American Whitelash: Caucasian voters want their country back

By Askia Muhammad -Senior Editor- | Last updated: Nov 15, 2016 - 12:33:25 PM

(L) Chicago was among cities where protestors came out to condemn election of Donald Trump. Photo: Haroon Rajaee (R) Felomina Cervantes, of Seattle, holds a sign that reads “Shame on You America” as she takes part in a protest against President-elect Donald Trump, Nov. 9, in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Photos: AP/ Wide World photos

WASHINGTON—As unlikely as it may be, real estate developer Donald J. Trump, who has never served one day in elected office or in the military, was elected the 45th President of the United States on Nov. 8.

Widespread racial solidarity among Caucasian voters amounted to a “whitelash” in which Whites snatched back the lever of executive power, after eight years of scandal free government led by the first Black President, Barack Obama, and they held on to majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate. This despite the fact that Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton received 500,000 more votes than did the president-elect.

Reports of racial harassment soared immediately after Election Day. Hundreds of Black and Brown people nationwide reported being attacked, harassed, threatened and insulted by emboldened Whites in the wake of Donald Trump’s election.

At one high school in Pennsylvania, White students called Black students “cotton pickers,” while using the “heil Hitler” salute. At a middle school in Michigan, a video shows White students chanting “build a wall, build a wall.”

On a college campus outside of Buffalo, New York, a Black baby doll was found in an elevator with a rope around its neck, while in Wellsville, New York, a swastika and the words “MAKE AMERICA WHITE AGAIN” were spray-painted on a baseball dugout.

The election outcome defied many pre-vote expectations however. There was early speculation that Mr. Trump would lose and might not accept the election outcome of what he branded as a “rigged election,” if he lost. Instead, he won, and tens of thousands took to the streets declaring their rejection of his election under the banner #NotMyPresident.

People took to the streets across the country three successive nights to protest the election of Donald Trump. In California, at least a dozen people were arrested as hundreds blocked traffic on major freeways. Thousands more gathered at Los Angeles City Hall, where some burned a giant effigy of Donald Trump.

In Santa Ana, California, police fired rubber bullets and pepper spray at hundreds of protesters after the crowds took over major intersections. In Oakland, police used tear gas and flash-bang grenades against crowds of thousands of protesters, who blocked traffic by lighting fires and burning Trump piñatas.

In Seattle, thousands took to the streets for a protest called by City Councilwoman Kshama Sawant, while in Chicago thousands rallied outside Trump Tower, where at least five people were arrested.

Protests were also held in Portland, Oregon; Miami, Florida; New Orleans, Louisiana; Richmond, Virginia; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Austin, Texas; and outside the White House in Washington, D.C. Another 4,000 people descended on the Boston Commons, more than 1,000 people rallied outside Philadelphia’s City Hall, and as many as 10,000 people surged through New York City’s streets and surrounded the barricaded-off Trump Tower, where Donald Trump lives. The crowd shouted “Not my president.” At least 65 people were arrested.

In addition, a protest has been organized for Inauguration Day, Friday Jan. 20, 2017, when progressive people from all over the country, will descend to stage what the International ANSWER Coalition is describing as a “massive demonstration” to protest Mr. Trump’s swearing in ceremony.

But when it came to the actual voting however, Whites of various ages, educational achievement and economic attainment—including women—all voted for Mr. Trump in record numbers. Mr. Trump exceeded the 20 point margin by which President Ronald Reagan (in 1984) and Mitt Romney (in 2012) dominated the White vote over their opponents. More Whites voted for Mr. Trump than ever before.

Despite numerous issues, which bought Mr. Trump’s personal image into focus—three marriages, two divorces among them—more White evangelical voters, “born again Christian” voters, voted for Mr. Trump than voted for Gov. Romney four years ago.

In fact, there were 57 million White Trump voters who either didn’t vote or who voted for President Obama in the last election, statistician Dr. David Bositis told The Final Call, and those Whites would not have voted for establishment Republicans like former President George W. Bush or Sen. John McCain.

In this Nov. 9 photo, a pro-Trump supporter, right, attacks an anti-Trump protester at Lee Circle after the protester grabbed his Trump flag from the truck in New Orleans. Photos: AP/Wide World photos

In the last days before the election, as Mr. Trump toned down his unscripted outbursts, and more and more Republicans returned to support the party nominee, places like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which hadn’t voted for a GOP presidential candidate in 24 years, went for Mr. Trump. Ohio voted for Mr. Bush twice, Florida voted for Bush twice. Those states defied pre-election opinion polls and all narrowly voted for Mr. Trump.

What it all means is simple: a massive “whitelash”—White people taking their country back from the “post racial” multi-racial democracy which had begun to emerge in the U.S.

