Footnotes
1Johnson, Alex . (2008, November 5). “Barack Obama Elected 44th President.” MSNBC.com. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27531033/. Retrieved on August 24, 2010.
2Nagourney, Adam . (2008, November 4). “Obama Elected President as Racial Barrier Falls.” The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/us/politics/05elect.html. Retrieved on August 24, 2010.
3Lopez, Mark Hugo, & Taylor, Paul. (2009, April 30). “Dissecting the 2008 Electorate: Most Diverse in U.S. History.” Pew Research Center. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1209/racial-ethnic-voters-presidential-election. Retrieved on September 1, 2010.
4Lopez and Taylor.
5Nagourney.
6Ali, Sam . (2009, November 4). “Obama Vs. Bush: Scorecard on Cabinet Diversity.” DiversityInc.com. http://www.diversityinc.com/content/1757/article/6319/. August 13, 2010.
7Thompson, Krissah . (2009, March 18). “The Ties That Align: Administration’s Black Women Form a Strong Sisterhood.” The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/17/AR2009031703744.html. Retrieved on August 15, 2010.
8Montopoli, Brian. (2009, January 29). “Obama Signs Equal Pay Bill.” CBSnews.com. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-4762222-503544.html. Retrieved on August 25, 2010.
9Sweet, Lynn . (2009, March 11). “Obama Signs Order Creating Council on Women and Girls.” Chicago Sun Times. http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/03/obama_signed_order_creating_co.html. Retrieved on August 13, 2010.
10Obama, Barack . (2010, August 26). “Presidential Proclamation—Women’s Equality Day, 2010.” WhiteHouse.gov. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/26/presidential-proclamation-womens-equality-day-2010. Retrieved on September 6, 2010.
11Wilz, Teresa . (2009, October). “‘Obama Effect’ for Black Women?” More.com. http://www.more.com/2050/8161-an-obama-effect-for-black. Retrieved on August 14, 2010.
12Thompson, 3.
13Wilz, 1.
14Thompson, 3.
15Wilz, 2.
16Wilz, 2.
17Charles, Guy-Uriel, Chander, Anupam, Fuentes-Rohwer, Luis, & Onwuachi-Willig, Angela. (2010, May 7). “The White House’s Kagan Talking Points Are Wrong.” http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/2010/05/07/law_professors_kagan_white_house>. Retrieved on August 27, 2010.
18Charles.
19Lucas, D. (2010, April 30). “The Racist Breeding Grounds of Harvard Law School.” Feministe.com. http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2010/04/30/the-racist-breeding-grounds-of-harvard-law-school/. Retrieved on August 17, 2010.
20Edney, H. T. (2010, May 10). “Despite Widespread Appeals, Obama Fails to Nominate Black Woman to Supreme Court.” TheSkanner.com. http://www.theskanner.com/article/view/id/12154. Retrieved on August 13, 2010.
21Edney.
22“Who We Are.” The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, 2010. http://ncbcp.org/programs/bwr/. Retrieved on August 13, 2010.
23Thompson, K., & Harris, H. (2010, May 12). “White House Seeks to Defend Kagan’s Diversity Record.” The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/11/AR2010051103390.html. Retrieved on September 1, 2010.
24Martin, R. (2010, May 14). “The Delicate Dance Between Obama and Black Leaders.” RolandSMartin.com. http://www.rolandsmartin.com/blog/index.php/2010/05/14/the-delicate-dance-between-black-leaders-and-obama/. Retrieved on September 1, 2010.
25Nelson, S. (2010, May 12). “A Supreme Snub by Obama.” The Root. http://www.theroot.com/views/supreme-snub-obama?page=0,0. Retrieved on September 1, 2010.
26Chozick, A. (2009, May). “Desiree Rogers’ Brand Obama.” WSJ Magazine. http://magazine.wsj.com/features/the-big-interview/desiree-rogers/. Retrieved on August 16, 2010.
27Baker, P. (2010, March 11). “Obama Social Secretary Ran into Sharp Elbows.” The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/us/politics/12rogers.html. Retrieved on August 16, 2010.
28Burns, A. (2009, December 3). “White House to Desiree Rogers Critics: Back Off.” Politico.com. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30193.html. Retrieved on August 16, 2010.
29Gay Stolberg, S., & Lorber, J. (2009, December 2). “White House Blocks Testimony on Party Crashers.” The Caucus: The Politics and Government Blog of the Times. NYTimes.com. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/white-house-revises-rules-for-major-events/. Retrieved on August 16, 2010.
30Sweet, L. (2010, February 26). “White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to Step Down.” Chicago Sun Times. http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2010/02/white_house_social_secretary_d.html. Retrieved on August 16, 2010.
31Sweet.
32Kantor, J. (2010, February 26). “White House Social Secretary Resigns.” The Caucus: The Politics and Government Blog of the Times. NYTimes.com. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/26/white-house-social-secretary-resigns/. Retrieved on August 16, 2010.
33Baker, 2.
34Baker, 1.
35Baker, 2.
