Experts Discuss Structural Racism and the 2020 Election

WE'RE SEEING TRUMP'S CORE SUPPORT REMAIN STEADFAST.

OUR NEXT GUESTS TAKE A STEP BACK TO LOOK AT WHY THIS IS.

JASON STANLEY IS FROM YALE UNIVERSITY AND THE AUTHOR OF 'HOW FASCISM WORKS.'

AND TED JOHNSON IS A SENIOR FELLOW AT THE BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE.

HOW TO RESTORE FAITH IN THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS.

THANKS.

WELCOME TO YOU BOTH.

WE ARE SPEAKING THE MORNING AFTER THE ELECTION.

THERE IS STILL NOT A PRESIDENT DECIDED.

THE VOTES ARE STILL BEING COUNTED.

JASON, I WANT TO START WITH YOU.

AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED, WE'VE ALREADY WON.

THOSE ARE SOME OF THE WORDS THAT CAME OUT OF PRESIDENT'S MOUTH AROUND 2:30ISH IN THE MORNING.

WHEN YOU SAW HIS SPEECH, WHAT WENT THROUGH YOUR MIND?

FIRST OF ALL, A TYPICAL AUTHORITARIAN STRATEGY.

HE ANNOUNCED, I MEAN, TYPICAL AUTHORITARIAN BEHAVIOR.

HE'S BEEN ANNOUNCING HE WOULD DO THIS FOR MONTHS.

SO NO ONE SHOULD BE SURPRISED.

SECRETARILY IT SHOWS REMARKABLE LONG TERM PLANNING.

MONTHS AND MONTHS AGO THE PRESIDENT ANNOUNCED THAT AN ATTACK ON THE POST OFFICE.

HE CLAIMED THAT THERE WAS VOTER FRAUD WHEN THERE WASN'T.

THE COVID DENIALISM THAT HE SPREAD MEANT THAT HIS VOTERS WHO ARE MORE LIKELY TO APPEAR ON THE SAME DAY TO CAST THEIR VOTES.

SO WE ALWAYS KNEW THAT HE IS GOING TO HAVE THE LEAD AMONG SAME DAY IN-PERSON VOTERS.

SO THIS HAS BEEN THE STRATEGY ALL ALONG.

TO DECLARE VICTORY THAT NIGHT BEFORE THE VOTES THE HE'S ALREADY ANNOUNCED AND BEEN PUSHING AS FRAUDULENT COME IN.

SO IT IS A VERY CHER STRATEGY TO UNDERMINE.

THIS STARTS TO, I THINK, TAKE EVEN AN ARDENT SUPPORTER OF THE PRESIDENT AND MAKE US THINK A LITTLE ABOUT, WAIT, WHAT'S HAPPENING?

WHO ARE WE?

BOTH AS INDIVIDUALS AND AS A NATION.

ABSOLUTELY.

THE PRIMARY QUESTION, I THINK, WILL BE ON MOST AMERICANS' MINDS, NO MATTER HOW THIS SHAKES OUT.

DO WE HAVE A DEMOCRACY THAT WE CAN TRUST?

IS OUR ELECTORAL PROCESSES, OUR DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS, ARE THEY LEGITIMATE?

IF THIS TURNED OUT TO BE A SQUEAKER, WHERE MAYBE ONE WINS, 270-268, OR JUST A FEW ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTES OFF OF THAT.

I THINK PEOPLE ARE GOING TO QUESTION THE SYSTEM.

AND OUR NATIONAL LEADERS, BOTH IN THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH AS WELL AS MAYBE ESPECIALLY IN THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH, IT WILL BE INCUMBENT UPON THEM TO PUT THE NATION AT EASE AND REASSURE FOLKS THAT THE STATES HAVE DONE THEIR JOBS.

THAT LOCAL AND COUNTY DONE ACCURATE COUNTIES.

