Jim Carville, a brilliant political strategist and Southern gentleman, has a way with words. Most African-Americans who know the dialect of Dixie would turn him off immediately. But he made a distinction early on that forced me to listen. “I am not a redneck; I am a coon-ass. And damn proud to be a coon-ass.”
If you don’t know anything about Cajuns, coon-asses or culture in Louisiana, that might not mean much. But to declare defiantly that he’s not a redneck gave me some comfort.
Besides being among the most notable Democratic tacticians, and being married to a woman who holds parallel status in the GOP, Carville became prominent based on a phrase he coined for candidate Bill Clinton; “It’s the economy stupid.” I love Carville, so I channeled him in my message to the Dems and talking heads that don’t get Trump’s base. It’s about survival…stupid!
If you want to know why 38% of Whites will never leave that draft-dodging, promiscuous, prevaricating, wannabee wealthy wimp; who raw dogs porn stars and sees no issue in flaunting five kids and three “baby mamas”…It’s about survival stupid.
It seeped into my psyche a few weeks ago in North Park Mall; one of the highest rated and best run in the U.S. Dallas’ NorthPark Mall has gone from “White World” to “We Are the World” since the last census.
Life was easy when all White America had to do was oppress “The Blacks.” Maintaining control in “Technicolor” is complex. Suddenly there are new languages and customs. Diversity is inescapable! Americans’ skin tones range from pasty pale to blue-black. You can’t stereotype what you can’t define or discern.
My “It’s about survival stupid” theory was buoyed by “White Threat in a Browning America;” a June 2018 Vox Magazine story.
“A new report out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Applied Population Lab found that white births are now outnumbered by white deaths in 26 states, up from 17 in 2014 and four in 2004.
Meanwhile, America’s foreign-born population is projected to rise from 14 percent of the population today to 17 percent in 2060, 2 percentage points above the record set in 1890. The rise has been staggering in its speed: As recently as the 1970s, America’s foreign-born population was under 5 percent.
It would be easy to dismiss these comments as the over-the-top rantings of pundits, but Limbaugh and O’Reilly’s views are widely shared. A 2016 Public Religion Research Institute poll found that 57 percent of whites agreed that “discrimination against whites is as big a problem today as discrimination against blacks and other minorities.”
The article revealed that a staggering 66% of white working class respondents believed there was “discrimination against whites,” but the most woeful statistic followed.
“A 2017 Gen Forward poll of white millennial’s found 48 percent agreed with a similar statement, showing that the sentiment isn’t confined, or even concentrated, among older whites.” This “white survival” show of force will stigmatize civility in America and Europe for at least another generation.
An eye-catching March 2018 Brookings Institute piece codified my thoughts. However, the subtext was a greater threat to Americans who enjoy that 400-year-old franchise and family heirloom known as white privilege. “The US will become minority White in 2045, Census projects – Youthful minorities are the engine of future growth.”
“The new statistics project that the nation will become “minority white” in 2045. During that year, whites will comprise 49.7 percent of the population in contrast to 24.6 percent for Hispanics, 13.1 percent for blacks, 7.9 percent for Asians, and 3.8 percent for multiracial populations.”
Whites like Carville who grew up where being white was just a fraction of their identity, much like urban Whites who grow up with diversity aren’t easily spooked. But Middle America and the bounteous bastions of homogenized communities aren’t ready. Gun sales and Trump rallies are booming in the “Red States” out of sheer panic.
The Trump demographic needs a sovereign and savior…a pugilistic prince waging warfare on the non-White world. “I alone can save us” is all the reassurance they need. Trumpism ain’t about the economy, military might, or whether America provides health care for none or for all; it’s about White survival…Stupid!!!
#NorthPark…I love it!
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