36Sherrod, S. (2020, March 27). “Address at the Georgia NAACP 20th Annual Freedom Fund Banquet.” American Rhetoric.com. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/shirleysherrodnaacpfreedom.htm. Retrieved on August 18, 2010.
37“Timeline of Breitbart’s Sherrod Smear.” Media Matters for America, July 22, 2010. http://mediamatters.org/research/201007220004. Retrieved on August 18, 2010.
38 Media Matters for America.
39 Media Matters for America.
40 Media Matters for America.
41Thompson, K. (2010, August 24). “Shirley Sherrod Turns Down USDA Job After Video Controversy.” The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/24/AR2010082406493.html?sid=ST201007210658. Retrieved on September 6, 2010.
42 Media Matters for America.
43Gay Stolberg, S., Dewan, S., & Stelter, B. (2010, July 21). “With Apology, Fired Official Is Offered a New Job.” The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/us/politics/22sherrod.html. Retrieved on August 18, 2010.
44Dowd, M. (2010, July 24). “You’ll Never Believe What This White House Is Missing.” The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/opinion/25dowd.html?_r=1. Retrieved on August 18, 2010.
45Herbert, B. (2010, July 23). “Thrown to the Wolves.” The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/opinion/24herbert.html. Retrieved on August 18, 2010.
46Martin, R. (2010, May 14). “The Delicate Dance Between Obama and Black Leaders.” RolandSMatin.com. http://www.rolandsmartin.com/blog/index.php/2010/05/14/the-delicate-dance-between-black-leaders-and-obama/. Retrieved on September 1, 2010.
47Jones, R. L. (2010, August 18). “What Changes If Republicans Win?” Leo Weekly, 10.
48Dowd.
49“Remarks by the President on Education Reform at the National Urban League Centennial Conference.” White House.gov, July 29, 2010. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-education-reform-national-urban-league-centennial-conference. Retrieved on August 18, 2010.
50Cosby, F. (2010, July 23). “Obama Calls Shirley Sherrod, Apologizes for Firing.” BlackAmericaWeb.com. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/moving_america_news/20472/1. Retrieved on August 18, 2010.
51Stolberg.
52Winbush, J. (2010, July 22). “Barack’s Black Woman
Problem.” The Domino Theory. http://jeffwinbush.com/2010/07/22/baracks-black-woman-problem/. Retrieved on August 13, 2010.
53Anderson, F. (2010, July 18). “Shirley Chisholm Presidential Accountability Commission Launched.” Anderson@Large. http://andersonatlarge.typepad.com/andersonlarge/2010/06/shirley-chisholm-presidential-accountability-commission.html. Retrieved on September 2, 2010.
54“Dr. Julianne Malveaux on President Obama.” Essence.com, October 15, 2009. http://www.essence.com/news/obama_watch/hope_and_accountability_dr_julianne_malv.php. Retrieved on September 2, 2010.
55 Essence.com.
56Thompson. “The Ties That Align: Administration’s Black Women Form a Strong Sisterhood,” 1.
57Obama, B. (2014, November 9). Remarks by the President at the Nomination of Loretta Lynch for Attorney General. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/09/remarks-president-nomination-loretta-lynch-attorney-general. Retrieved on May 22, 2018.
58Department of Justice. (2016). https://www.justice.gov/usao-sc/pr/statement-attorney-general-loretta-e-lynch-case-united-states-v-dylann-roof. Retrieved on May 22, 2018.
59https://www.nationalreview.com/2015/04/defeat-loretta-lynch/.
60https://www.nationalreview.com/2015/03/dont-confirm-loretta-lynch-rich-lowry/.
61https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/15/politics/loretta-lynch-james-comey-criticism/index.html.
© The Author(s) 2019
Duchess HarrisBlack Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Trumphttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95456-1_7
7. Your President Is (a) White (Supremacist): Post Obama and Black Feminist Politics
Duchess Harris1
(1)Macalester College, Saint Paul, MN, USA
Duchess Harris
Email: [email protected]
For the majority of Black Americans—and, it must be said, for plenty of other Americans of color and for many white Americans, too—the transition of presidential power that occurred on January 20, 2017, was a devastating sociopolitical, cultural, and historic moment. It wasn’t simply the fact that America’s first Black President was leaving office after two terms, the end of an era that, for all its flaws, was still historically, socially, and politically significant. President Obama was leaving the Oval Office, handing over its literal and metaphorical keys to a man who would come to be nicknamed—and not unfairly—by many individuals, organizations, political analysts, and even media outlets as the white-supremacist-in-chief.1
Millions of Americans struggled to square the juxtaposition, which was the most extreme swing of the pendulum imaginable. The day of the inauguration provided endless opportunities for political commentary and armchair speculation in response to the question, “How did we get here?” There were the basic facts: America’s beloved first (Black) couple, sophisticated, savvy, and smart, were ceding their posts to a white couple whose common bond was a love of over-the-top tawdry,2 a lack of self-restraint and social decorum,3 and a rejection of all things intellectual.4 Then, there were the particular facts of the specific day itself, moments that quickly converted into viral memes. There was Trump, bounding out of a car, leaving his wife behind.5 She wasn’t an afterthought—she simply wasn’t a thought at all. That moment was followed by the world’s most awkward gift exchange between the outgoing and incoming First Ladies.6 There was the ominous hellfire and brimstone inauguration speech given by the new president, one in which he managed to reference and link inner cities, gangs, and “American carnage,” building up to a call to rediscover patriotism. “[W]hether we are black, or brown, or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots,” Trump intoned, adding, “When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.”7 After the swearing in, there was the new president’s patently false contention that his inauguration was attended by more than 1.5 million people,8 a “fact” that was easily corrected by the most cursory of glances at photographs from his inauguration and the preceding two inaugurations of President Obama. Then, within hours, vital pages on the White House Web site began disappearing, including one about LGBT rights9 and a Spanish-language version10 of the site.
