I love hearing the thoughts of young people and how they view the current atmosphere of the here and now. To be aware of what is going on around you is the first step being able to verbalize it is the cherry on top. Knowing the truth gives you the upper hand. I am a old head looking to the future. Thanks for sharing.…

“Make America great again” means going back to a time where white people who have no special skills, little education and lack of motivation to better themselves can share the same middle-class lifestyle as highly skilled people of color with a college education and advanced degrees. In their minds, this scenario is…

I probably shouldn’t be, but i’m actually shocked that black workers were laid off first. At my time at a GM plant i found there were few things that were as unchanging as layoff order. ALWAYS newest to oldest because the fear was given that ANY deviation from procedure would be a proof that their could be deviation…

Absolutely brilliant article. The election of DJT has revealed many ugly truths about Americans . . .Thinking (or lack thereof) that can be characterized, in many instances, as silos of self-interest, pure ignorance, and paranoia. Where do we go from here?

Excellent article! I grew up in Dayton, lived for a year or so in Lima and have one or two family members that fit into your white stereotypes. Fortunately for me, the strong influences in my life were the “how can I help?” type of people and the friendships I made when I was young were very diverse.

Though I too grew up in Lima, Ohio, am white, have children your age, and a parochial school education, I could not wait to get away from very the same white people you so eloquently speak of and about.

This is probably one of the best articles I have read concerning this topic (along with Panama Jackson’s articles concerning his relations with his Trump supporting mother). I grew up in similar situations, but my husband could have written this himself. When we were dating we went to his home town to visit his mother…

Reading this article and the one in The Atlantic by Adam Serwer was therapy. Never have I seen a collection of white people that swear that they are owed everything this country has to offer despite being so woefully unqualified for it. That in essence is why Trump is their hero. This fat, uneducated (fuck his degrees…

“Make America great again” means going back to a time where white people who have no special skills, little education and lack of motivation to better themselves can share the same middle-class lifestyle as highly skilled people of color with a college education and advanced degrees. In their minds, this scenario is…

Thank you for your insight into this. Though I live in New Jersey, I’ve known communities with plenty of people like the ones you describe. The paragraph in particular where you describe people’s beliefs juxtaposed against their ignorance of those belief’s outcomes sticks out to me the most:

Suburban Clevelander here. This piece is the absolute gospel. For all this talk about white people wanting jobs the truth is that what Becky and Chad really want is to be first in line for jobs without having to work any harder or do anything different.

I’m from one of the most segregated cities in the U.S. and grew up in a mostly black and poor environment all the way up to college. It was during a discussion in a college classroom where I was exposed for the first time to the “I don’t see color but you’re not like the other black people, but please stay away from…

I spent my teenage years in my parents’ hometown in Alabama. You just distilled the last 40 years of my life into a single article. Thank you.

Best article I’ve read in ages, thank you!

Amen.

This goes nicely with this article from The Atlantic: