A Historical Look at the Racist Rhetoric in the United States

• In Event: "Why Do They Hate Us?" Education and Racist Rhetoric in the Trump Era and Beyond

Abstract

The purpose of this presentation is to set the stage for the session, situating the theoretical and historical background. Grounded in a Critical Race Theory (CRT) framework, this conceptual paper draws from Critical Race Theory and Cultural Studies to illustrate how articulatory practices of racist nativism were reproduced in the Trump administrations political strategies and policy decisions. We argue these articulations exhibited a virulent adherence to white supremacy that opens the discursive doors of public discourse to engage in more overt and violent practices of racism that target People of Color in the U.S. We argue that these practices of articulation challenge the explanations of heightened racism as emboldened behaviors. Rather, the overt racism we are seeing are ideologies of white supremacy manifested, as they have existed in the U.S. for over 200 years. We argue that racist rhetoric has been used as a strategy to gain support for racist nativist political agendas, and to build help build a political infrastructure that has continued to support and perpetuate these agendas throughout the 20th century to present day.

Authors

• Lindsay Pérez Huber, California State University - Long Beach

• Susana Maria Munoz, Colorado State University - Fort Collins