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| Robert Dear |
“Fighting
Back Against the Rising Tide of Nativist and Racist Reaction”
A statement by the National Political
Committee of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)
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| Timothy McVeigh |
November 30, 2015
The Democratic Socialists of America call
on all progressives across the United States to join together in a broad
coalition against the rising tide of racist and nativist politics in the United
States. The nativist fear-mongering by one Democratic and 27 Republican
governors about the alleged threat posed to U.S. residents by Syrian refugees
(themselves often fleeing ISIL violence) and undocumented immigrants obscures
the true violent threat to our collective security: nativist, racist and
misogynist terrorism.
Recent tragedies have shown all too clearly the state of
crisis in which we find ourselves. The Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood
shooting illustrates how right-wing hostility to women’s rights makes those
providing and seeking reproductive services targets for murder. The shooting of
Black Lives Matter protesters in Minneapolis by white supremacists demonstrates
that anyone doing work around racial justice must now expect and prepare for a
violent racist response. And in Chicago, recent revelations of a year-long
cover-up by city officials of the blatant police murder of Laquan McDonald add
yet another chapter to the shameful history of police terror against African
Americans and other communities of color. Meanwhile, ongoing harassment of
individuals and groups who appear to be Muslim or immigrants goes
under-reported in the press, as do attacks on mosques and Black churches.
Over the past decade, heavily armed and mostly white men
have killed or injured close to 1,000 individuals in politically-motivated
shootings and other mass killings. These are not isolated incidents. They are
encouraged by a rhetorical climate produced by right-wing politicians and media
personalities who blame immigrants, poor African Americans and foreign
countries for the decline in white working-class standards of living. Donald
Trump is a perfect example: for him, the barriers to America’s “greatness” are
Mexican immigrants, Muslim terrorists, Black protesters, China’s economic and
military power and American leaders too weak to oppose them. This nativist politics
diverts attention from the 1% — the capitalist class —that long ago declared
war on working-class and poor people of all races. This politics is not the
fault only of the Republican leaders who espouse it, but also of Democrats like
Barack Obama and both Bill and Hillary Clinton, whose “free trade” and
austerity policies contribute to the declining standards of working-class
communities. This utter failure to put forward convincing ways to explain and
solve the crisis leaves a vacuum that racists easily fill.
