heroicheretic replied to your post: Nah…“fooled me once” cuz'n.
My analysis: any loss of support from whites at this point is likely due to Lord Dampnut failing in things like his attempted Muslim ban or being so terrible at lying. It is not because they’ve suddenly seen the error in their ways. That group was racist a year ago, racist in November, are racist right now, and will continue to be racist in the future. We’ve had too many centuries of white racists telling us who they really are - why are we still trying to give them the benefit of the doubt?!
“why are we still trying to give them the benefit of the doubt?!”……..You’re right about if / why Trump supporters will ever abandon him, but you have also captured the essence of white denial in America: despite ALL evidence to the contrary, the reflex assumption is that after centuries and centuries of white supremacy and anti-Blackness, white people are (somehow???) **naturally** above racism.
Being “not racist” requires constant work … just like staying healthy, or like keeping your teeth clean, being “not racist” (or “not sexist”) requires constant work, and then constant maintenance. Brushing your teeth isn’t a natural behavior. No one would ever say, “You brushed your teeth last week, good job! So don’t worry about brushing them ever again, they’re still clean.” LOL, even the iPhone needs constant upgrading. People, particularly white Americans, are no different.
Despite all past and very recent history, somehow we’re still being taught to believe in white purity and white goodness, and to give white America the benefit of the doubt, when the wisest course of action would be to automatically assume racism - if people assumed anti-Blackness and racial bias is the cultural norm, then you are (statistically speaking) more likely to be right. But white people don’t like hearing that. It’s not an insult. No more than “brush your teeth or you’ll get cavities” is an insult. Because from birth, our culture very quietly teaches anti-Blackness and white supremacy, by default.
