I'm not usually one to post from Salon, but I've been mentioning this to family and friends for a few weeks now, and I think this is the most accurate interpretation of the results, even if Biden emerges victorious. What is scary to me is that I think "soft" (quiet, nonviolent) white supremacy is actually perfectly rational if one views America as a White Country. Under this view, having enough minorities to add wealth, flavor, and power to a White Country makes sense, but having so many minorities that the country is no longer white makes no sense, because what's the point of having a wealthy and powerful country if somebody else is running the show? It's better to be weaker but in power than stronger but not in power. And if white supremacy is rational, then one does not have to be "crazy" or "stupid" or "uneducated" or even a "bad person" in any normal sense of the word to be a white supremacist, and things like "the economy" or "environment" or even "health" will rationally take a back seat to white power, because what's the use of a good economy or even good health if all of that is owned by "somebody else"? Trump has simply revealed explicitly that this viewpoint is mainstream (black Americans have always known this but the rest of us are only recognizing it now).
Funny thing is, I'm not even angry at "soft" white supremacists. If I look back at my public school education in the liberal northeast and all the books and media I've consumed over my lifetime, it indisputably paints the narrative of America as a White Country. If that is what everyone has been taught, how can I blame people for taking it to a logical conclusion?
So where do we go from here? Are schools right in telling the story of America as a White Country? If they are right, should we acknowledge (and even appreciate) that past but redefine modern America as something new? And if we do, will we be sowing the seeds of white secession? I don't have the answers, but I know I'll be mulling its implications for a long while.
