Trump's racism success

[jp1]

There have been plenty of stories in the media over the course of the campaign about various racist incidents involving Trump supporters. For the most part I didn't think too much about them since they either were at/near one of his rallies, school age children, or not necessarily attributable to Trump supporters.

But then I just saw this post on facebook from a former boss. And mind you, she doesn't live in the south or the midwest or any other major Trump stronghold. She lives in suburban Long Island NY.


Leaving the doctors office last night and was chatting with another patient who left at the same time. Conversation was benign enough until he casually said "the nig__as and spics ruined it for the rest of us". And it begins. The legitimazation of casual ugly racism. My heart hurts. This is not what my father fought and was injured for. Not at all.

[ToomuchStuff]

The vets I know, fought for the rights of freedom of speech, assembly, etc. etc. etc. So they did fight for this, as openly discussed beliefs, make it easy to know who to avoid. ;)

[Zoe Girl]

jp1, that is exactly what has had me concerned and quite upset this week. I had to take some time off yesterday because my stomach hurt so bad. People think it isn't happening and it really is! As a white person I have to stand up and say it. When I work with kids who come to me with a friend because they are being bullied I talk to the friend about their power as a friend. They have more power to stop this than the bully. We have the power to stand up when someone says something like that, we have a duty to support the people being harassed and bullied. Whatever Trump has said he is not president yet, hate-crime laws are still on the books and are legally required to be enforced, and as president he has to support those laws until they are changed.

I work in an environment where I don't expect to hear this. My supervisors are non-white or married to non-white people so I won't face it that much. However if I hear it I will call it out.

[JaneV2.0]

The vets I know, fought for the rights of freedom of speech, assembly, etc. etc. etc. So they did fight for this, as openly discussed beliefs, make it easy to know who to avoid. ;)

There is truth in this; I'd rather the racists, misogynists, haters in general would reveal themselves instead of being covert so I don't waste time with them unnecessarily. I get tired of the battle to shut these people down (kudos to you Zoe Girl, for not being silent in the face of bigotry) and they feel entitled to harass and intimidate others freely now that their champion has won.

[Zoe Girl]

There is truth in this; I'd rather the racists, misogynists, haters in general would reveal themselves instead of being covert so I don't waste time with them unnecessarily. I get tired of the battle to shut these people down (kudos to you Zoe Girl, for not being silent in the face of bigotry) and they feel entitled to harass and intimidate others freely now that their champion has won.

Thank you Jane, I have a long history of calling it out so at least it is not something new. I had an awkward conversation with my brother yesterday, he called for my birthday but we did touch on what is happening. He feels as a white male in an all white-male industry that it really isn't a problem and will blow over. I shared that I am seeing things happening already in my school community that are harmful and the kids are dealing with large amounts of stress. I stand with those who are afraid.

[Ultralight]

If someone says that chit to me then they will get chewed out. F them.

[jp1]

The vets I know, fought for the rights of freedom of speech, assembly, etc. etc. etc. So they did fight for this, as openly discussed beliefs, make it easy to know who to avoid. ;)

Your post actually reminds me of a friend after smoking in bars was outlawed. He said (paraphrasing of course) "I liked it better when people could smoke in bars because it was easier to tell which guys I should immediately lose interest in."

[jp1]

If someone says that chit to me then they will get chewed out. F them.

Don't worry, former boss gave them an earful. She's never been one to keep her thoughts to herself.

[ApatheticNoMore]

So my boyfriend works in a blue collar workplace. In Alabama perhaps, no in Cali of course. This is what goes on, white coworkers praise the K.K.K. (!!!) at work. They hate the Mexicans (especially including their Mexican coworkers for being Mexicans). The bosses are Jewish. One non-Jewish white employee thinks it's a good idea to begin with anti-Semitic rants at work, people try to subtly warn him, uh bosses are Jewish dude ... you might not want to rant this way in front of them.... He doesn't get it and rants on. A black guy goes in for an interview. Everyone is doing whatever they can not to get the black guy hired, but he knows the right things to say to calm their sensibilities (a less socially astute black guy would not stand a chance perhaps), and he somehow makes it through anyway and gets a job. There are Trump supporters to be found. Meanwhile bosses are abhorred by Trump and support Clinton, but these bosses break labor law, promise employees raises they don't get just to string them along, work skilled (true blue collar skills involved in making stuff aren't easy) employees brutal hours for horrible pay despite being extremely profitable, lie about the hours as well, engage in verbal abuse (though not at any identity group just at everyone under them) including yelling spells on the job terrifying their underlings etc..

A shock to the white collar sensibilities isn't it. Ah the white collar world I know it well (and I have to tell you it's better than that cr@p!) - the white collar world where the company has you watch long videos yearly on some subtle stuff that might constitute harassment or creating a hostile work environment even though very little goes on.

None of this is emboldened by Trump, but he will embolden people. And racism is dead alright - NOT. But even I don't think something like everyone who voted for Trump did it for racial reasons or something (a country that elects it's first black president whether one likes him or not, does not suddenly become more racist in 8 years - people switched over or else Trump could inspire a base and Hillary couldn't inspire people to go to the polls etc.). She slightly eeked a popular win anyway, and Trump still got less votes than Romney did anyway (just people probably liked Obama over Hillary enough to reelect him).

[LDAHL]

None of this is emboldened by Trump, but he will embolden people. And racism is dead alright - NOT. But even I don't think something like everyone who voted for Trump did it for racial reasons or something (a country that elects it's first black president whether one likes him or not, does not suddenly become more racist in 8 years - people switched over or else Trump could inspire a base and Hillary couldn't inspire people to go to the polls etc.). She slightly eeked a popular win anyway, and Trump still got less votes than Romney did anyway (just people probably liked Obama over Hillary enough to reelect him).

I think you're right. I don't think you can explain Trump by postulating there are at least sixty million racist monsters of voting age in America. There were plenty other contributing factors. Economic frustration. Resentment at being cast as the ignorant villains in somebody else's disdainful narrative. Clinton's voluminous ethical baggage and hypocrisy. Anger at how both parties' primary elections were handled. General disgust with political elites. A desire to thumb the nose at PC pretensions. A sort of nihilistic impulse to "blow up the system".

Simply attributing spiteful, mindless hatred to the opposition strikes me as it's own form of spiteful, mindless hatred. It certainly doesn't seem to be a very valuable strategy for future contests.