tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/race-riots-76060/articlesRace riots – The Conversation2023-11-22T13:18:22Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2139572023-11-22T13:18:22Z2023-11-22T13:18:22ZSmall-town America’s never-ending struggle to maintain its values hasn’t always been good for US democracy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559631/original/file-20231115-19-72avfk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=732%2C168%2C2142%2C1629&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Country singer Jason Aldean sings in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tenn.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://youtu.be/b1_RKu-ESCY?si=auTtxYeVC72SuWnM)">Jason Aldean</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For better and worse, the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee, has come to represent the overlooked cultural divisions between urban and small-town America. </p>
<p>The courthouse was the site of <a href="https://www.bunkhistory.org/resources/the-story-of-the-lynching-site-where-jason-aldean-filmed-a-music-video">the lynching</a> of a Black teenager in 1927. It also served as a rallying spot for white vigilantes who assembled there during <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/the-columbia-race-riot-1946/">race riots in 1946</a>.</p>
<p>It is now the focus of a modern-day controversy that emerged shortly after popular country singer Jason Aldean released his <a href="https://youtu.be/b1_RKu-ESCY?si=auTtxYeVC72SuWnM">music video</a> in July 2023 for his hit single “Try That in a Small Town.”</p>
<p>The courthouse was used as a backdrop with an American flag in that video. Though no mention of race occurs in the song, the racial overtones are there, as the lyrics boldly smack of modern-day, big-city crime against old-fashioned, small-city values: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk/ Carjack an old lady at a red light/
Pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store/</p>
<p>Well, try that in a small town/ See how far ya make it down the road/
Around here, we take care of our own/ You cross that line, it won’t take long/
For you to find out.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Within days of its release, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/jason-aldean-try-that-small-town-video-b164d61b0293318cefc4538206464ced">Country Music Television</a> stopped airing the music video after critics argued that is was “pro-lynching” and could incite violence.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/Jason_Aldean/status/1681382697875144717">Aldean denied</a> using coded racist language in his song or blowing any racial dog whistles – and <a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/174527/republicans-rush-defend-jason-aldean-racist-song-filmed-lynching-site">Republican politicians</a> were quick to defend him. For one, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders <a href="https://twitter.com/SarahHuckabee/status/1681712724839890954?s=20">accused Democrats</a> of being “more concerned about @Jason_Aldean’s song calling out looters and criminals than they are about stopping looters and criminals.”</p>
<p>But in my view as <a href="https://english.cofc.edu/faculty-staff-listing/kelly-joe.php">a scholar</a> who has studied the struggles to define American identity, the controversy over hidden agendas has diverted attention from Aldean’s overt message: that cities are turning the nation into a “<a href="https://youtu.be/y7U8vXOiaj4?si=xIv6Gkp1RKuD0cLz">shit show</a>,” as Aldean sees it, and the remedy is a revival of small-town America. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A newspaper headline says 70 people were jailed after a night long racial riot." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559726/original/file-20231115-27-m3te4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559726/original/file-20231115-27-m3te4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=767&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559726/original/file-20231115-27-m3te4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=767&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559726/original/file-20231115-27-m3te4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=767&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559726/original/file-20231115-27-m3te4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=964&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559726/original/file-20231115-27-m3te4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=964&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559726/original/file-20231115-27-m3te4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=964&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A headline in the local newspaper details the number of arrests during the Columbia race riots of 1946.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/the-columbia-race-riot-1946/">Blackpast.org</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But Aldean’s effort isn’t innocent nostalgia. </p>
<p>It echoes a similar period in American history during the 1920s and 1930s when the grievances of small-town America had dangerous consequences for democracy.</p>
<h2>Master-race democracy</h2>
