Backlash against the Backlash

The other day I had this surprising thought: Perhaps we are now witnessing backlash against white backlash. Most of those out on the streets marching in protest are too young to know, much less remember, the term or even its original actualization. They just know deep down that something is wrong, that something badly needs fixing. Is this the next swing of the political pendulum? Is this the new backlash of equality against the old white backlash of inequality? 

It’s been almost exactly half a century that the term came to the front. White backlash -- it’s the term that was defined by a generation of racist whites who resented the civil rights gains of the 1950s and ‘60s. It took form and power in the person of Richard Nixon in 1968 and has continued at one level or another pretty much ever since. Ronald Reagan made sure to kick off his first presidential campaign at a location famous for the murder of three young civil rights workers. Donald Trump took white backlash to a different level, bringing back overt racist rhetoric (this time against Latinos) that hadn’t been considered acceptable as political discourse since the 1970s. 

Over the decades, the form taken by white racism has gradually evolved. It’s not considered acceptable to defend slavery at this point, but the hostility toward President Obama revealed an ugly underside of the American character that continues to shock those of normal sensibilities. 

When we discussed what has been happening over the past couple of weeks, one of my colleagues said that this has been the perfect storm. That term refers to a moment when all possible factors come together to result in the biggest possible reaction. 

• The Covid-19 has kept us all cooped up and frustrated to get out.
• It’s been three and a half years of listening to Trump.
• People have gotten really sick of the Trump bullies.
• The killing of George Floyd went on a long time and was widely publicized.
• The Trump administration reacted in its usual insulting way. 

There are a few elements of this list that are fairly unique and worthy of brief discussion. 

Epidemics are not new to our world, and this one is certainly less of a killing machine than previous pandemics (bubonic plague, the Spanish Flu). But it is new to our generation, and is the first real pandemic to grow up in an era of immediate digital information. The authorities were able to shut the country down in a way that could not have been done previously. Most of our people put up with the restrictions, but it’s obvious that they want out. Those of us who have been following the tv news have gotten well and truly sick of being told that these are unprecedented times. Given the realities of Covid-19, it is probably unwise to engage in mass demonstrations up close and without masks, but it is also understandable that people were emotionally ready to go outside and to intermingle. 

The supporters of Donald Trump have been egged on by him since early in his presidential campaign. They recently walked into a state capitol wearing guns, and have been ready and willing to be threatening to those who don’t agree with them. Charlottesville was the peak, but we’ve seen the mini-version down here in Huntington Beach, several times over the past few weeks. I suspect that the majority of normal people find the behavior of the Trumpistas to be bullying and threatening, and we are sick of putting up with it. The past couple of weeks have provided an opportunity to outnumber the Trumpistas by ten to one and then by a hundred to one. 

I suspect that one additional element exists in these protests – one that nobody is yet talking about. It’s the relationship between the police and all people, not just members of minority groups. I challenge you to show me one person who manages to achieve middle age without having been pushed around in some way by a policeman. It might have been a verbal reprimand, it might have been a shove or a push, or it might have been the legal threat of a ticket or an arrest. Whatever the experience, we all of us understand that under the current legal system, the police are a special case of humans who have power over the rest of us. They have been allowed the power of stop and frisk by the Supreme Court, and although the power was used mainly against young minority males, it is the law, and police officers make use of it every day, in all sorts of interactions. 

Thus the demonstrators have been pointing out that this society is overdue for a reevaluation of the proper relationship between the police and us, the people. A more equal relationship would prohibit much of the unwanted touching that police do to ordinary citizens. The clubbing of demonstrators is certainly due for reevaluation. Perhaps the demonstrators haven’t been thinking along these lines overtly, but I think it is obvious that this is a direct corollary to the rest of what they are saying. Everybody’s rights matter.  

Addendum 

The First Amendment guarantees the right to peaceably assemble, but under current interpretation of the law, the police can determine that a protest is unlawful. You’ve heard it on your tv sets: “This is an unlawful assembly.” It is a way of dealing with a situation where rocks and bottles are being thrown at police lines. The unlawful assembly declaration also abolishes the rights of all the peaceful protesters to continue to be heard. The proper use of the unlawful assembly declaration is also something that ought to be reevaluated, particularly in terms of how we can protect the rights of the peaceful while at the same time maintaining the peace. 

The idea that the current protests are, in some fashion, a societal backlash against the original white backlash is something that came to me while listening to my friend Tony explain the danger of a new backlash during one of our online neighborhood council discussions. I understand and agree with Tony to this extent: Had the protests continued to include organized looting by professional criminals, there very well might have been a real backlash, and not just by the white racists. The events were distasteful to most of us. But to their credit, the tens of thousands of demonstrators have kept the peace for the past week. It was the Trump administration that brought violence to the streets so that Trump could take his now-famous walk through the park to stand in front of a church and pretend to be a man of God. 

Finally, if the thesis expressed at the beginning of this piece is correct, we should expect that reforms should begin to occur in a wider sphere that goes beyond policing practices, and extends to the way that Americans treat each other in everyday encounters on our streets and in our shops.

(Bob Gelfand writes on science, culture, and politics for CityWatch. He can be reached at [email protected])

-cw

Tags: Gelfand’s World, backlash, Nixon, Trump, Reagan