In lieu of a question, I invite you to discuss a recent article, broadcast, or other case of election-related media that highlights the role that race is playing in the 2016 presidential campaign. Please include a link to your source in your response.
If you are interested in the racial demographics of the 2016 presidential race, you might look at some of Farai Chideya’s work for the Five Thirty Eight.
I read an article titled “Donald Trump’s “inner city” has nothing to do with where black people live” on vox.com. Trump’s descriptions of inner city areas are a major aspect of race that has been brought up numerous times during this election. In the most recent debate Trump equated inner cities to “hell” and said they were “more dangerous than war zones”. Trump brings up inner cities whenever anything comes up about race. As if to him, African Americans are synonymous with poverty and crime. His ignorance of what life is actually like in many cities is glaringly wrong.
Not only is this classification completely tied up in racial undertones, but Trump’s solution to the apparent “hellish cities” is to increase Stop and Frisk, another way of marginalizing African Americans.
While watching the last town hall debate, I was struck by both candidates’ grand generalizations of ethnic and racial minorities. Both Clinton and Trump claim they want to help the Hispanics and the blacks. As if all individuals in this group are the same and would benefit from the president’s “help”.
Coate’s article, “Fear Of a Black President” made me think a lot about Obama’s relatively moderate stance on racial issues. Although he is the first black president, during his presidency racial policies and standing up for racial equality have never been Obama’s top priorities. Coates claims this is largely part of Obama’s success. Coate’s thinks America was ready to elect a black president but not have a president who made racial issues rule America.
Contrasting Hillary and Trump’s handling of racial topics against Obama’s is really interesting to me. Our current black president has tip-toed around issues regarding race, but, the two the white presidential candidates speak feely and directly about race, usually using sweeping generalizations. This may just be a lack of experience on how to discuss these types of issues, an attempt to gain the presidency, or maybe worse, an inherent white privilege both candidates possess.
The Washington Times article titled “Black Lives Matter likes Hillary Clinton’s ‘implicit racism’ message but doesn’t trust her” is interesting because it shows that both candidates are appealing to a different set of voters even when addressing a certain demographic. Clinton is appealing to activists and liberals by expressing that many of the racial tragedies that we have seen the latter half of this decade begins with implicit bias in law enforcement. Trump on the other hand appeals to conservatives that believe in strict law & order. When asked about politics and the black community, Trump responded “The African-American community has been let down by our politicians. They talk good around election time, like right now, and after the election, they said, ‘See ya later, I’ll see you in four years. The community within the inner cities has been so badly treated. They’ve been abused and used in order to get votes by Democrat politicians.” While Trump’s statement may resonate with many black voters, Andrea Gillespie, political science professor of Emory University believes that it still isn’t enough to shift black democratic voters because Trump isn’t the right messenger. Even with Clinton backing policies that have disproportionately affected black communities, she still is the lesser of two evils pertaining to the issue of race. Something I still find questionable though of both parties but especially Clinton is how neither seems to really bring up Black Lives Matter explicitly. Clinton speaks against systemic oppression, implicit bias, and the unjust criminal system that aligns with BLM’s message but still hasn’t fully endorsed the movement.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/sep/27/black-lives-matter-likes-hillary-clintons-implicit/
In the article I read, Jonathan Allen is a 24 year old who voted for Bernie Sanders, however now he cannot decide whether he will vote Clinton simply to insure Trump does not become president, or to vote for Jill Stein; who he identifies with more than Clinton. Nonetheless, Allen has been lectured by his peers to not vote for Stein because that is essentially like voting Trump into office. While the Black majority’s focus is on “decreasing the cost and debt of college, reducing racial bias in policing and incarceration,” many black Americans do not realize the policy positions by Clinton and the organizations she is affiliated with concerning the black community like Mothers of Movement.
Eboney Pearson, a 30 year old who lives in California and is the minority among millennials and even more so among the black community when expressing her support with Clinton. In California, there were large numbers of Bernie Sanders supporters, however Clinton won by 38 points from voters between the ages of 50 and 64. Furthermore, Clinton lost by 60 points among voters under 30. Thus, according to this article, millennials apart of the black community voted for Bernie Sanders, and would rather vote for an independent party; however they then run the risk of throwing their vote away and electing Trump into office.
