The following is part of an op-ed in The Washington Post by Cleve R. Woodson, Jr.:
Holding court at a political rally in Texas last week, former president Donald Trump implied that he — a wealthy White man who was elected to an office almost exclusively held by White men — was also a victim of racism.
Trump’s claim referenced what he said were three “radical vicious, racist prosecutors” — one in Georgia, one in New York, one in Washington, all of them Black — who are investigating his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection and examining his business organization’s finances. But his comments made him the latest in a line of conservatives claiming, loudly and frequently, that White men are also victims of racism.
After years of being branded a racist for his inflammatory comments and actions, Trump and some of his allies are attempting to turn that label back on their critics. In the process, they have wielded their own definition of racism, one that disregards the country’s history of racial exclusion that gives White people a monopoly on power and wealth. To make America more equitable, they argue, everyone must be treated equally — and, therefore, White men must not in any way be disadvantaged.
This diverging definition of racism — often coupled with imagery, symbolism and quotes from the civil rights and other movements — reflects deep and often partisan divisions about what, if anything, needs to be done to produce a more equitable America.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), for example, joined conservatives who complained that President Biden’s decision to appoint a Black woman to the Supreme Court was “offensive” and excludes most Americans. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said that limiting the pool to Black women is “affirmative racial discrimination.” And Trump surrogate Lynnette “Diamond” Hardaway called Biden’s approach “affirmative action” and said it was “racist, it is racism, toward anybody whether you’re White or Black.”
Writ large, the statements cast White men as victims, enraging many members of marginalized communities. . . .
Experts in political speech and critics on the left say there is more at play than a disagreement over whether White people can be victims of racism or a slanted understanding of the role race plays in America. Some see the desire to identify racism and label opponents “racist” as an effort to wield grievance and stoke animus for political gain — a tactic Trump and others have used in campaigns to anger and animate voters. It’s a sentiment steeped in beliefs among some voters that attempts at equity have gone too far and are punishing people who happen to have been born White. . . .
Although Trump and his allies have thrown around the racist label for years, their arguments have gotten louder since Justice Stephen G. Breyer announced he would retire. Biden vowed to nominate a Black woman to fill his seat, part of a pledge that equity would undergird his administration. Of the 115 Supreme Court justices appointed since it was created in 1789, all but seven have been White men. None has been a Black woman. . . .
For some White voters, experts say, efforts to give certain groups added help can be seen as unnecessarily onerous and even discriminatory. Such views are often deeply held and affect how people — and voting blocs — feel about any number of issues: whether children study racial equity in school, who should get food stamps, whether an implicit bias seminar at work is a waste of time.
Other Trump allies have wrapped themselves in the rhetoric and symbolism of equality movements to make political points, specifically when it comes to vaccine and mask mandates. . . .
The rhetoric around racism is likely to intensify as the midterm elections approach, said Michael Fauntroy, the founding director of the Race, Politics, and Policy Center at George Mason University.
“Conservative political strategy, at this time, is really about … keeping flames fired up to keep their base sufficiently inflamed, so that when it comes time to vote, they’ll vote their anger rather than their hope,” Fauntroy said. “It was critical race theory last month, [the Supreme Court] is the thing this month, it will be something else next month.”