THAT THE RESULTS THEY HAVE PUT FORWARD AND BEING REPORTED BY THE MEDIA ARE WORTH TRUSTING.

IF ANY OF.

BREAKS DOWN, IF FOLKS CALL INTO DOUBT RECORDED NUMBER OF VOTES, THEN WE'RE GOING TO FIND OUT.

AND THAT'S A PRIMARY CONCERN MUCH MORE SO THAN CIVIL UNREST ARE FOR MOST AMERICANS.

DO WE HAVE A DEMOCRACY FUFL INSTITUTIONS, ACTORS, AND PROCESS THAT'S WE CAN TRUST?

IN 2016, IMMIGRATION WAS ONE OF THE BACK BONES OF HIS CAMPAIGN.

HE STARTED HIS SPEECH AT THE BOTTOM OF THE ESCALATOR, TALKING ABOUT MEXICO SENDING RAPISTS AND CRIMINALS ACROSS THE BORDER.

IN 2020.

IN A WAY THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT BECAME FUNDAMENTAL TO THIS UNDERSTANDING.

EVEN GIVEN THAT THERE WAS AN ENTIRE PANDEMIC GOING ON AND OUR ECONOMY IS WHERE IT IS TODAY.

WHAT IS THE CONNECTION?

SO A LOT OF PEOPLE THOUGHT THAT'S NOT GOING TO WORK.

THE ATTACK TO BLACK LIVES MATTER.

IT WAS REALLY THE CENTER OF THE CAMPAIGN.

SO IT'S REALLY, THE CONNECTION IS WHITE NATIONALISM.

XENOPHOBIA WAS AN ATTEMPT.

IT WAS ALL ABOUT, THE WORK HAS SHOWN, THE IMMIGRANTS ARE COMING TO REPLACE US SO WE HAVE TO PRE SERVE OUR WHITE MAJORITY.

JENNIFER RICHARDSON SHOWS THAT'S AN EXTREMELY POWERFUL WORK IN PSYCHOLOGY IN 2014.

SO IT BEGINS INTERNATIONAL.

AND WE SEE THE LITERATURE ON FASCISM.

RACISM BEGINS WITH COLONIAL I.

AND THEN THE STRUCTURE IN THE UNITED STATES, IT IS A STRUCTURE OF FOCUSING ON BLACK MINORITIES, AND THAT A POTENTIAL BLACK MINORITY CAN SOMEHOW GAIN SUPPOSEDLY ILL LEGITIMATE POWER.

SO BEHIND BOTH THESE IDEAS IS WHITE NATIONALISM.

AND THE COMMON THREAD RUNNING THROUGH BOTH ELECTIONS.

BOTH ELECTIONS MESSAGES HAS BEEN WHITE NATIONALISM.

IF YOU HAVE ONE GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO MIGHT BE WHITE, MALE, SEE THE DEMOGRAPHICS CHANGING, SEE POWER SLIPPING OUT OF THEIR HANDS.

AND THEN YOU HAVE ON THE LEFT, PERHAPS MARGINALIZED GROUPS WHO WANT A SEAT AT THE TABLE.

THEY WANT THE SAME SELF-DETERMINE PARTICIPATION THEY FEEL IS WRITTEN RIGHT THERE IN THE CONSTITUTION.

SO WHERE WE ARE AS A COUNTRY, AND WE'VE BEEN HERE FOR SOME TIME NOW.

AS EXCLUDED GROUPS ARE BECOMING MORE INCLUDED IN OUR SOCIETY, THE ECONOMY, THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS, ET CETERA, THE GROUP THAT WAS ALREADY INCLUDED FEES THE EXPANSION LIKE A LOSS.

THAT IS, THE THINGS THAT YOU WERE ABLE TO ENJOY ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATION'S HISTORY, YOU TO SHARE WITH OTHERS.

THAT SHARING ISN'T LIKE YOU'VE EXPANDED DEMOCRACY.

