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Back in high-school, I had a (white) history teacher that made it a whole unit in her class. Her thesis was that white people were the only thing in America hol

Back in high-school, I had a (white) history teacher that made it a whole unit in her class. Her thesis was that white people were the only thing in America holding back progress, and that when the US was majority minority we'd reach an inflection point where 'we' (progressives) would be able to implement policies that might absolve the country of its sins, and tied it all into the MLK arc of history quote. Looking back now, I can't help but wonder if it didn't drive a few of my classmates to some of the more reactionary and racist politics on the right.

magicsmoke 6y ago
Real or not, perceived persecution gives one hell of a dopamine rush.
at_a_remove 6y ago
I had two of those. One was particularly fixated on how the Japanese were going to bury us. They don't call it "the long march through the institutions" for nothing. The idea that one should get into a position of power to teach a select portion of children that, because of their ancestry, they have a sin for which they must work their whole lives to atone for does call for a reaction. At least with the religious, you can be saved by Jesus or whatever, but for this group, you are always guilty, by virtue of your skin color.
rayiner 6y ago
This is the progressive “demographic destiny” fever dream. Non-whites aren’t that progressive. For example, non-whites are much more religious than whites. Just 35% of white people say that belief in God is “necessary to be moral” versus 55% of Hispanic people and 63% of black people. That’s particularly remarkable because the median white person is 42 the median black person is 30, and the median Hispanic person is just 28. Religious belief increases with age, so black and Hispanic people in the age groups that vote heavily are likely even more religious compared to whites. Hispanic people, meanwhile, are quite conservative on criminal justice issues. They are consistently more conservative than white people when it comes to ending things like mandatory minimums for drug crimes. Again, this is remarkable considering the age distributions. It’s very interesting to look at polls of Hispanic people’s’ opinions with respect to policing and the George Floyd protests: https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/7msyzunum9/tabs_HP_Police_Reform_20200608.pdf https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/7msyzunum9/tabs_HP_Police_Reform... 8% of both Hispanic and white people say the system needs “no improvements” compared to 3% of black people. Just 21 and 22% of Hispanic people and white people, respectively, say the police system is “not sound” and “needs significant changes” versus 45% of black people. On nearly every policing issue, Hispanic people are a bit more liberal than white people, but I’m not even sure that difference would remain if accounting for age differences. On the economic front, asians and Hispanics are close to white people in capitalism versus socialism, with just about a third of each group supporting socialism: https://www.cato.org/blog/59-americans-have-favorable-views-capitalism-59-have-unfavorable-views-socialism https://www.cato.org/blog/59-americans-have-favorable-views-.... Again, an interesting result given that support for socialism goes down significantly with age, and both Hispanics and Asians are significantly younger than whites. Right now, a lot of conservative people of color are forced into a coalition with increasingly radical white progressives due to real and perceived Republican racism. When that pressure disappears, I think you’ll see a reshuffling of the coalitions. I can already see the seeds of this happening. My parents are Bangladeshi immigrants. They’ve voted Democrat in every selection since they became naturalized citizens. They voted for Hilary Clinton not because she was the lesser of two evils, but because they liked her. They’re the people who overturned the Sanders/Warren applecart when they got around to tuning into the Democratic primary. My mom explained to me today what she thinks makes America great. “You can drive to an intersection at 1 am and if there is a red light, people will stop. Even if the streets are totally empty, people will stop and wait for the green light.” She is worried about the protests and said “if we aren’t going to have law and order in America why shouldn’t I go back to Bangladesh?” My dad is the more progressive of the two. He’s a Clinton Democrat who likes that Bill cherry picked the best parts of the Republican agenda. He is alarmed at the Warren/Sanders wing and was very nervous when everyone thought Biden was done. His take on the idea that billionaires shouldn’t exist: “that’s stupid.” He’s upset that people are lobbying to change the name of the high school I went to (Thomas Jefferson in Virginia). But he is convinced that the Clinton/Biden/Obama camp will hold, and says “America is an established country, you won’t see radical change.”
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- tptacek 6y ago
  Where by "forced into a coalition with increasingly radical white progressives", you probably mean "are running the table in a a party with a noisy but politically ineffective faction of radical white progressives". Did we not just watch the same 2020 Democratic primary? In the primary I watched, two small, white, disorganized primaries created a brief and embarrassing media blip of Sanders inevitability, followed by an unholy whupping in every subsequent primary state. Sanders lost Washtenaw County Michigan to Biden. Washtenaw is Ann Arbor. He lost the Berkeley of the Rust Belt. To Joe Biden. A lot of what you have to say about politics is well-taken. From everything I understand, you're right: people of color are indeed more conservative than Very Online White People. But then it seems like you go a little off the rails: the (relative) conservatism of Hispanic and black voters is reflected in the Democratic party. If there's a shuffling of the party, it's going to be angry DSA people to a long trip to the political wilderness of the Green Party.
  - rayiner 6y ago
    I agree with you, and at least I meant to say the same thing. I read OP’s teacher as saying that when the US became majority-minority, that would eliminate the remaining roadblocks to a progressive remaking of America. And I think that’s premised on the misunderstanding that because people of color vote Democrat, they agree with progressive white Democrats that such a remaking would be desirable. As you observe, the 2020 Primary is an example of this phenomenon. Progressives try to explain it away by saying suggesting “people of color really agree with Warren, they’re just more concerned about electability.” But my guess is that for the most part they, like my parents, actually like Biden. And that should give anyone who believes in “demographic destiny” pause.

