White power and the nation-state in America

History tells us that since the American Civil War, which started primarily as a result of the long-standing dispute over the enslavement of black people(1861-1865), democracy, freedom and affluence have been mostly held in reserve for white Americans by means ofmarginalisationand domination of other people of colour, principally the Blacks. In fact, racial discriminations, injustices, inequalities, biases and ethnic disproportions that we see today emerge as a result of what can only be called a systemic racism that, in turn,has created and maintained white hegemony and domination over all other people of other colour.

Systemic racism, the sad reality is, unduly regenerates and sets aside non-white communities by making it harder for them to procure reasonable, equal opportunities in terms of education, jobs, housing, healthcare and a fair treatment in the common social system of the country at large.

Fora prolonged period of time, Americanists everywhere in the globe called attention to thecomplexities of the question of race and racism in the public and private establishments of the US, but, to the best of my knowledge, little, well-founded work was done to tackle such disproportions. More than ever before in American history, today,we all need to stand together toraise public awareness of the dilemma of the issue of race and racism in America.

As an Americanist, I, in all honesty, have never thought of power in terms of colour outside electrical colour codes!

To my surprise, a video has recently been shared by President Trump on Twitter in which a man is heard to be yelling: “white power”, holding his fist up, in an astonishing, inappropriate manner that best reflects racist chants towards white supremacy and exceptionalism in a postmodern America, in a way unwittingly emphasising that some Americans have been disadvantaged for so long.

By no means is this correct. Nor is it proper. To make things even more complicated, President Trump tweeted approving of the video in question,thus suggesting, in away, a racist, chauvinistic, bigoted, discriminatory slogan at best associated with prejudice and partiality and favoritism based on color superiority. 

There is no doubt that this video is a disgrace tothe ethics of American democracy and equality. And President Trump’s choice of sharing a video featuring a racist slogan shortly following the ill-fated death of forty-six year old George Floyd at the hands of white policemen in Minnesota(and other Black Americans elsewhere) overtly shows white supremacist feelings of racism that come in direct sharp contrast with the great ideals of the American Dream of equality and justice and the eminent religious principles of the City of God on Earth, which we value very much.