The End Of The Post Racial Myth

Improved Essays
“The Destiny of Man is to unite, not to divide. If you keep on dividing you end up as a collection of monkeys throwing nuts at each other out of separate trees.” (T.H. White, The Once and Future King) Since presidential election in America had dramatically ended, its political division influenced people around the world as much as Americans. After 2016 presidential election, I can sense a strong feeling of national tension between Trump voters, which are mainly white Americans, and immigrants. Most of my roommates and classmates are immigrants or international students, and they are afraid of the presidential result because of insecurity about Trump’s policies. The crisis of economy and racism were correlated in the election when Trump gave …show more content…
How did Donald Trump manipulate racism to win his election in a democratic country? White Americans used to think they were superior and privileged, when they had economic stability and they owned the social safety net and education for their future. However, they lost confidence in their identity since they lost job opportunities and the economy declined. I believe Trump’s words triggered racist perspectives towards economics and politics in the election that targets blame on immigrants. This racism is prevalent in American culture, and the main reason why the nation is divided.
According to Hannah-Jones’ article “The End of the Post-Racial Myth”, the author talks about why rural white voters flipped to Republican. In 2008, it was the first time Americans voted for an African American to be their president: Barack Obama. (Hannah-Jones, 1) This transformative outcome made people believe that the US was turned away from its racial past and eliminated the racial
…show more content…
(Taub, 4) Trump voters feel threaten about American Dream is almost drifting out, and rural dwellers believe they have no money, no power, and no respect in their life. At the same time, Trump speaks for their concerns, anxieties of economics and lack of job opportunities, and Trump makes his voters trust him that he will reverse the situation: allowing people to get what they deserve. (Guo, 2) American culture reflects how Trump voters or most Americans have prejudiced view of the society, especially races. Donald Trump won the Republican nomination, because he provoked racism in his speech and negative campaign based on hatred and fear. Thus, people hesitated about their future and their jobs. And so on, Trump manipulated people’s fear in order to turn voters’ hatred on immigrants, and blame on immigrant population in the society. Trump voters bolstered their racist perspectives due to their resentment on loss of hope. Sharing a high level of racial resentment by not only job opportunities, but also loss of privileges. It is hard to unify under Trump’s presidency due to racial inequality; the way racism was triggered in the society makes American culture

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In the article “People Like Us,” columnist David Brooks uses first-hand accounts and statistics to outline various scenarios in which he claims America extols the virtues of diversity, while the country’s regions and neighborhoods instead provide an unvarying framework for life. He asserts that the modern American is now free to move about the country without old-fashioned ties to original support networks (career steadiness, family, faith roots, etc.), yet even in that geographical freedom, one infrequently branches out far from racial familiarity or one’s other, existing comfort zones. The individual may resettle their family in a new city or state, but studies show one attracts, and is attracted to, others who believe, behave, buy, vote,…

    • 239 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dog Whistle Politics is one of most well written books which have effectively managed to bring out the theme of racism by giving a detailed analysis of the subject. This book was written by Haney-López, Ian. Haney-López is one of the distinguished writers of his time who also happens to be Law professor at the University of California. In most of his publications, he has certainly been able to explain the link between wealth inequality in the American society and racial divisions that exist in the country. He has also managed to explain how the conservative politicians have managed to rely on this racial pandering to convince many voters to vote for them.…

    • 900 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racism is embedded into essentially every American institution and is nurtured by people who have racist predispositions. Ta-Nehisi Coates in Between the World and Me, writes “the ground we walked was trip-wired. The air we breathed was toxic. The water stunted our growth. We could not get out” (Coates, p. 28).…

    • 2399 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the film “Race: The Power of an Illusion” we see that athletics is one arena where talking about ideas of inborn racial differences remains common. We have to wonder why that is. Whenever we see or hear about people playing certain sports we as human beings automatically assume that a certain race will dominate that sport. For example, in the film they talked about how African American people were considered the best at running due to our social profiling of them over a long period of time.…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Race Matter’s Cornel West examines the liberal and conservative approach of racism in America and how it has altered the way democracy is ran. Conservatives, ignore political and economic structures causing various sects of races to face poverty and paranoia. Liberals ignore cultural factors, in where liberalism consciously and purposefully urges upon citizens a certain kind of character that outlines at least minimally the kind of person we are to be, which in turn justifies certain cultural groups in society (Olssen). In race matters west explains the effect of black nihilism “the profound sense of psychological depression, personal worthlessness and social despair so widespread in black America” he later on follows up with that statement…

