father was from Kenya and his mother from Kansas; this “foreignness” was something that could be exploited. Fear of foreigners was high after September 11^th, and a black man with an African name was viewed with suspicion and outright hostility in some quarters. Rumors began to spread that Obama was not really American, and was thus not legitimately president, despite having been born in Hawaii. He was also rumored to be a “secret Muslim” and in the minds of those who believed these myths, and thus an enemy of the United States, despite Obama being a practicing Christian. While Americans can and should have disagreements over substantial policy issues, the ugly racial and religious dimensions of these attacks on the president and the general fearmongering has been a shameful part of the public’s reaction to Obama’s time in office.

 Among those voices who questioned Obama’s background was Donald Trump. He became a prominent celebrity “birther”: someone who believed Obama was not really American. Trump rode these accusations to more fame among those segments of American society that hated President Obama for racial reasons. This sparked some interest in a possible presidential campaign.

 Last year, Trump burst onto the political scene openly and brazenly attacking Hispanic immigrants and Muslims. Whereas in previous political eras post-Civil Rights, politicians had to be subtle if they wanted to convey racist sentiment; Trump’s rhetoric has broken all the known and established rules all the while making him the candidate to beat on the Republican ticket, beating many other politicians in the running who were much more favored to win. He has dominated the election (and the press’s coverage of the election) and set the tone for the campaign debates. He has been crass and profane, disrespectful to large swaths of the population, and nonetheless galvanized a voting bloc who see him as the ideal candidate because he is truly independent in their eyes. Because he is a billionaire himself, he seems credible to them because he can finance his campaign without taking money from other billionaires or corporations. They believe he cannot be bought, and thus he will be a leader that will remake American politics. Most political observers did not believe a Trump candidacy would be viable. They have all been wrong, and he is now the likely favorite to win the Republican nomination this summer.

 Two centerpieces of his campaign have been to force Mexico to pay for a wall on their northern border with the United States to prevent illegal immigration and to bar all Muslims from entering the United States for an indeterminate period of time. Both proposals, such that they are true proposals, have been widely criticized as unrealistic on all sides of the political spectrum, but his supporters do not care. His campaign speeches are long on promises and short on details. He repeats himself constantly and falls back on easy applause lines. He uses simplistic language and flatters his audience while doing his best to affirm their fears. His campaign rallies have been marked by sometimes violent clashes between his supporters and protestors. The political establishment is quaking in their boots that someone with zero policy experience, a shady business record littered with controversies and lawsuits, a tenuous loyalty to the party he is running in, and a habit of using openly hateful, racist rhetoric has laid waste to the wide field of Republican candidates more to the liking of party elites. By stoking the rage of many white working class voters tired of being ignored by playing to their fears of immigrants and terrorists, Trump has exposed the dark underbelly of American politics: appealing to blatant racism is one way to achieve popular support in 2016 America. It is a sad, strange, horrifying time for those who fear that years of progress may be rolled back should Trump assume the presidency.