In the days following the 2016 presidential elections, it seemed impossible to escape talks of the “white working class” and their role in electing Donald Trump.
“Economic anxiety” became the phrase du jour, with politicians and pundits using the two terms to paint an image of poor white people as enemies to progress. However, according to a report from MSNBC, only 1/3 of Trump voters were working class, according to MSNBC. The white working class that unanimously throw their support behind right-wing politicians is a myth. The working class is not a racial monolith, nor should they be used as a scapegoat for the fascistic tendencies of many affluent Americans.
There certainly are working class white people who vote against their own interests. However, they do not make up the majority of the working vote, as it has been erroneously reported. In fact, the United States has the second lowest voter turnout and the greatest gap in turnout between wealthy voters and poor voters in the OECD (an intergovernmental economic organization with 36 member countries), according to a report from Politico.
In addition to having a field of candidates from both major parties fighting only for the interests of wealthy people, there are significant barriers to working people (particularly people of color) voting: Election Day falls on a Tuesday when many have to work; voters in many states (including Tennessee) have to show IDs, which prevent people without licenses from voting; in some states, people are thrown off of voter registration lists after periods of voter inactivity.
We exclude a lot of people from our narrative when we conflate the entire working class with a marginal segment of white people that voted for Trump. This false narrative attempts to sow greater divisions among working people.
Though we have been taught to believe otherwise, white working class people have a lot less in common with white multi-millionaires and billionaires than other working people from different races. Whiteness is a construct that attempts to mystify those relationships by convincing working class white people of the exact opposite, that their economic position is the result of someone of another race blocking them from taking their “rightful place” in the ruling class. It is the immigrant being paid $3 an hour who is stealing your job, they are told, not the boss who has employed the immigrant to profit off cheap labor without regulations.
Black and brown workers have long been pitted against white workers to prevent class solidarity. We must actively work against our prejudices and recognize who the real enemy is: the capitalist class that leverages racist rhetoric to divide the masses and prolong their rule. The ruling class thrives when there is division among the working class. We need to build a coalition of working people across lines of race, gender, sexuality and religious beliefs, emphasizing the needs of the most oppressed.
