Trump is the mask torn off of who we white people are and have been. Issue 10 (26th November 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Scheurich, James Joseph
• Is Part Of: International journal of qualitative studies in education. Volume 30:Issue 10(2017)
• Page Start: 1053
• Page End: 1059
• Publication Date: 2017-11-26
• Subjects: White supremacy -- Whiteness -- white racism; Education -- Research -- Periodicals; Éducation -- Recherche -- Périodiques; Sciences de l'éducation -- Méthodes qualitatives -- Périodiques; 370.72
• DOI: 10.1080/09518398.2017.1312612
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0951-8398

Abstract

Abstract: Currently, most white people seem to think that Trump and his values are some cruel, insane, accidental distortion of US society. In counterpoint to this view, I argue that he is not. Instead, Trump is mainly the 'liberal' or 'conservative' mask torn off of who we white people have been and what we have allowed in our name. This country was built on a foundation of the genocide of about 80% of the Indigenous People and the theft of their land. We followed this with Black slavery, which provided money and power in both the North and the South to make the US a powerful nation worldwide. Furthermore, though we fought a civil war over slavery, within 20 years, power in the South was returned to the slave masters, and Jim Crow was born, which continued the psycho-social-cultural and economic exploitation of blacks and which we followed with the New Jim Crow. We also stole the land of the Indigenous People of the Southwest by conducting an imperial war and breaking treaties. Today, before Trump, we have had state sanctioned (police) murder without consequences of people of color, persistent xenophobia toward varying groups across our history, the rape and murder of women though there is very little of the reverse, a capitalism that is dependent on poverty and wages people cannot survive on, widespread climate denial, extensive hunger and homelessness, among other deleterious conditions. However, that the white wealthy power elite led us down this path is not an excuse. We went along. For the crumbs they offered, we chose them over our true sisters and brothers. We whites are simply not who we say to ourselves we are. Our history and our sociology do not support our self-view. To have any chance, then, to move forward toward a more humane, equitable, inclusive, caring future, we must recognize and take responsibility for who we really are today and who we really have been.