Reassessing the racial reckoning of 2020

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Did the culture wars and progressive excesses of the past decade help pave the way for Donald Trump’s second presidency? A recent book, “Summer of Our Discontent” by cultural critic, writer and academic Thomas Chatterton Williams, delves into this contentious topic, causing more controversy — particularly about the racial “reckoning” of the summer of 2020, which is at the center of the book. The issues remain relevant today, and we need, so to speak, a reckoning with the reckoning.

Williams, who was born in New Jersey to a Black father and a white mother, has previously written about transcending racial identity. He has the reputation of a liberal critic of progressive views on issues of race and culture; this has earned him some strong negativity on the left, despite his unambiguous opposition to Trump. Yet, as “Summer of Our Discontent” demonstrates, Williams is not a strident “anti-woke” warrior; he brings nuance and humility to the issues he examines.

He recognizes, for instance, that the emergence of a “woke” antiracism that is intensely pessimistic about race relations in America and views everything through a simplistic “oppressor/oppressed” lens was in part a reaction to the racial negativity often directed at Barack Obama — which undercut the hope that Obama’s election signaled a “postracial” moment in America.

But despite such justified frustrations, Williams argues that the rise of “woke” antiracism was deeply damaging. It promoted a crudely reductive view of social relations — and, sometimes, false or vastly oversimplified narratives of conflicts such as police shootings. It led to “cancellations” on often flimsy charges of racism. It sought to muzzle debate on difficult issues through shaming and social pressure, on the assumption that questioning claims of racism or other bigotry caused “harm.” It promoted a revisionist history that portrayed the American Revolution as a pro-slavery enterprise. And, in the summer of 2020, it led many to justify looting and riots — which, in some cases, saw white anarchists and revolutionaries destroy the property of Black business owners.

Williams concludes that the backlash against these extremes helped fuel Trump’s reelection, just as he believes the riots of 2020 helped create excuses for the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill riot. The culture wars, he writes, “rendered for millions of Americans the disastrous illusion of Trump even more plausible” — and even “desirable,” as a way to counter one wrecking ball with another.

Some critics, such as Yale Law School Professor Justin Diver, have faulted Williams for letting Trumpism off the hook. But to point out contributing factors is not to excuse. Diver thinks that the parallel between Jan. 6 and the 2020 riots is unwarranted because most 2020 racial justice protests were peaceful. But given the vast number of protests, even a small percentage of violent events still amounted to an extraordinary outbreak of mayhem — which, to many onlookers, meant that settling political conflicts with violence was now acceptable.

Today, as the second Trump presidency nears the one-year mark, we are in a drastically different landscape. Diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which once seemed a permanent new feature of every major institution, are now embattled targets of the new administration. Museums are under pressure not to focus on the evils of slavery too much. The new “cancel culture” is directed at TV networks that have displeased the president.

We must find our way back to the sane liberal center. But, as Williams compellingly argues, that requires confronting not only right wing authoritarianism but the abuses of the progressive left.

One can write several books about America post-2016 and post-Obama. Culture wars has spilled over into people's everyday lives. If you boil down all the civil disturbance all the tea party rallies, MAGA rallies, trump's election slogans, Jan 6, qanon, BLM and Charlottesville, Harvard minority quotas, ICE protests etc. you boil it all down and race is the major issue for America.

Robin De Angelo's "White Fragility" explains America's oversensitivity to black people and reactionary response to DEI, including anti-wokeness movements which extend across political lines.

As comedian Dave Chappelle so eloquently put in his comedy, BLM was not just a reaction to police brutality, black people have literally no allies and have to fight racism on multiple fronts.
Putting up with discrimination from Asian, Indian and Arab businesses who exploit poor black people
Putting up Chinese students successfully (and rather selfishly) dismantling affirmative action
Putting up with Hispanic gangs currently waging terrorism against black families encroaching into traditional black areas in California, Texas. Chicago and New York
Putting up with rampant racism in the LGBTQIA+ community who have no-blacks allowed in nightclubs and online dating sites
And finally the old enemy white police and systemic/instructional racism from cradle to grave (quite literally white Americans don't want to be buried next to black people when they die)

I'm not black and not American but I can 100% understand the reaction of black Americans to George Floyd. it was the last tipping point.

The concept of "White Fragility" is exactly the type of overreach by the progressive left that Cathy Young was talking about.
The idea is that White people get all defensive and overreact in ways that "prove" white people are fragile racists. It happens. The flaw is assuming this is universal among white people, assigning negative traits to people based on the group they are born into is the definition of racism. Trump is taking advantage of this progressive left overreach.

I'm trying to paint a picture of black collective reaction to anti-blackness that (let's face it) is universal. the four officers indicted and jailed for George Floyd's death, two were Asian and Derek Chauvin's wife was Asian. to black Americans Multicultural America seems to be an extension of white oppression.

every black person in America knows anti-blackness threads its way throughout America from every community including (even) African and Caribbean immigrants. Suddenly now you have a new identity - foundational black Americans or FBAs.

BLM was a collective response out of frustration that
1. Black people's lives still don't matter
2. we have no allies

trying to intellectualise black people's response to watching police violence on Rodney King or George Floyd is disingenuous and is an attempt to invalidate what it's like living in America in 2020 as a black person after 400 years of intergenerational dehumanisation.

The concept of "White Fragility" comes from Robin DeAngelo, a white person. The book is aimed at White People. A lot of ideas that evolved from "wokeness", such as defund the police, are unpopular in the black community who, as you noted, know a thing or two about being victims of racism. A lot of "wokeness" is about intellectual whites assuming they know what is good for blacks.

Asians pool the resources of an extended family to create businesses in the bad part of town.
This is good because services are created that black people can use.
This is bad because they don't hire black people and instead use family members to do all the jobs.

The concept of "White Fragility" comes from Robin DeAngelo, a white person. The book is aimed at White People. A lot of ideas that evolved from "wokeness", such as defund the police, are unpopular in the black community who, as you noted, know a thing or two about being victims of racism. A lot of "wokeness" is about intellectual whites assuming they know what is good for blacks.

Speaking of "defunding". Before trump defunded critical race theory and defunded important historical and social research like the 1619 Project, the MAGA movement positioned itself on the dangers and risk of teaching white kids about American history involving black people. Not to mention defund teaching about other genders.

Claims that it would lead to straight white kids to hate their own race and be confused about their sexuality
Not one single academic research support's MAGA's crazy claims on the impact of teaching children about lived experiences of other communities would create a "woke", confused and unpatriotic generation.

Critical race theory (as illustrated in DiAngelo's research) emphasises the importance of lived experience and has nothing to do with "intellectual whites assuming they know what is good for blacks". the MAGA response to DEI and CRT is literally the textbook definition of white fragility.

I think recent events have shown us that devaluing the immigrant experience does not really further the aims of the black community.

MAGA snowflakes, not all whites. MAGA fragility is one reason the term "woke right" was created.

Putting up with rampant racism in the LGBTQIA+ community who have no-blacks allowed in nightclubs and online dating sites

Can you provide some examples of this?

I have no doubt that there is plenty of informal racism (as well as general cliquishness) in the LGBTQIA+ community. But actual exclusionary policies in nightclubs and on dating sites???