IT IS LIKE THE DEMOCRACY IS BEING YANKED AWAY FROM YOU.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES, HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES, EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES, TAX DOLLARS, ET CETERA, ARE BEING TAKEN FROM YOU BECAUSE THEY'RE BEING DISTRIBUTED ACROSS A MORE INCLUSIVE SOCIETY.

AND THERE IS A BACK LASH.

WE SAW THIS AFTER THE CIVIL WAR AND THE RECONSTRUCTION REDEMPTION JIM CROW PERIOD.

WHERE THE PROCESS RESULTED IN FRANKLY, IN THE ELECTION OF 1876.

THE KEYS TO THE WHITE HOUSE CHANGED ON A DEAL THAT TOOK AWAY FEDERAL PROTECTIONS FOR A NEWLY ENFRANCHISED BLACK MAN IN EXCHANGE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE.

THE ERROR OF JIM CROW THAT CAME AFTERWARD.

SO HERE.

WE'VE HAD A BLACK PRESIDENT FOR TWO TERMS AND NOW WE'VE HAD DONALD TRUMP FOR A TERM AND WE'LL SEE HOW THIS SHAKES OUT.

FOLKS ARE WONDERING, WHY ARE WE STILL HAVING THE SAME CONVERSATION IN THE 60s, THE EARLY PART OF 20th CENTURY, CERTAINLY TLATER PART OF 19th CENTURY WHY.

ARE WE HAVING THIS CONVERSATION?

IT IS BECAUSE THE MORE DIVERSE OUR NATION BECOMES, THE MORE IT LOOKS UNLIKE WHAT IT USED TO LOOK LIKE CENTURIES AGO, OR DECADES AGO.

THAT CHANGE IS VERY HARD FOR THOSE THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY PRIVILEGED IN A PARTICULAR WAY TO ACCEPT.

AND DONALD TRUMP HAS STAKED HIS ENTIRE POLITICAL CAREER ON STOKING THE FLAMES OF THAT DISRUPTED AMERICAN IDENTITY AND USING OBAMA'S BIRTH PLACE AS THE SPARK PLUG FOR IT ALL.

AND RODE IT TO THE WHITE HOUSE AND WE'LL SEE AGAIN HOW THIS SHAKES OUT.

IF WE DO NOT RECKON WITH THE RACIAL TENSIONS IN THIS COUNTRY, AND THE LOSSES FELT BY SOME WHITE AMERICANS, THE DAMAGE THAT HAS BEEN DONE TO THOSE COMMUNITIES THAT ARE NOT WHITE AND FRANKLY EVEN WOMEN IT'S A WELL.

THEN WE'RE GOING TO CONTINUE CONFRONTING THIS ISSUE UNTIL WE ARE ABLE TO RECONCILE IT.

TED ALMOST DESCRIBES WHAT IS CALLED IDENTITY POLITICS.

IT'S BEEN A PHRASE THAT THE RIGHT HAS USED AS A SLEDGEHAMMER AGAINST PEOPLE.

BUT IT SEEMS IN A WAY, THE PRESIDENT IS BETTER AT PLAYING THIS THAN THE LEFT HAS BEEN.

8 CHAPTER IN MY BOOK CALLED VICTIM HOOD.

THE CORE, GRIEVANCE POLITICS WHICH THE RIGHT SAYS IS A CHARACTERISTIC OF THE LEFT.

IT IS THE DOMINANT CENTER OF WHITE NATIONALISM.

THIS KIND OF FASCIST POLITICS.

IN 1866, WHEN ANDREW JOHNSON VOTED AGAINST THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT.

EM, THIS ACT WILL ESTABLISH FOR BLACK AMERICANS.

THEY DIDN'T USE THAT WORD.

RIGHTS THAT NO ONE ELSE HAS NO, WHITES EVER HAVE.