“Unlike Their Parents, Black Millennials Aren’t A Lock For Clinton” http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/black-millennials-arent-united-behind-clinton-like-their-elders/
I read an article entitled “‘How do we support a racist?’ Young Republicans grapple with the 2016 election”, which was published a few weeks ago on The Guardian. The reason this article caught my attention was because of the demographic it focused on. Not many articles focus on people strictly in the same age group as I am in, but this article discussed the dilemma that many young Republicans are facing as they consider whether or not to support Trump. Being a Republican is something that can be a central part of one’s identity: should they give this up just because their party nominated a candidate for President that they don’t agree with on certain issues?
One particular part of this article that I found especially interesting is how the identity of a young Republican has changed over time. “‘A lot of Republicans are starting to brace for social, kind of, liberalism,’ said Elizabeth Haynie, a 20-year old student in Austin, Texas. ‘I can’t name a single young Republican I know who doesn’t support gay rights at this point.'” Haynie goes on to express that many of her core values still agree with those of the Republicans, but young Republicans have been much more quick to adopt modern opinions on new topics, such as the gay rights movement and race issues. While traditional, older Republicans are more likely to be set in their ways, young Republicans have their eyes opened more to the current issues in our society.
I found this article to be very interesting because although it didn’t directly discuss race issues, it discussed how young people view a presidential candidate who has such extreme views on the issue of race and racism. The author noted in the article that in 1992, 61% of Republican voters were younger than fifty, whereas today, that number is only 41%. Even on our small college campus here at Middlebury, it is very noticeable that the Democratic support is much more strong than Republican support. This article showed me that people my age are not willing to support a president or party that doesn’t acknowledge and focus on race the way they think it should.
I chose to read one of Farai Chideya’s articles regarding muslims and there 2016 election stances. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/muslim-americans-respond-to-a-caustic-campaign-by-raising-money-and-mobilizing/ Here, Chideya gives the example of a muslim woman, Ruby Abid, who is a psychologist, substitute teacher and mother of three children living in Charlestown, South Carolina. She explains the connection that her local Muslim mosque feels with both the local police force and the national government. The local police wait outside of her mosque while local Muslims go to pray due to the numerous attacks and threats on other mosques in the area. The political views of Muslims have stirred the positions of their community because of the drastic remarks by Donald Trump in the recent election.
Donald Trump’s plans to ban all Muslims from entering the country has obviously destroyed his relationship with American Muslims. In this election less than 4% of Muslims plan on voting for Trump. Despite them making up less than 1% of the population, their influence is bigger than expected due to the increasing size of their American population. Clinton has showed support towards Muslim-Americans which has increased popularity among people of this religion.
The strong animosity towards Muslims in America has caused in an increase in the returning hate from Muslims overseas. One immigrant discusses how in the 1960’s and 1970’s Muslims loved Americans and how that feeling has done almost a complete one-eighty. Trumps strong statements and intense debate over the fortune of immigrant Muslims in the 2016 will only lead to increased hostility and problems between the two cultures.
In a Boston Globe article published today, titled, “Is Trump’s ‘voter fraud’ rhetoric coded racism?” (https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/10/17/civil-rights-groups-say-trump-voter-fraud-rhetoric-coded-racism/kS91WbsHWduQYRVUVUeLyJ/story.html) Globe writers Tracy Jan and Victoria McGrane hash out the most recent Trump allogation of fraudulent voting in America. What Jan and McGrane report on, however, is Trump’s targeting of inner cities as the prime culprits of this ‘voter fraud.’
Jan and McGrane write that, “Even though voter fraud has proved to be extremely rare, multiple Republican-controlled legislatures across the country have passed laws aimed at curbing it by requiring voters to present photo identification at the polls.”
Many consider Trump’s move to mandate identification at the polls as a means of intimidation towards members of inner cities. I agree with this claim. Trump’s repeated derogatory comments about and actions towards African Americans in inner cities, women, and immigrants proves to the voter that he prioritizes the white male American. When Trump promises to “make America great again,” what does he mean? This scares me and motivates me to vote, and I hope it motivates those feeling targeted by Trump’s racial profiling to get out and vote too.