centuries. Now, when things are sort of half-ass improving for those people and they've made a few gains, some white male heteros feel 'put upon' and whine. It's unbelievable!
And they blame all those non white-male-heteros for all economic woes, loss of manufacturing jobs in the US, loss of worker rights, jobs sent overseas, stagnant wages, etc. All while voting for Republicans who largely are at fault for these things and who want to keep them this way. AND who also want take away their social security & Medicare. Convincing people (esp white men) to blame others (other than Republicans) for their economic woes is what the Republican Party excels at. "It's those damn immigrants, blacks, women, gays - they're all ruining our country and taking our jobs!" This article explains it well:
Although many forces came into play to produce these heartbreaking events, a crisis of white identity drove them. More than a half-century ago, minorities, women and immigrants began to challenge the economic, political and legal hierarchy that had favored white men for centuries. Their efforts produced a white backlash that burst into the open after Barack Obama’s election in 2008.
Donald Trump has tapped into this anger and manipulated it to his political advantage. The bond between President Trump and his white followers is not based on policy but on grievance. They both reject the cultural changes over the past half-century, and Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan signals his intent to unravel them. Last week in Phoenix, he extolled his overwhelmingly white audience as “honest, hard-working taxpaying … Americans who love our nation, obey our laws and care for our people.” He warned that the hated media was trying to “take away our history and our heritage,” fanning the flames of white discontent.
The past five decades have not been kind to the white, heterosexual men who made up the overwhelming majority of those who invaded Charlottesville and who support the white nationalist movement. Until the 1960s, white men sat unchallenged atop the United States’ cultural and economic pyramid.
They did not have to compete against women or African Americans in the workplace, and they benefited from laws and customs that sustained their privileged position. They not only ruled the workplace, they dominated American politics and exercised virtually unchallenged power at home.
. . .
And then their world exploded. African Americans, unwilling to accept the legacy of Jim Crow, confronted the white power structure in the South. With the help of liberal allies, they pushed Congress to pass two major pieces of civil rights legislation that outlawed legal discrimination. Feminists, inspired by these successes, challenged laws that confined them to traditional roles in the private sphere. They smashed the notion that women could not be lawyers, doctors and corporate leaders, and they made clear they were not content to be subservient housewives. They were later joined by the LGBT community that demanded equal treatment while questioning traditional conceptions of gender and sexuality.
https://archive.is/42I8g
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