<p>Before the Civil War, Southern states established what historians like <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Black-Image-White-Mind-Afro-American/dp/159740554X/ref=sr_1_1?hvadid=580648965756&hvdev=c&hvlocint=9010492&hvlocphy=9047038&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=7332705953240201146&hvtargid=kwd-1125906302&hydadcr=9394_13533248&keywords=the+black+image+in+the+white+mind&qid=1697367967&sr=8-1">George M. Fredrickson</a> called a “herrenvolk,” or master race democracy that reserved citizenship and its benefits for one racial group at the expense of all others. </p>
<p>But after the war, passage of the <a href="https://guides.loc.gov/13th-amendment">13th</a>, <a href="https://guides.loc.gov/14th-amendment">14th</a> and <a href="https://guides.loc.gov/15th-amendment">15th Amendments</a> extended civil and political rights to newly freed African Americans. Known as the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/tpt/slavery-by-another-name/themes/reconstruction-amendments/">Reconstruction amendments</a>, the new laws were a reversal of the Southern social order and enabled Black freedmen to hold public office, while banning white officers of the old Confederacy from federal office.</p>
<p>The new reality sparked a resurgence of white supremacy and racial violence against Black people by Southern whites, who feared being replaced by what they considered to be an inferior race. </p>
<p>One of the most influential expressions of this replacement anxiety was found in the 1916 book <a href="https://archive.org/details/passingofgreatra00granuoft">“The Passing of the Great Race</a>,” a pseudo-scientific work by amateur anthropologist <a href="https://www.nps.gov/people/madison-grant.htm">Madison Grant</a> warning readers that a flood of inferior races – not only from Africa and Asia, but from eastern and southern Europe – was sweeping away the Anglo-Saxon civilization. </p>
<p>The remedy, Grant argued, was to get rid of democracy and disempower Black people and the teeming masses of urban immigrants as well. </p>
<p>By the 1920s, white Southern lawmakers had fashioned a new version of master race democracy and enacted <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/freedom-riders-jim-crow-laws/">Jim Crow laws</a> that established racial segregation across the South and disenfranchised Black voters.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Heavy clusters of dark spots appear on a white map of southern US states." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560523/original/file-20231120-23-jdfaro.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560523/original/file-20231120-23-jdfaro.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560523/original/file-20231120-23-jdfaro.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560523/original/file-20231120-23-jdfaro.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560523/original/file-20231120-23-jdfaro.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=662&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560523/original/file-20231120-23-jdfaro.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=662&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560523/original/file-20231120-23-jdfaro.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=662&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1919 map showing the concentration of disenfranchised Black people in southern US states.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/civil-rights/crisis/1200-crisis-v19n02-w110.pdf">The Crisis</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Vigilante violence, which surged in the 1920s, helped maintain this regime. In February 1927, Walter Lippmann, who some regard as the father of American journalism, called it <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1927/02/the-causes-of-political-indifference-to-day/649603/">“American village civilization.”</a> </p>
<p>Later that year, on Nov. 13, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/21/arts/music/jason-aldean-song-video-lynching-courthouse-choate.html">Henry Choate</a>, an 18-year-old Black man, was accused of assaulting Sarah Harlan, a white 16-year-old girl. Though she could not identify him, Choate was jailed, and a mob of hundreds of white people kidnapped him from his cell.</p>
<p>Choate was then tied to the back of a car and dragged across town, and <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/dark-history-courthouse-jason-aldean-225507649.html">eventually hanged</a> in front of the Maury County Courthouse. </p>
<p>At least 20 other Black men were lynched in Maury County alone, and more than 230 Black people across Tennessee between 1877 and 1950, according to the <a href="https://eji.org/news/tennessee-lawmakers-lynching-comment-sparks-outrage/">Equal Justice Initiative</a>, a nonprofit, social justice organization.</p>
<h2>Armed resistance and racist attacks</h2>
<p>Along with lynchings, white supremacists had another way to suppress attempts by Black citizens to exercise their full rights: large-scale attacks by white law enforcement officials on Black neighborhoods. </p>
<p>One <a href="https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/columbia-race-riot-1946/">such attack</a> occurred on the night of Feb. 25, 1946, near the Maury County Courthouse. </p>
<p>A fight between a 19-year-old Black U.S. Navy veteran and a white radio repairman eventually led to an armed standoff between police and the 3,000 Black citizens who lived in a racially segregated section of the town known as the Mink Slide district.</p>
