Origins of Modern Racism in America

There are moments, which place a nation at a crossroads. We are living through one of them. The Donald Trump Administration is a symptom. So was the presidency of Barack Obama. The latter is a reaction to the fear and status loss of the dominant sector of American society. Trump gave permission to many people to engage in the type of open racism that was acceptable even a generation ago. These days it seemed to have been rejected. This open embrace of the ugly underside of American life was allowed when Trump was a young man in New York City. Trump has engaged in it all his life. Whether it was housing discrimination or the Central Park five. We live in a society that is hardly post-racial. Trump is a symptom of it. His election was a reaction to the election of the first black man to the office.

Until the election of Barack Obama, a black president could only happen in a Hollywood script. It was a hard glass ceiling. One that in 2008 was seen as the moment. we overcame race. It was as if we were about to deep-six four hundred years of history. This is a bad habit that Americans have. We are such a forward-looking nation that even the recent past is best not spoken off. Let alone how we got here as a nation.

The State of Virginia is showing how pernicious this history of racism is. Her governor did just that. And so did Congressman Mark Meadows who showed immense lack of awareness by using a token during a hearing. This showed how independent of political party this is.