Every cycle for the past decade or so, I have to deal with the “Demography is Destiny” prattle from the Left and center-Left, that presumes that younger voters will usher us into a post-racial paradise.
Herewith some evidence to the contrary, from the Washington Post:
A bright spot for Republicans among millennials: Young white men
…Many of the findings center on race:
More than half of white men (and white women) in this age group believe that discrimination against whites is as significant as discrimination against other groups.
Fewer than half of young white men say black people face a lot of discrimination.
A quarter of young white men say white men face a lot of discrimination.
Opinions of Barack Obama were much lower among young white men. More than half of white men in this group expressed a favorable opinion of President Trump.
Half of young white men favor building the U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Original citation for the research cited in the Post article: Diversity, Division, Discrimination: The State of Young America | MTV/PRRI Report
Plus, consider the following from 2017 Millennial Impact Report:
WHO ARE THE MILLENNIALS SUPPORTING DONALD TRUMP?
Do millennials support President Donald Trump?
At least a third do, and they are among the most actively involved of their generation.
The issue here is four-decades of disengagement of the Democratic Party from permanent grassroots infrastructure-building, which was instrumental in the creation of a systemic crisis of legitimacy which was successfully exploited by the Right.
The Commonwealth is not exempt from this dynamic.
Here in Massachusetts, I can only go by my own experiences and those of colleagues, which suggests that racism has measurably declined among white working class populations, but greatly increased among white professionals; in particular the fields of STEM, financial services, and (not surprisingly) organized progressives.
While it’s a step in the right direction that the Boston Globe ripped off this particular scab in its series about race in Boston, I see no evidence that there will be little in the way of substantive improvement in the foreseeable future. The reason, in my opinion, is that racism and institutionalized tolerance for sexist physical assaults; and generic abuse of power are hard-wired into a culture of elite entitlement here in the Commonwealth.
This can be addressed, here and nationally, if this disease is treated at the source. It will require comprehensive recruitment at the cultural and geographic level in order to do the door-to-door efforts necessary. Alas, with the conspicuous exception of Howard Dean’s fifty-state strategy, organized Democrats have been reluctant to put forth the effort.
That is what elected Trump.
On the other hand, bottom up grassroots organizing by black folks – in particular black women – elected a Democrat in Alabama. The national Democratic Party was conspicuous in its absence.
For the sake of the country, we have to follow the data in order to diagnose the disease. Then and only then can we effect a cure.
Maybe we can recruit some red-state teachers to show us how it’s done.
Re: The crisis of legitimacy. From an April 23 Suffolk Poll:
Hi Paul – could you elaborate a little on this point: “racism has…greatly increased among white professionals; in particular the fields of STEM, financial services, and (not surprisingly) organized progressives.” Particularly interested in the organized progressives comment — I may have an idea of what you mean but not sure. Thanks.
There is a great deal of hard-core libertarianism (of the Ayn Rand variety) within the institutional cultures of High Tech and financial services; this largely manifests as social darwinism (both in terms of racism and sexism – Gamergate is agood example of the latter).
I’ve lost count of the times (my office is near the Innovation District) where the response to a police shooting in a post-work social environment is “he/she deserved it.
The problem with organized progressives is the nature of their operating premise, which involves managing black communities, not empowering them. A point could be made that that Community Development Corporations, for example, are more than anything else colonial structures imposed upon these communities, using racism as a profit center. (I could also expound on the roles of CDCs as precursors of gentrification…)
A good self-critique from the white left is pasted below:
The following is a good enough concise of black progressive political thought:
This assumption that the left will always betray and abandon us is part of black political DNA and has been for more than a century.
I cited “black progressive political thought” for a reason: most of us aren’t progressive. Per 538.com:
This is in the context of black political terminology, where “moderate” equates to “conservative” from non-black respondents. I note in passing that these percentages have been stable for more than a quarter century.
This is not to ignore the complicity of certain black leaders in this state of affairs. Martin Luther King warned about this when he pointed out in 1967 that the “Negro’s emissary to the white man man too often becomes the white man’s emissary to the Negro.
And for those who over romanticize the Black Panthers, consider these words from co-founder Huey Newton:
Long story short, black people are only just now emerging from a half-century long period of external control and internalized self-oppression, and I frankly don’t know if this story will have a happy ending. What I do know that client-patron relationships are not conducive to alliances.