IN OTHER WORDS PEOPLE JUST FREED FROM ENSLAVEMENT ARE THEN TOLD THEIR BID FOR EQUALITY IS A BID FOR SUPREMACY.

SO THAT IDEA, THAT SOCIAL JUSTICE MOVEMENT IS REALLY ABOUT POWER AND GRABBING POWER WHICH IS HOW THE PRESIDENT, HOW THE CHRISTIAN RACE THEORY IS REPRESENTED, WHICH IS HOW THE 1619 PROJECT IS REPRESENTED.

THAT IS THE CORE.

EVEN IN THE PROTOCOLS, THE NAZI CONSPIRACY THEORY THAT SAYS ALL THE MOVEMENTS FOR UNIVERSAL JUSTICE ARE REALLY METHODS TO SUPPLANT THE WHITE RACE.

TED, I WANT TO KNOW WHY WOULD PEOPLE WHO PERHAPS HAVE MORE TO LOSE, LESS TO GAIN FROM THE PRESIDENT'S POLICIES WHO WOULD BE TRADITIONALLY THE OUTGROUPS.

WHY WOULD THEY RUN TOWARD THE PRESIDENT?

IT IS PRETTY INTERESTING, LOOKING AT THE RESULTS, THE EARLY EXIT POLLS OF THE ELECTION.

IT DOES SUGGEST THAT TRUMP HAS DONE BETTER WITH BLACK VOTERS, EVEN ASIAN-AMERICAN VOTERS THAN 2016.

HE DIDN'T DO WELL IN 2016.

I THINK ALL WE'RE SEEING IS A REVERSION TO THE MEAN.

FROM 1964 TO 2004, REPUBLICAN NOMINEES RECEIVED ABOUT 11 OR SO PERCENT OF THE BLACK VOTE.

AND THEN YOU HAVE BARACK OBAMA WHO MAKES A BIG DENT FOR TWO STRAIGHT CYCLES AND THEN DONALD TRUMP WINS 8% OF THE BLACK VOTE IN 2016 AND IT LOOKS LIKE HE MAY WIN THAT NOW.

WHICH MEANS BEFORE OBAMA OBAMA WAS AROUND, THEY HAVE BASICALLY COME BACK HOME.

THESE ARE NOT DEMOCRATS THAT CHANGE THEIR MIND AND DECIDE TO SUPPORT TRUMP.

THEY HAVE NOT BOWEN ORDER BY POLICY APPEALS.

IT IS CONSERVATIVISM AND PARTY HEARINGS PRIOR TO BARACK OBAMA.

THEY'VE DECIDE THAT HAD THE FUTURE OF REPUBLICAN PARTY MIGHT LOOK EVEN WITH ITS CURRENT STANDARD BEARER, MAY BE MORE AKIN TO THEIR BELIEFS THAN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

AND IT IS STILL ONE IN TEN BLACK VOTERS.

WE'RE SEEING ABOUT TWO-THIRDS OF THE LATINO VOTERS GOING FOR JOE BIDEN CAN AND A THIRD FOR TRUMP AND THE SAME NUMBERS AMONG ASIAN-AMERICAN VOTERS.

SO NATIONALLY, THIS IS EXPECTED.

IN CERTAIN STATES, LATINO VOTERS MAY HAVE BEEN THE TURNING POINT BUST THIS IS A VERY COME AMERICA, AS JASON MENTIONED, DEMOGRAPHIC.

SO CASTING, PREDICTING THE OUTCOME IT LEADS TO THE KIND OF SURPRISE PEOPLE ARE WAKE UP TO TODAY.

I SAW SOMEWHERE A QUOTE THAT WAS TALKING ABOUT, INSTEAD OF A KOFRGT ABOUT RED AND BLOW, IT IS MORE OF A CONVERSATION ABOUT WHITENESS.

YEAH.

I MEAN AGAIN, THIS IS THE CONVERSATION THAT THE COUNTRY REQUIRES.