“The politics of bigotry and racism are alive and well in post racial America,” Dr. Wilmer Leon, host of “Inside the Issues” heard on SIRIUS-XM Radio told The Final Call. “What we see with the election of Donald Trump and the hyperbolic rhetoric that was anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, misogynistic, all of those things is what motivated the incredible turnout of non-college-educated White men and interestingly enough, more college educated women wound up voting for Donald Trump than for Hillary Clinton, which is amazing, given how misogynistic he is. He even objectified his own daughter, which did not seem to dissuade college-educated White women who ended up voting for him which tells me this was a repudiation of the Obama legacy, and these White women were White first before they were women.”

Another successful tactic employed by the GOP: massive voter suppression. “I think part of the lesson of this election is that voter suppression works,” Dr. Gerald Horne, Moores professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston told Esther Iverem, host of “On The Ground” heard on WPFW-FM

“One of the reasons she did not do as well in Wisconsin, as she expected she would, is because of voter ID. It seemed to me there should have been a massive effort to insure that potential Clinton voters had ID. And in any case if you look over the last 25 years, it’s fair to say that Bill Clinton, supported by Hillary Clinton locked up many of his potential voters. That is to say the Crime Bill of the 1990s led to a mass incarceration of Black men in particular. And then when they left prison oftentimes they had a felony conviction around their neck which means they were deprived of voting rights. So in many cases, she was the author of her own misfortune.

“But I think it’s also fair to say that not only Hillary Rodham Clinton, but many of the left in general, historically have underestimated right-wing sentiments in the White community.

“I still find it stunning, according to exit polls that 53 percent of White women voted against Hillary Rodham Clinton. That is to say, they voted for a confessed sexual predator. We need an agonizing reappraisal of the last 240 years of U.S. history,” Dr. Horne continued. “And when we do so we will find, that the counter-revolutionary impulse that has been central to the formation of this country, the difference now is, that routinely, the U.S. ruling class, which is mostly White, is in favor of counter-revolution abroad, they’ve profited handsomely from that. Now, the base of the Republican Party, which is mostly White working class and middle class, are saying they want a counter-revolution at home, and that spells ill for Black people, that spells ill for Brown people, that spells ill for all people of good will.”

Dr. Bositis agreed. “I can’t even count the number of concerns I have in terms of race, in terms of climate change, in terms of how many people will lose their health insurance if they get rid of Obamacare, if they take all those environmental regulations off, there will be more environmental problems, which are already bad,” he said.

Black people already have a blueprint in hand, that is racial separation as taught by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the only viable solution to this country’s racial crisis. “America is now being torn to pieces politically as Pharaoh’s political party was in the days when Jehovah went after the freedom of The Children of Israel. Egypt was plagued with drought, great hailstorms, rain and fire; according to the Psalms of David, ‘running side-by-side, fire and water,’ these plagues now are visiting America from Almighty God Allah. That’s why I have to show you the ‘Bigger Picture,’ so that when you make your decision, you make it wisely,” said the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan in a major message delivered at Mosque Maryam in Chicago.

The 83-year-old leader said Black people are being held hostage by Whites while the country is under divine chastisement that will only get worse. He said White America has no more jobs for Blacks to do and the rise of police shootings, the poisoning of water in Black communities and unnecessary vaccinations is White America’s way of deciding what to do with 40 million unwanted Blacks. “My job is to warn you and then get out of the way,” he said. “God doesn’t want you integrated into White America. They are holding us hostage.”

He said neither the Republican or Democratic party have given Black America anything of real substance. Candidates only make promises in order to beat their opponents and neither candidate can save America, he said.

“If I didn’t say what I know, and allowed you to stumble blindly, what kind of brother would I be? If I lose your friendship, it will hurt me, but in the end: I know you don’t have any place else to go. ... I’m just going to keep on pushing, and waiting on you to come back home to Elijah Muhammad and his minister,” he said.

“We have the blueprint. We should turn to the documents that were produced as a result of the (1972) Gary, (Indiana Black Political) Conference. We should turn to the actions of the original Congressional Black Caucus,” added Dr. Leon. The 13 members who founded the CBC in 1971 came out of the Civil Rights movement. Today, he said, the 42 members of CBC are less effective than the original 13 because pressure from outside has vanished.

“That is in part because of misperception of success. Gauging progress by individual gains, not collective gains, and are blaming the poor for their plight, stifling dissent. People like Rev. Sharpton and others were saying you can’t criticize the president, or else you jeopardize his legacy, and those who were protesting were told to be quiet.

“So, we now are going to have to turn back, I believe, to the politics of the ‘50s and the ‘60s, the protest politics, the agitation politics, and we’re going to have to start putting pressure from the outside to get change on the inside: Fair housing, education, health care, police brutality, funding for small businesses, a number of things targeted at urban centers and to bring about improving the lives for African Americans; anti-war, there was a lot more discussion about opposition to the war.

“Whatever direction he chooses to go, it’s not going to work in our benefit. We are going to have to turn to grassroots politics, to coalition building, and constant vigilance and pressure to see to it that in the 2018 mid-term election we can start to have some impact. You’re looking at constitutionalizing stop-and-frisk, and you’re looking at more warfare than less,” said Dr. Leon.

The Final Call