Trump voters chose ‘the economy' over confronting ‘white supremacy’: Michael Eric DysonMax Zahn with Andy Serwer
Thu, December 10, 2020, 3:44 PM GMT+1
President Donald Trump regularly made and amplified racist comments during his re-election campaign, for instance calling the coronavirus “kung flu” and retweeting a video of a man yelling “white power.” But Trump still received more votes than any presidential candidate in history except for Joe Biden.
In a new interview, longtime civil rights advocate and academic Michael Eric Dyson said the 74.2 million Trump voters deserve “dignity and respect” but are nonetheless complicit in a “racist system” since they were aware of Trump’s penchant for inciting bigotry. Instead, Trump voters chose a candidate they thought was “better for the economy” over one who would address “white supremacy,” Dyson said.
“It is important for us to understand, we don't have to demonize all the folks on the other side,” says Dyson, who is Black. “But we have to say, ‘Come on, y'all. You know what you were doing, you know what he was about? So for you to say, ‘Oh, I'm not interested in that — he’s a political elephant. I took the part of lower taxes, I took the part of better for the economy.’”
“But what you're saying is: ‘Too bad that in the process of me getting that, you have to deal with racism, you have to deal with white nationalism,” adds Dyson, a professor of sociology at Georgetown University and author of more than 20 books, most recently the essay collection “Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America.”
Influencers with Andy Serwer: Michael Eric Dyson
In this episode of Influencers, Andy is joined by 'Long Time Coming' author, MIchael Eric Dyson for a discussion about race in America and what we as a society can do to address issues of inequality.
“Sorry, but that's what it is,” he adds. “At that level, you've got to say, ‘Come on Americans, we got to deal with the consequences of that. And your complicity in the system, whether you are intentionally racist or not, you benefit from that racist system.”
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/why- ... 05344.html