    • 1264 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In their article "Is America More Divided by Race or Class?", Sean McElwee, Jesse Rhodes, and Brian Schaffner discuss whether the election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States was influence more by race or class. Specifically, they use research to dissect how race and class influence political affiliation. Donald Trump being elected was influenced by the intersection of class and race because when people began to look into the demographics that voted for him they found that working class whites propelled him in polls which made people question whether his victory was a result of the economic condition in the United States. Others argued that his victory was solely based on his ignorant comments about race, but the fault…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The 60’s and 70’s was the era of Mexican American causes; they need for equality were based on the fact that they were excluded. They were poor un educated and were excluded from the national dialogue. During the early 70’s FBI and the U.S justice department did many dirty tricks to subvert the civil right and antiwar movement through sabotage, falsified testimony and they even went as far as killing leaders and organizers. Mexican American became frustrated and disillusioned with the shortcoming of the great society’s reforms. Gonzales blistering comments regarding racism in Denver and his measures to fight that racism stirred up raucous protests by the city’s Mexican Americans.…

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dbq Immigration

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the late 1800’s, many people around the world decided to leave their country and immigrate to the United States. Some came for the economic opportunities, while others came seeking freedom or relief from political and religious persecutions. As more people started coming in, borders became hectic, new ideas were produced, more jobs were created to support the growing population, and the population became more diverse. Depending on which side of the spectrum one falls into, immigration could be seen as good or as bad. In the United States, immigrants are persecuted and one of the main reason why is they are being accused of taking over jobs, this of course causes a division between the citizens and the immigrants.…

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    White Privilege in America The United States of America is a nation built “by the (white) people for the (white) people” during a time in history when the vast majority of American citizen were white. The very foundations of American society and government are structured specifically to accommodate that, supplying advantages to whites over minorities. This systematic racism deep-rooted in the core of this country hindered the progress of colored people, harbored white superiority and created white privilege. Since its establishment in 1776, America has always been viewed as a predominantly white country.…

    • 1408 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The United States is built on different cultures and it all started with the pilgrims coming over for religious freedom. The idea caught on and people from all over the world came for many reasons whether it be religious freedom, running from the law or just to start fresh everyone is from a different culture. In the movie Crash, a handful of people from Los Angeles are struggling with racism, cultural differences and power issues in a time right after 9/11. A few things to know for this paper, enculturation is when a culture is transmitted from one generation to another, acculturation is when a person’s culture is modified through contact with or exposure to another culture, and racism means being biased against another person’s ethenicity.…

    • 2392 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    2008: The pendulum has swung to its one side. The force that pushed it was Barack Obama’s inauguration. The moment he won the presidency, many people rejoiced. That election would not only be a win to democrats, but also to african americans and blacks all over the country.…

    • 225 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    So, what does this have to do with Donald Trump and hope in America? Well, actually a lot. It turns out the race problem, sometimes called the Negro problem, has been studied by white and black thought leaders for a long…

    • 885 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Immigration, as defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary as, “the act of coming to another country to live there permanently,” is rapidly becoming a controversial topic in the United States (“immigrant”). According to PBS, immigrants, most commonly migrating from regions in Latin America and Asia, are eager to cross the American border as they are often fleeing harsh governments or religious oppression and relocating in search of a better life for themselves, as well as their family. (PBS) The recent influx in immigration to the United States has caused Americans and politicians alike to reconsider immigration laws and lobby for immigration reforms. Both the Democratic and Republican party candidates utilized immigration reform in the 2016 election…

    • 1510 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The land that is now the United States of America was nothing more than an unexplored world with few inhabitants in the 1400s and 1500s. Then, by the time of the declaration of the new world that is America, it contained people from every race, color, and continent in the world; without having the general public being upset with the government or the United States causing individuals to leave the nation. Now, 240 years after the Declaration of Independence, the major issue at hand for the 45th president of the United States of America is its immigration policies. The social and political ideologies of America have effects on its immigration policies that set up the immigration issue at hand. America when the Declaration of Independence was…

    • 1798 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The United States is often perceived as a melting pot for all ethnicities to have equal opportunities for success and wealth. The extent in which this total equality has been implemented into actual reality is rather sparse. As history supports, ethnicity and race are still associated with social and economic oppression and abuse. For members of the population to maintain the ancient idea that America is primarily a white country significantly causes new generations of Americans to wrongly regard and negatively perceive the next wave of immigrants. According to Lillian Rubin’s article “Is This a White Country or What?”, many American citizens are opposed to immigration, even though they too come from immigrant families.…

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays