Why blue collar Whites vote against themselves
Ron Walters/NNPA Columnist
Issue date: 5/5/08 Section: Politics
Election pundits have repeatedly asked why Barack Obama has trouble attracting blue collar Whites as if he created the problem and could solve it. Hillary is seldom asked why Blacks don't' vote for her, a problem she could solve. But it is interesting why blue collar Whites consistently vote against themselves, supporting Republicans who care little about their problems.
Part of the key lies in the fact that many such Whites, (defined as those with no college and who make an average family income of under $50,000 per year) are like those in other classes who possess an attitude of racial supremacy. This has been important in maintaining a buffer between themselves and Blacks, keeping them on lowest rung in the socio-economic ladder.
The South has played a major role in harboring negative racial attitudes toward Blacks which is why Obama has attracted such a small percentage of Whites there, a surprise it seems to media commentators. But negative racial attitudes toward Blacks formed during slavery are still alive in the South and many of the sons and daughters of those who created this dynamic left the agricultural South and migrated North and helped to fertilize those areas.
Ronald Reagan was able to lead the movement of Whites who resented the presumed advantages that came to many Blacks through the policy of Affirmative Action and others who resentment their children being educated in an integrated setting with black children. As the Civil Rights movement pushed for racial equality, working class Whites and others pushed back in the 1980s and 1990s to maintain the whiteness of their neighborhood institutions as much as possible, along with their dominance over economic opportunity.
Globalization and technological change, however, began to shrink the number of industrial jobs, touching off a fight for the crumbs left by corporations who fled the country. Industrial jobs have remained stable at about 30 million, but they have been redistributed overseas, and to Southern and Western regions of the United States. And as the Black middle class grew, it challenged White lower middle class hegemony over many White collar jobs.
Part of the key lies in the fact that many such Whites, (defined as those with no college and who make an average family income of under $50,000 per year) are like those in other classes who possess an attitude of racial supremacy. This has been important in maintaining a buffer between themselves and Blacks, keeping them on lowest rung in the socio-economic ladder.
The South has played a major role in harboring negative racial attitudes toward Blacks which is why Obama has attracted such a small percentage of Whites there, a surprise it seems to media commentators. But negative racial attitudes toward Blacks formed during slavery are still alive in the South and many of the sons and daughters of those who created this dynamic left the agricultural South and migrated North and helped to fertilize those areas.
Ronald Reagan was able to lead the movement of Whites who resented the presumed advantages that came to many Blacks through the policy of Affirmative Action and others who resentment their children being educated in an integrated setting with black children. As the Civil Rights movement pushed for racial equality, working class Whites and others pushed back in the 1980s and 1990s to maintain the whiteness of their neighborhood institutions as much as possible, along with their dominance over economic opportunity.
Globalization and technological change, however, began to shrink the number of industrial jobs, touching off a fight for the crumbs left by corporations who fled the country. Industrial jobs have remained stable at about 30 million, but they have been redistributed overseas, and to Southern and Western regions of the United States. And as the Black middle class grew, it challenged White lower middle class hegemony over many White collar jobs.
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