<p>When four local police tried to enter the neighborhood, Black men determined to prevent another lynching fired their weapons at the white officers, leaving all of them wounded.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two Black men are being searched by white police officers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559643/original/file-20231115-21-5oxysw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559643/original/file-20231115-21-5oxysw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559643/original/file-20231115-21-5oxysw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559643/original/file-20231115-21-5oxysw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559643/original/file-20231115-21-5oxysw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559643/original/file-20231115-21-5oxysw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559643/original/file-20231115-21-5oxysw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Police searching Black men during the riots in Columbia, Tenn., on Feb. 27, 1946.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/police-searching-rioteers-during-the-black-riots-in-news-photo/3428128?adppopup=true">Fox Photos/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It didn’t take long before local police called in several dozen state police to help subdue the unrest. Armed with machine guns, white police officers shot out the windows of shops, arrested 62 Black people and charged 12 of them with the shootings of the local police officers.</p>
<p>“The Mink Slide area,” the local paper reported, “was cleared out.”</p>
<p>To add further humiliation to residents of the thriving Black community, the commander of the state police then rode through the neighborhood the next morning in an open car broadcasting through a loudspeaker, “Let me see you smile. Come on, smile.”</p>
<p>The next day, hundreds of deputized white men systematically searched Black homes and businesses, breaking things, looting and confiscating 300 weapons. </p>
<p>The most notorious of these large-scale attacks was <a href="https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/elaine-massacre-of-1919-1102/">the Elaine Massacre of 1919</a> in Arkansas. As the <a href="https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/civil-rights/crisis/1200-crisis-v19n02-w110.pdf">NAACP’s Walter White reported</a>, hundreds of Black farmers, some of them military veterans, decided to form a labor union to escape Jim Crow’s peonage system of sharecropping. </p>
<p>Organizing workers might fly in the city, but not in rural Arkansas.</p>
<p>On Sept. 30, the farmers met in a church outside Elaine to discuss strategy and had armed guards stationed outside. A sheriff’s deputy and other white men confronted the Black men standing guard. The ensuing fight escalated until white vigilantes roamed the farmland, ransacking houses, confiscating arms and killing Black men, women and children on the slightest pretext.</p>
<p>Arkansas Gov. Charles H. Brough called the War Department for help. About 600 federal troops were sent to the area, and once there, they used machine guns to spray the the fields and woods. When the gun smoke cleared, at least <a href="https://digitalheritage.arkansas.gov/brough-scrapbooks/#:%7E:text=The%20Elaine%20Massacre%20is%20the,discuss%20better%20pay%20for%20their">200 Black people</a> were dead, and the only people held to account were a <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/death-hundreds-elaine-massacre-led-supreme-court-take-major-step-toward-equal-justice-african-americans-180969863/">dozen Black men</a> convicted of murder and sentenced to death. </p>
<h2>Small-town nationalism</h2>
<p>Aldean’s song paints a picture of a renewed culture war between <a href="https://government.cornell.edu/news/exploring-widening-chasm-between-urban-and-rural-voters">urban and rural versions</a> of America. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A white man wearing a cowboy hat shakes hands with spectators as he performs on stage." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559454/original/file-20231114-25-i4szfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559454/original/file-20231114-25-i4szfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559454/original/file-20231114-25-i4szfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559454/original/file-20231114-25-i4szfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559454/original/file-20231114-25-i4szfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559454/original/file-20231114-25-i4szfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559454/original/file-20231114-25-i4szfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jason Aldean performs onstage in Wisconsin on July 22, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/jason-aldean-performs-onstage-at-country-thunder-wisconsin-news-photo/1568719475?adppopup=true">Joshua Applegate/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In my view, Aldean’s song expresses a deep <a href="https://youtu.be/W1GZzucDMlQ?si=dUO98qTEhHCQ_TB9">sense of grievance</a> among some white Americans and a suspicion that urban America is <a href="https://youtu.be/vKEp8uGrcjU?si=TIQPmq_1X7lGe_BG">scornful and even hostile</a> to the rural way of life.</p>