magicsmoke 6y ago

Real or not, perceived persecution gives one hell of a dopamine rush.

at_a_remove 6y ago

I had two of those. One was particularly fixated on how the Japanese were going to bury us. They don't call it "the long march through the institutions" for nothing. The idea that one should get into a position of power to teach a select portion of children that, because of their ancestry, they have a sin for which they must work their whole lives to atone for does call for a reaction. At least with the religious, you can be saved by Jesus or whatever, but for this group, you are always guilty, by virtue of your skin color.

rayiner 6y ago

This is the progressive “demographic destiny” fever dream. Non-whites aren’t that progressive. For example, non-whites are much more religious than whites. Just 35% of white people say that belief in God is “necessary to be moral” versus 55% of Hispanic people and 63% of black people. That’s particularly remarkable because the median white person is 42 the median black person is 30, and the median Hispanic person is just 28. Religious belief increases with age, so black and Hispanic people in the age groups that vote heavily are likely even more religious compared to whites. Hispanic people, meanwhile, are quite conservative on criminal justice issues. They are consistently more conservative than white people when it comes to ending things like mandatory minimums for drug crimes. Again, this is remarkable considering the age distributions. It’s very interesting to look at polls of Hispanic people’s’ opinions with respect to policing and the George Floyd protests: https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/7msyzunum9/tabs_HP_Police_Reform_20200608.pdf https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/7msyzunum9/tabs_HP_Police_Reform... 8% of both Hispanic and white people say the system needs “no improvements” compared to 3% of black people. Just 21 and 22% of Hispanic people and white people, respectively, say the police system is “not sound” and “needs significant changes” versus 45% of black people. On nearly every policing issue, Hispanic people are a bit more liberal than white people, but I’m not even sure that difference would remain if accounting for age differences. On the economic front, asians and Hispanics are close to white people in capitalism versus socialism, with just about a third of each group supporting socialism: https://www.cato.org/blog/59-americans-have-favorable-views-capitalism-59-have-unfavorable-views-socialism https://www.cato.org/blog/59-americans-have-favorable-views-.... Again, an interesting result given that support for socialism goes down significantly with age, and both Hispanics and Asians are significantly younger than whites. Right now, a lot of conservative people of color are forced into a coalition with increasingly radical white progressives due to real and perceived Republican racism. When that pressure disappears, I think you’ll see a reshuffling of the coalitions. I can already see the seeds of this happening. My parents are Bangladeshi immigrants. They’ve voted Democrat in every selection since they became naturalized citizens. They voted for Hilary Clinton not because she was the lesser of two evils, but because they liked her. They’re the people who overturned the Sanders/Warren applecart when they got around to tuning into the Democratic primary. My mom explained to me today what she thinks makes America great. “You can drive to an intersection at 1 am and if there is a red light, people will stop. Even if the streets are totally empty, people will stop and wait for the green light.” She is worried about the protests and said “if we aren’t going to have law and order in America why shouldn’t I go back to Bangladesh?” My dad is the more progressive of the two. He’s a Clinton Democrat who likes that Bill cherry picked the best parts of the Republican agenda. He is alarmed at the Warren/Sanders wing and was very nervous when everyone thought Biden was done. His take on the idea that billionaires shouldn’t exist: “that’s stupid.” He’s upset that people are lobbying to change the name of the high school I went to (Thomas Jefferson in Virginia). But he is convinced that the Clinton/Biden/Obama camp will hold, and says “America is an established country, you won’t see radical change.”

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
tptacek 6y ago
Where by "forced into a coalition with increasingly radical white progressives", you probably mean "are running the table in a a party with a noisy but politically ineffective faction of radical white progressives". Did we not just watch the same 2020 Democratic primary? In the primary I watched, two small, white, disorganized primaries created a brief and embarrassing media blip of Sanders inevitability, followed by an unholy whupping in every subsequent primary state. Sanders lost Washtenaw County Michigan to Biden. Washtenaw is Ann Arbor. He lost the Berkeley of the Rust Belt. To Joe Biden. A lot of what you have to say about politics is well-taken. From everything I understand, you're right: people of color are indeed more conservative than Very Online White People. But then it seems like you go a little off the rails: the (relative) conservatism of Hispanic and black voters is reflected in the Democratic party. If there's a shuffling of the party, it's going to be angry DSA people to a long trip to the political wilderness of the Green Party.
- rayiner 6y ago
  I agree with you, and at least I meant to say the same thing. I read OP’s teacher as saying that when the US became majority-minority, that would eliminate the remaining roadblocks to a progressive remaking of America. And I think that’s premised on the misunderstanding that because people of color vote Democrat, they agree with progressive white Democrats that such a remaking would be desirable. As you observe, the 2020 Primary is an example of this phenomenon. Progressives try to explain it away by saying suggesting “people of color really agree with Warren, they’re just more concerned about electability.” But my guess is that for the most part they, like my parents, actually like Biden. And that should give anyone who believes in “demographic destiny” pause.