America: "The Contradiction"
Sweet Land of Liberty and Unrepented Chattel Slavery
Black Americans and other marginalized groups still grapple with the contradiction of America —it’s ideals versus our lived realities. Systemic issues such as police brutality, economic inequality, and the erasure of history in schools still plague us. This was the reality of Douglass’s critique of unfulfilled promises in his July 5th speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
The push and pull to have it live up to its founding documents is the story of the many movements and bodies sacrificed to the grand experiment of American Democracy —a democratic republic, for the people, by the people. This year finds us fighting old battles we thought we had won because laws were passed changes made.
In the 2024 Election some people couldn’t be bothered to vote, others cast spiteful votes for third party candidates with no chance of winning. Sprinkle in the tried-and-true vigilante voter suppression of yesteryear with AI assist and a self-proclaimed day-one dictator gets elected. Now in the 249th year of our Declaration of Independence from the British King; another wannabe King sits in the White House.
Though it’s never been perfect, that democracy is under assault. It’s being destroyed from within intentionally by the very people entrusted to protect it. This regime has unleashed an orchestrated anti-democratic avalanche of chaos that blankets our psyche and the institutions that underpin our democratic society.
As this dark ugliness descends and settles over the nation like a shroud, some citizens prepare an existing plan. Some immigrants self-deport to avoid being hunted. Trump’s first campaign was all about “Build the Wall;” to keep immigrants out. I’m reminded of my visit to the Berlin Wall and how that Wall was built to keep people in.
His second term continues to focus on immigrants but this time it’s to kick them out “Mass Deportation.” A new SCOTUS ruling now allows them to deport immigrants to places other than their country of origin even countries engaged in active Civil Wars and experiencing famine, like Sudan. The new budget funds a dedicated police and extradition force to accomplish this goal.
The MAGA movement fueling it all is the new manifestation of America’s same old Contradiction. A revolutionary moment to catapult us back in time before women and minorities were able to fully enjoy the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness that is America’s creed.
The American ideal of our founding documents the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, together, memorialize that ideology. However, Black and Indigenous Americans have lived in the contradiction of those ideals from their inception.
The Whitelash of it all
Whitelash is the social, political, and sometimes violent backlash from segments of white Americans in response to perceived gains in rights, power, or visibility by Black people and other marginalized groups. It‘s the recurring reflexive reaction that prevents marginalized people from the full experience of those ideals. This whitelash exposes the gap between America's founding ideals—equality, liberty, justice for all—and the reality of who gets to fully enjoy those rights —the Contradiction.
Reconstruction Era Backlash (1865–1877) After the Civil War, newly freed Black Americans gained citizenship, voting rights, and political representation during Reconstruction. This resulted in violent resistance from groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the enactment of Black Codes and Jim Crow laws, to restore white supremacy and strip away Black rights.
Wilmington Coup and Disenfranchisement (1898–1908) In Wilmington, North Carolina, a violent white mob overthrew a legitimately elected, biracial government in 1898, killing Black citizens and driving Black leaders from power. This coup d’état was part of a broader movement across the South to disenfranchise Black voters through new constitutions, poll taxes, and literacy tests.
The Nadir of Race Relations (1877–early 20th century) Following Reconstruction, the period known as the "Nadir" saw a systematic rollback of Black rights, with widespread lynching, legal segregation, and disenfranchisement. It was driven by sustained white backlash against Black social and political advancement.
Brown v. Board of Education (1954) The Supreme Court’s decision to desegregate public schools triggered fierce resistance. Some states, like Virginia, closed public schools rather than integrate, and many white families established private academies to avoid desegregation. The 1956 Southern Manifesto, signed by scores of Southern lawmakers, condemned the ruling and called for resistance.
Civil Rights Movement and the 1960s
The push for civil rights legislation, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, sparked significant white backlash. Many white Americans, both in the South and North, felt threatened by these changes and responded with political realignment, opposition to further reforms, and the rise of "law and order" rhetoric.
Election of Barack Obama (2008) and the Rise of "Whitelash" The election of the first Black president was followed by a surge in racial resentment, the growth of the Tea Party movement, and, later, the election of Donald Trump in 2016
Backlash to Black Lives Matter and Recent Protests The mass protests following the killing of George Floyd in 2020 were met with counter-movements and legislative efforts to restrict protest rights, reflecting ongoing resistance to demands for racial justice
When Black Americans make progress toward full participation in American democracy, segments of white society mobilize to resist, reverse, or contain that progress through political, legal, and violent means —The Whitelash.
The drums of white supremacy are beating loud, echoes of past eras of white backlash, but this moment brings with it an eager willingness to abandon democracy all together. As Former Vice President Harris said, “We are experiencing a high velocity event,” the scale and speed of institutional change, normalization of hate, lack of empathy, and readiness to use military power to punish political opponents and marginalized groups harkens back to some of the darkest days in History.
The breaking of democracy
The ebb and flow of American progress and backlash has reached critical mass. We’re at risk of becoming an authoritarian state —where elections persist, but core democratic norms and rights are systematically eroded, particularly for those who have historically fought hardest to secure them. Yes, this new inflection point is seeking to do more than tilt the scales —it aims to completely dismantle the core institutions and norms of our democratic republic and replace it with a unitary exclusionary, authoritarian regime.
Project 2025 with its white Christian nationalist agenda is being executed swiftly. A systematic project to reverse the multiracial, pluralistic democracy that has slowly expanded since the civil rights era. These actions mirror recent authoritarian tactics seen in countries like Hungary and Turkey, where democratic institutions remain in name but are hollowed out in practice. Hungary’s Vicktor Orban has been a friend and mentor to CPAC, The Heritage Foundation and Trump. He’s been a keynote speaker at multiple CPAC annual meetings even hosting a CPAC Summit in Hungary.
What comes next…
The recurring vicious cycles of America’s whitelash is speeding up and intensifying the polarization in our society. We’re at a dire inflection. Reconciling this contradiction of American democracy is “the struggle of a lifetime,” that John Lewis spoke of. Though it can seem hopeless and futile at times, we must keep fighting and continue the work to transform the structures and cultures that have allowed the backlash to persist —bending the arc of the moral universe toward justice.
The Japanese art of kintsugi—repairing broken pottery with lacquer mixed with gold—offers a powerful metaphor for how we might repair a fractured democracy. Rather than hiding cracks or pretending the break never happened, kintsugi illuminates the breaks, treating them as an essential and valued part of the object's history. The repaired piece is not only whole again but often more beautiful, unique, and resilient than before.
We can make our democratic republic stronger in the broken place.
Sources:
What is white backlash and how is it still affecting America today?
Thank you for combining the current events with a history lesson, so beautifully written, Ms Dee. I appreciate you so much.