Dear friends,

Still haven't written anything new, but I can tell you that one of the themes I'll want to  highlight is how the persistence of the "culture wars" since the Reagan era has eventuated in the political construction of two American nations around left and right-wing populism. Here's something I wrote last summer in the wake of the Dallas police killings.

On the strength!

Healing must start with action

Originally published July 17, 2016 at 4:01 pm Updated July 15, 2016 at 5:45 pm

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By

Vernon D. Johnson

Special to The Times

WHEN Americans think about security in the world of politics, they are normally thinking about international relations. But there is also a domestic dimension to security. After two more killings of African Americans by white police, and the killing of five policemen (four of whom were white, one Latino) by a black gunman, the question of our domestic security is pre-eminent.

Security writ large, involves the sustenance of a state’s people, its political institutions, and its 

geographical integrity. For all states, the legitimacy of these institutions is tied to the extent to which 

they uphold national identity expressed in a system of values. For the United States, those values 

are things like life, economic and political liberty, democracy and equality before the law.

Since the 1960s, when racial conflicts exploded, American values and national identity have been under contestation. Racial identity politics was followed by gender, sexual orientation and environmental issues in what came to be called the progressive vision for what it meant to be American. On the other side was American traditionalism patriarchy, heterosexism, environmental indifference and, let’s face it, white supremacy. Subsequently, sociologist James Davison Hunter dubbed these divisions the “culture wars.” Today, the two sides are the right and left poles of populism expressed in the presidential candidacies of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.

Two points are salient in this discussion. First, I’ve argued that these two poles of populism have deepened to the point that they define not one American nation, but two. Both sides are intransigent. The left because, to paraphrase professors Shaun Bowler and Gary Segura, “the future is theirs” in demographic terms, since most people of color are on this side. The right, conversely, sees a future America in which they are no longer the majority, where white people don’t automatically get their way in public policy and cultural life. It’s an America in which many, if not most, people on the cultural right do not want to live.

Secondly, while the left and right are polarized along a whole range of issues, race has always been central to those divisions and the meaning of American national identity. These longstanding racial fissures were once again exposed after the violence in Dallas, Minnesota and Louisiana. While forces making up the progressive nation are broadly supportive of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and its calls for law enforcement reform, traditionalists led by Donald Trump are resurrecting Richard Nixon’s mantra of “law and order” in response.

Moreover, the right sounds unreasonable and frankly dense in insisting that all lives matter, and blaming the BLM movement for creating an environment in which the police shootings in Dallas could occur. On the other hand, BLM leaders like Alicia Garza sound intelligent and broad minded when they are able to lament the death of police officers, continue to demand police reform and ask for reconciliation and healing if the nation is to move forward.

I’m sorry, but the BLM folks are getting the better of the argument. Even moderate conservatives know that harsher policing (and border walls and keeping Muslims out of the country) are not viable policies. Domestic security now rests on the ability of the traditional and progressive American nations to find a middle ground and common purpose that melds a consensus around what it means to be American in the 21st century.

This historical project starts with honest conversation, but must quickly move to concerted action around issues like equity in education and economic opportunity as well as criminal justice reform.

Communities of color have been suffering under these structural conditions of racial inequality for far too long. When they can see the action part, then the healing can also begin. If that doesn’t happen, the specter of race wars with more Micah Johnsons — the Dallas shooter — on one side and well-armed white nationalists on the other becomes more possible in the years to come.

Let's Talk Politics

Dear friends (and comrades in the struggle),

Good Day! If you're reading this you probably already know me. In the aftermath of the November election I have so many things to say that I've decided to begin to blog. Expect postings on this cite periodically (sometimes weekly, other times monthly, or so).

Here's something I wrote last year as  a sample of what you'll be getting.

BY VERNON D. JOHNSON

Courtesy to The Bellingham Herald

July 1, 2015

I sat down on Wednesday to put in writing my own thoughts about the roiling debate over Rachel Dolezal’s decision to “pass for black.” Now the murder of nine African Americans in church by a white supremacist in Charleston, South Carolina, has made incessant analysis of Dolezal’s identity seem less important. However, there are ways that events in Charleston and Spokane can be linked. In both instances there are two themes being debated: the social construction of race and how whites can be allies to communities of color.

On Race

Most of what we’re hearing from academics who’ve studied race is quick to point out that race is not “real” biologically,” but that it’s “socially constructed.” The best commentators will add that the consequences of conscious decisions to categorize people along racial lines are very real in everyday life ... but nobody ever just says “race is real!” It’s a sociological, rather than a biological reality. To observe that it’s socially, and I would add politically, constructed does not make it any less real. To be socially constructed merely means to be human-made. The medium through which you’re reading this now, the mode of transportation you use in your travels, the clothes you’re wearing, were all constructed by humans, but they’re real, right? We should hasten to add that race was socially and politically constructed to impose the domination of one racial group over other groups based on how they looked. Supplemented with the attendant racial ideology (white equals civilized, industrious, intelligent; black equals uncivilized, lazy, dumb), racial categories work pretty well. Ask the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and the victims of the Charleston massacre how well race works in subordinating and oppressing people of color.

My beef here with my fellow social scientists and cultural theorists is that we are anxious to posit that race isn’t biologically real as a way to argue for ending racism. Unfortunately, we tread lightly over the fact that it is a very profound social reality, with mostly tragic human consequences. Cultural conservatives who don’t want to talk about racial inequity, or who insist that society should be colorblind, hold onto the “race is not (biologically) real” piece and forget about the sociological complexities of the conversation. In the name of “keepin’ it real” we owe it to society to hammer away at the fact that race and racism are realities and continue to have very real consequences for life-chances in our society.

On How to be a White Ally

Although there are outliers, most of us who are racial justice activists and scholars encourage whites of good will to take an active part in the work of achieving racial equality in this country. Speaking for myself, I believe that we cannot realize that goal without the active participation of white Americans. The tragedy of Rachel Dolezal resides not in being a traitor to her race, but in her effort to be something that she isn’t.

The way in which people fit into racial groups are fluid, and some of us have a range of options, or boxes we might check. But as unsettled as those categories may be, the vast majority of African Americans do not have the luxury of deciding not to be “black.”

The social and ideological construction of race based on physical appearance works well enough that it limits the racial options available to the Trayvon Martins and the victims of Charleston. The disproportionate killing of black and brown people by the police and the stunning re-emergence of white supremacist violence beg for white America to stand up and say “no more.”

But you don’t have to misrepresent yourself like Rachael Dolezal. The role that whites play “as visibly white” in the racial justice movement can be a huge difference-maker for the kind of society in which I want to live. First of all, whites can demonstrate to communities of color that to be white is not to be irrevocably racist. Secondly, anti-racist whites can be a powerful role model for everyday white people who consider themselves to be good people, but don’t see themselves as political activists. These “representations” of whiteness are important components for societal transformation in the post-Ferguson era. My dear white friends, now is not the time to remain silent and immobile. After all, people of all races are just trying to be comfortable in our own skins.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vernon D. Johnson is director of the Ralph Munro Institute for Civic Education and professor of political science at Western Washington University.