America is lurching fitfully toward a new racial and political landscape where whites will no longer be the majority of the U.S. population by 2044. At the same time, the economic backslide of the white working-class that has steepened since the 1970s is providing fertile ground for a resurgent white nationalism uniting people around explicit bigotry. The growing success of rightwing appeals to xenophobia and racism demonstrates how central and durable white identity remains in American politics. As in eras past, demographic change and economic insecurity provide fertile ground for a political and cultural uprising by the white “everyman” seeking to stake and defend his rightful claim to America. How the changing U.S. populace responds to this uprising will determine the dangers and opportunities that lie ahead in 21st Century U.S. politics.
This raises questions for the racial justice movement: Will this century be less bloody than the last? How will we build our ranks to contest white nationalism and to offer alternatives?