From the inauguration onward, the assaults on decency, diplomacy, and facts haven’t just been daily. They have been ongoing, all day, every day. They start at the moment Trump wakes up and starts tweeting foreign policy blunders, conspiracy theories, and vacuous “thoughts and prayers” about the latest school shooting, to the moment he goes to bed, still tweeting. They have been difficult to keep up with, though many major media outlets have tried. The Washington Post has kept a running tab of lies and false claims Trump has uttered since taking office (3001 and counting as of May 2018).11 Meanwhile, The New York Times has maintained a “definitive list” of Trump’s racist speech and behavior during the same period, and extending back to his public life, pre-presidency.12
Liberal and progressive white Americans wake up daily, read the newspaper or listen to the news, and sigh heavily, wringing their hands and shaking their heads. They wonder to themselves, and then ask on social media, “How did this happen? How did we get here?” They look, wrote psychoanalyst Lynne Layton, for silver linings, a defensive reaction that was particularly common and acute immediately following the election and inauguration, saying that perhaps it’s best that the “long…hidden or denied shadow [of American racism and xenophobia] was now out in the open.”13 These are, she says, “perverse and pleasurable lies” that allow white liberals to “turn away from the pain of acknowledging the damaging effects of white narcissism.”14 Further, she warns, this “pleasure in a fantasied white liberal goodness” is as potentially harmful as Trump himself.
But for African-Americans, the answer to the question—“How did we get here?”—was all too easy to identify and articulate. There was no shocked bewilderment, for there was no transition to “here.” The “here” had always been there, at least for Black Americans. As psychoanalyst Layton observed, “Trump is perhaps both mentally ill and evil, but, more important, he is an incarnation of something that has always existed on U.S. soil” (emphasis added). Layton’s recognition of this fact made her personally chagrined. As a white progressive, she had believed herself to be woke. The election, inauguration, and first year of the Trump presidency, however, made her realize that “I, like many others, took way too much solace from Obama’s presidency.” Black Americans, meanwhile, may have wanted—even expected—more from Obama’s presidency, but they were largely wary of such solace narratives. They knew there was no such thing as a “post-racial America.”15 They knew, too, as Eduardo Bonilla-Silva and David Dietrich wrote so presciently in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science in 2011 that “the tentacles of color-blind racism will reach even deeper into the crevices of the American polity” as a result of the post-racial narrative.
Any white Americans who still believed in the post-racial narrative were disabused of it immediately as Trump swept into office. In addition to a not-so-shocking dearth of people of color in his administration (Ben Carson being an exception), Trump tapped advisors and Cabinet members who were known white supremacists, including Steve Bannon, co-founder of the alt-right Web site Breitbart, who served as Trump’s chief strategist, and Jeff Sessions, the former Alabama senator and US Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama who was appointed to become US Attorney General, succeeding Loretta Lynch, the first Black woman to hold that position. Bannon and Sessions were hardly the only white supremacists in the administration, and they were surrounded, too, by coterie of casual, passive racists, those who simply don’t think of people of color at all, even when crafting, enacting, or enforcing policies that will enlarge or constrict their opportunities and possibilities.
This point is an important one. For all of the active, virulent racism, it is the casual racism, embod
ied most visibly in the failure to install any qualified people of color in positions of power and influence, is what may have even more impact, both in the short-term and long-term, both on African-American communities across the country and in American life and its institutions generally. At a political and cultural moment when people of color need visibility and the ability to exercise their voice and agency more than ever, the formal opportunities for them to do so within the president’s administration simply do not exist. And while there are Black representatives and senators at the federal level who are contesting Trump’s every racist move, most notably Representatives John Lewis and Maxine Waters , who will be discussed at greater length in the conclusion of this book, the claiming of agency and the raising of voices are occurring more powerfully and productively outside of Washington and through two primary channels, each of which will be examined in turn in this chapter. The two primary forums where Black feminists are exercising their power and influence are in grassroots organizing through Black Lives Matter and nonprofit advocacy and organizing groups like Color of Change and in campaigns and elections for state and municipal offices.
Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Trump Page 24