Under Trump, rural America is a difficult place to live for people of color
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Rural America and the white working class are two populations that have gotten a lot of attention since the presidential election. Trump won them over by appealing to their dissatisfaction with Washington, the promise of jobs and a better economy and a whoUnder Trump, rural America is a difficult place to live for people of color
Rural America and the white working class are two populations that have gotten a lot of attention since the presidential election. Trump won them over by appealing to their dissatisfaction with Washington, the promise of jobs and a better economy and a whole lot of racism. Democrats are rolling out an entire strategy dedicated to focusing on their needs in order to win back these voters. What these conversations, and particularly Democrats, have seemed to overlook is the fact that there are actually people of color who are both working class and residing in rural America. And in addition to being concerned about jobs and the economy like their white counterparts, they are also deeply concerned about the state of race relations in our country and the hate that they are experiencing in Trump’s America. Becca Andrews from Mother Jones went back to her hometown of Bells, Tennessee, to interview local people of color about their experiences. As you might expect, they feel scared for their safety and like they no longer belong in their town. “With the way it’s going now, I’m actually scared that I won’t make it,” [Madyson Turner, a black woman] said to me in a text message. [...] The day after the November presidential election, Turner went with her mother to the store, and they both kept their heads down. “We just feel like we don’t belong here anymore,” she says. Turner’s mom, who cleans houses in town for a living, went to work a couple days after that, and her employer, an older white woman, brought up the results of the recent election. The two had talked politics before—Turner’s mom is a Democrat, and her employer is a Republican. “Well, you might as well come and live with me now,” the employer said. “You gonna be mine eventually.” When you are black in America, you are often used to living life under white supremacy and racism. It may not always impact you directly—but it is certainly experienced through the systems and structures that impact and limit our financial, social, emotional and cultural well-being. But for many of us, the election of Trump has meant something different. Trump obviously didn’t invent white supremacy and, though he feeds on it, hate and bigotry are not present because he’s in the White House. But he’s instigated it and provided an environment for these vile ideologies to grow—ideologies which had previously been relegated to the margins of society. Read more