I THINK THAT RACISM, STRUCTURAL RACISM IN PARTICULAR, IS AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO THE AMERICAN IDEA.

NOT TO THE UNITED STATES.

THE UNITED STATES HAS SHOWN THAT IT CAN LIVE QUITE COMFORTABLY WITH RACISM COURSING THROUGH ITS VEINS.

THE IDEALS ARE THE ONLY ONES OF SPOKEN ABOUT IN OUR FOUNDING TEXT SUGGEST THAT YOU CANNOT HAVE AMERICAN IDEALS AND RACIAL HIERARCHY AND RACIAL INEQUALITY.

SO EVEN IF YOU ADDRESS ECONOMIC INEQUALITY.

EVEN IF YOU ADDRESS HYPER PARTISANSHIP AND LIBERAL POLICIES.

IF YOU DONNATAL STRUCTURAL RACISM IN THE UNITED STATES, IT WILL NEVER BECOME THAT MORE PERFECT UNION.

THAT WILL REQUIRE THAT WHITE AMERICANS UNDERSTAND THE ROLE OF THEIR RACE IN AMERICAN HISTORY, AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY, AND PRESENT DAY AMERICAN ISSUES.

AND ACCEPT THE ONLY WAY THEY CAN HAVE THE COUNTRY, THE ONLY WAY THIS COUNTRY CAN BE WHO IT PROFESSES TO BE FIRGTS BECOMES TRULY MULTIRACIAL, MULTIETHNIC, MULTICULTURAL.

AND PRESENT A CONCEPTION OF AMERICANISM THAT IS INCLUSIVE OF MORE PEOPLE THAN IT HAS EVER BEEN.

THAT'S THE PROJECT WE'RE UNDERTAKING.

HOW DOES THIS COUNTRY MOVE FORWARD WITH ANY OF THE SORT OF, WHAT WOULD OTHERWISE BE BIG ISSUES, BUT WITHOUT CONFRONTING THIS IDENTITY CRISIS THAT INCLUDES INEQUALITY AND RACISM BECAUSE IT PERMANENT YATES SO MUCH ELSE.

YOU CAN'T.

YOU HAVE TO CONFRONT IT.

YOU HAVE TO CONFRONT IT.

YOU HAVE THIS MASKING THING WHERE PEOPLE THINK IT'S OVER.

THIS CYCLE OF BLACK POLITICAL PROTEST PAINTED AS RIOTS THAT THEN BECOME BASIS OF A PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN.

LAWLESS BLACK AMERICANS HE AND MARXIST RADICALS.

IT DATES BACK TO THE '60s.

WE'VE SEEN IT ALL BEFORE.

YOU'VE GOT THE PROTEST.

AND THAT BECOMES THE BASE I FOR A PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN.

SO UNTIL YOU ELIMINATE THE GROUNDS FOR BLACK POLITICAL PROTEST WHICH IS STRUCTURAL, RACIST INEQUALITY AS WE SAW.

THIS WAS A QUESTION OF TEXAS STATE POLICE THAT MENTIONS HITLER REPEATEDLY.

YOU'LL CONTINUE TO GET THAT WHICH THEN A DEMAGOGUE CAN USE TO WIN AN ELECTION.

LOOK AT ALL THE ATTENTION MINORITIES ARE GETTING.

YOU NEED A STRONG LEADER.

AND TO GO BACK TO TED'S EARLIER POINT, WE'LL HEAR, OH, HE SLIGHTLY INCREASED THE BLACK MALE VOTE.

YEAH.

HE STILL WON A TINY PERCENTAGE OF A LARGE GROUP.

IT IS CLEARLY WHITE RACIAL POLITICS.

CLEARLY PEOPLE ARE VOTING FOR A VERY CONSERVATIVE SUPREME COURT AND PROGRESS ON IT.

TED JOHNSON FROM THE BRENNAN CENTER ARE.

ARE THANK YOU BOTH.