By Kelly Brown Douglas,
How did it happen? How has a man whose campaign was filled with racist, xenophobic and misogynistic vitriol and who mounted a racialized “birtherism” campaign against the nation’s first African America President, as well as promised “Law and Order”/Wall Building protectionist policies—how has this man been elected President in a country that proclaims “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” for all? Donald Trump’s chauvinistic campaign tapped into more than the disillusionment and resentment of people who have felt ignored, if not betrayed, by the political establishment. He most significantly tapped into America’s defining Anglo-Saxon myth while dangerously revitalizing the culture of whiteness that serves to protect it.
When America’s Pilgrim and Puritan forebears fled England in search of freedom, they believed themselves descendants of an ancient Anglo-Saxon people who possessed high moral values and an “instinctive love for freedom.” These early Americans crossed the Atlantic with a vision to build a nation that was politically, culturally—if not demographically—true to their “exceptional” Anglo-Saxon heritage. Theirs was a vision soon to be shared by this nation’s Founding Fathers, such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. In order to safeguard this vision a pervasive culture of whiteness was born. Within this culture, to be white was to be considered Anglo-Saxon enough; hence to be white was to be privileged to enter certain spaces and to claim certain rights. Put simply, whiteness became essentially the passport into the exceptional space that was American identity as defined by the Anglo-Saxon myth. From its earliest beginnings, therefore, America’s social-political and cultural identity was inextricably linked to the myth of Anglo-Saxon superiority. The “city on the hill” that the early Americans were building was intended to be nothing less than a testament to Anglo-Saxon chauvinism.
There is simply no getting around it, the myth of Anglo-Saxon exceptionalism has shaped and continues to shape America’s sense of self. It is in the very DNA of this country. America’s exceptionalism is Anglo-Saxon exceptionalism. This is the insidious narrative that Donald Trump tapped into with his call to “Make America Great Again” (and why many African American, Latino/a and other persons of color have a visceral reaction to this slogan). Even when unspoken, America’s “greatness” has been defined by a myth of Anglo-Saxon exceptionalism that determines who is a “real” American—that is, who is entitled to the rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and therefore, who has a right to cross boundaries and borders, and who has the right to be President. These are rights of whiteness, or what W.E.B. Dubois would call the “wages” of whiteness. And so what happened on election night, while alarming is not an American anomaly. It is as American as apple pie. For, it happened following Emancipation/Reconstruction with Black Codes, Jim Crow and the Klu Klux Klan. It happened after the Civil rights movement with Nixon’s “Law and Order” agenda and the race defined “War on Drugs.” And so it was predictable that it would happen again—following eight years of a black man as President–whiteness has once again stood its ground in order to protect America’s Anglo-Saxon mythic self with “law and order” rhetoric and wall-building promises. And so, how did Donald Trump become President-elect? By unearthing and revitalizing a “truth” about America that resonated with far too many of its citizens—this includes according, to PEW polls, 58% of White protestants, 59% of white Catholics and 81% of white evangelicals. Essentially, Trump dared to do that which Governor Romney and Senator McCain refused to do in their bids for the Presidency, even when they had opportunity to do so— play into the white supremacist narrative that is the insidious side of America’s identity. For who could forget when Senator McCain quieted the bigoted shouts during one of his campaign rallies by proclaiming then candidate Obama, “a decent family man [and citizen],” who he admired and respected while making clear that although they disagreed on various policies, no one should fear Obama becoming President. Instead of rejecting notions of white supremacy, Donald Trump fostered them with his “Make America Great” campaign, and this leads us to another troubling aspect of Donald Trump’s campaign that America’s narrative of white supremacy makes possible—-and that is the campaigns fascist narrative.
Is Donald Trump a fascist has been the question asked by many? Of course he and his followers would protest that label as loudly as they have protested the labels of bigot, misogynist, anti-Semitic or racist. The point of the matter is Trump’s campaign bears the marks of these labels and so far his presidency promises to do the same. But back to my point, inasmuch as America is defined by a notion of Anglo-Saxon exceptionalism then it has provided the perfect soil for a fascist regime to emerge. For fascism takes root as historian Isaac Chotiner has pointed out, with the “use of ethnic stereotypes and exploitation of fear of foreigners” at the same time that it must create a narrative—even if it is a false narrative—about national decline. This of course sounds like it was right out of Trump’s “Make America Great Again,” playbook—a playbook made way too easy because of America’s sense of exceptionalism that sets up a natural enemy—those who are non-white—hence not Americans, and suggest that those very persons are the reason for America’s decline. And so again, Trump’s campaign simply exploited that which is in America’s very DNA. And so the question is now what?
In 1961 James Baldwin declared, “The time has come, God knows, for us to examine ourselves, but we can do this only if we are willing to free ourselves of the myth of America and try to find out what is really happening here.” We continue to arrive at these moments of white chauvinistic backlash because of America’s inability to face the hard truths of it own story and thus determine if it really wants to free itself from its Anglo-Saxon myth. To do requires more than hand wringing and apologies. It requires calling out the ways in which our social economic policies, laws, systems, structures, and criminal justice system privilege whiteness and thus, refusing to be silent until they are dismantled. It requires resisting at every level of our society any efforts to reinstate 21st century versions of Jim Crow Laws like “Stop and Frisk,” or poll taxes like Voter Id’s, or McCarthyism with “House Un-American Committees.” It requires calling out racism and xenophobia for what it is, even when it mask itself in the politically correct language of “greatness.” And it requires the faith community to take the lead.
If indeed faith is about partnering with God to help mend the world, then faith communities are compelled to discern the very movement of God in the world which is always a movement toward the freedom from anything that would prevent any person that has breath from living into the fullness of their sacred created being. This means that faith communities must be in the forefront of calling a halt to the systemic, structure and cultural violence, like inadequate housing, schools, job opportunities, recreational opportunities and poverty— all a part of the violence that traps people in the crucifying realities of death. However in order to do that faith communities must first free themselves of their own cultural whiteness which clearly trumped their very faith in this election. It is in this way that the sin of whiteness itself becomes explicit. For whiteness indeed alienated certain Christians from the God who is freedom.
There are those who have advised that we should take a breath and give Donald Trump a chance, to see what he will do as President. It is not a matter of what Donald Trump will do. It is about what he has already done. He has unmasked a disturbing truth about America. The time has come for us to decide what we want to do about it.
The Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas is the Susan D. Morgan Distinguished Professor of Religion at Goucher College in Baltimore and is the Canon Theologian at the Cathedral. Kelly is considered a leader in the field of womanist theology, racial reconciliation and sexuality and the black church. She holds degrees from Denison University and obtained her Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary. Her newest book is “Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God,” released in May 2015 by Orbis Books.