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.
What’s also important to note here is that while not all Trump’s supporters are racist (or at least they don’t consider themselves to be), they have actively chosen to stand on the side of racism. So given what’s unfolding right now, it’s semantics at this point to try to figure out their motivations for voting for him or if they are bigots or racists or white supremacists or anything else. Their guy is openly aligning himself with Nazis, the KKK and white nationalists. This is who they voted for. And frankly, some of them don’t mind at all.
[According to Alex Romero, an immigrant from El Salvador said that one day his daughter came home from school] frightened because the other kids were telling her that Trump was going to send all the Hispanics out of the country. He asked her how she responded. “I didn’t say nothing because I didn’t want to get mad,” she replied.
Romero told her that was the best thing she could have done. He tries to alleviate his children’s fears by praying with them and urging them to maintain trust in God, but he grapples with uncertainty too. He’s hearing more stories from parents whose children relay what they hear in the schoolyard: “You don’t belong here.”
It can be jarring for a person of color to suddenly realize that some of the white people around you have racist beliefs—especially if you’ve considered them friends and colleagues. But this election has certainly brought out the worst in people and many folks are showing who they really are and how they feel about people of color. To be fair, times really are tough in rural America. It makes sense that people are frustrated and angry. But Donald Trump has successfully convinced many white people that they are the minorities because they are white. He’s pandered to their every fear of diversity and a changing America. This is, ironically, the ultimate form of identity politics. And even though many whites have friendships or various kinds of relationships with people of different ethnicities and races, they were and are willing to join right in with his racism if it means they will come out on top.
When Trump began to gain popularity, [Elena Garcia] felt betrayed by people she thought she knew, people we both grew up with. Late last year, Garcia began to see a pattern on her Facebook feed. One post said, “I can’t wait for Trump to take over, so we can start building this wall.” A commenter added, “Yeah, and the Mexicans are going to pay for it and work for it.”
She stared at her screen in disbelief. “Some of them I even thought were my friends at one point.” [...]
The day after the election, I was scrolling through my own Facebook feed when an uncharacteristically emphatic post from Garcia caught my eye. “It’s sad to believe what this new president is causing…I’m seeing on my news feed all these racist posts, comments such as ‘build that wall’ ‘get our jobs back’…only spreading hatred, supporting racism,” she wrote.
Donald Trump has not been good for this country in any way but especially with regard to race. He’s contributed to an environment where people of color feel overwhelmingly unwelcome and unsafe to be in our skin in our own country. These feeling is intensified if you are a person of color in the middle of Trump country. In our conversations about rural America, let’s not erase the people of color living there who are vulnerable and need support and protection.