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.