The United States of White, in Red and Blue
After Democratic victories, white bodies are still white
White liberals were giddy after the recent Democratic victories in Virginia and Kentucky. In Virginia, Democrats now control the state legislature with the governor’s office. And in Kentucky, where Trump won by 30 points, a blue governor is likely to take command.
I saw the glee on MSNBC; I scrolled by the taunts on Twitter. White liberals rushed to gush with their predictions about Trump’s future and how impeachment hasn’t been a setback for Democrats. “Yay” was the mood, but I didn’t have a ray of yay in me.
My excitement was at bay and here’s why: In red shirts or blue shirts, white bodies are still white. As long as “American" and “America" mean white — as long as whites control the country — this is the United States of White. The United States of White means a central white government unites different ways of being white. In a white government, the right to maintain different states of being white is the meaning of states’ rights.
Those white bodies unite by oppressing Black people because white bodies only exist by subordinating Blackness. The sociologist Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom believes “[W]hiteness necessitates Black subjugation.” White stands on Black backs; white bodies can shift their…
