“Dystopian Vision”: Carol Anderson on Trump’s Election Denial & Racist Fearmongering

 

 "What he is signaling, again, is that crime is related to Blackness. Crime is related to immigrants who are not white. Crime is the thing — it is that dystopian vision that white Americans need to be fearful of all of these folks of color, that they cannot walk outside their doors without being attacked, without being mugged, without being shot, that the cities — you know, so, when he was talking about, you know, these cities have just burned down to the ground — except the people who live in those cities know that those cities have not burned down to the ground — again, it is this way of defining cities, these urban areas, and urban areas become synonymous with folk of color, that these urban areas are unsafe, and so white Americans are not safe in America as long as we have all of these folks of color. And then he links that in — he links that with immigrants coming in. And when he says “immigrants,” he means immigrants of color coming into the United States, again, linking that with crime, so, again, raising that sense of fear. Fear, fear, fear. And when he says, “I’m the only one who can solve this,” what he’s basically saying is, “I’m your white savior.” 

And so, that is what that dystopian vision is about. So, although crime is going down, he’s saying, “You can’t trust the FBI’s statistics. You can’t trust your eyes. You can’t trust how you’re living. You can’t trust that you’re in the park and enjoying yourself. You can’t trust that you’re bicycling and having no problems. You can’t trust that you’re going to the grocery store, no problem. You can’t trust the way that you’re living your lives, because I’m telling you that you are not safe. You are not safe.” And that is the signal that he’s sending, a racialized fear of crime. "

 more in the interview with Carol Anderson
conducted by Amy Goodman

“Dystopian Vision”: Carol Anderson on Trump’s Election Denial & Racist Fearmongering | Democracy Now!