<p>In a recent concert, while addressing accusations of racism, <a href="https://youtu.be/Bu9lLjcuztM?si=VUttXDuRhve1SXje">Aldean said</a> he only wants to “restore” the nation to “what it once was before all this bullshit started happening to us.” </p>
<p>But his lyrics remain unnerving:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Got a gun that my granddad gave me/
They say one day they’re gonna round up.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213957/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joseph Patrick Kelly is affiliated with the Charleston County Democratic Party in South Carolina.</span></em></p>Country singer Jason Aldean’s hit song triggered renewed attention on vigilante justice, racism and urban America.Joseph Patrick Kelly, Professor of Literature and Director of Irish and Irish American Studies, College of CharlestonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2144502023-10-09T12:22:45Z2023-10-09T12:22:45ZToday’s white working-class young men who turn to racist violence are part of a long, sad American history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552186/original/file-20231004-19-gkf42y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=844%2C152%2C5146%2C3835&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dressed in orange prison garb, Payton Gendron is sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 10 Black people in Buffalo, N.Y. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/payton-gendron-is-escorted-back-into-the-courtroom-by-news-photo/1247183130?adppopup=true">Derek Gee/Buffalo News/Pool via Xinhua</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In recent years, the United States has seen <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-mass-shootings-motivated-by-hate-2023-08-28/">a surge of white supremacist mass shootings against racial minorities</a>. While not always the case, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/06/03/why-so-many-mass-shooters-young-angry-men/">mass shooters tend to be young white men</a>. </p>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/masculinity-overdue-reckoning-mass-shootings-child-advocates-say-rcna33597">journalists</a> and <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/567070c969a91a786be045cb/t/5773edb415d5dbbfbeb44621/1467215284777/Suicide+by+Mass+Murders.pdf">researchers</a> have argued that class and ideals of white masculinity are partly to blame. </p>
<p>This argument is not surprising. Throughout U.S. history, white men’s anxieties over their manhood and social class help explain many <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-24/black-americans-more-likely-to-be-mass-shooting-victims">violent attacks on Black people</a>, whom the perpetrators blame for denying them their rightful privileges. </p>
<p>Such was <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/06/17/878828088/5-years-after-charleston-church-massacre-what-have-we-learned">the case with Dylann Roof</a>, a then 22-year-old white supremacist who was convicted and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/10/11/1128137852/dylann-roof-supreme-court-death-sentence-appeal">sentenced to death</a> in the 2015 deaths of nine Black worshippers at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.</p>
<p>In another case involving <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/buffalo-supermarket-gunman-to-be-sentenced-to-life-for-racist-attack-killing-10">a racist mass shooting</a>, Payton Gendron, a white supremacist who believed a slew of racist conspiracy theories he discovered online, was sentenced to life in prison after his convictions on the 2022 murders of 10 Black people at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood.</p>
<p>One such unfounded conspiracy that then 18-year-old Gendron frequently cited was the “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/16/1099034094/what-is-the-great-replacement-theory">great replacement theory</a>,” the false idea that a group is attempting to replace white Americans with nonwhite people through immigration, interracial marriage and, eventually, violence. Such ideas reflect white supremacist beliefs, but they also reveal deep insecurities about white men’s social status in America.</p>
<p>It’s my belief as <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/history/faculty/profile.html?id=ckohlha1">a scholar</a> of U.S. history, labor, ethnicity and masculinity that Roof, Gendron and other recent mass shooters in racist attacks share similar insecurities with their historical predecessors. </p>
<p>Though finding solutions is not an easy task, recognizing the link between white anxiety and racial violence is a first step in addressing the problem. </p>
<h2>Class, masculinity and violence</h2>
<p>In modern-day society, young men face many hurdles to traditional avenues of masculine success. It’s more difficult than ever for young people to <a href="https://archive.curbed.com/2018/4/10/17219786/buying-a-house-mortgage-government-gi-bill">purchase a home</a>, <a href="https://money.com/harder-for-millennials-get-good-job/">secure a high-paying job</a> or <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/07/marriage-divorce-rates.html#:%7E:text=Both%20the%20marriage%20and%20divorce,per%201%2C000%20women%20in%202011.">find a marriage partner</a>. These difficulties result in <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2023/09/29/gen-z-faces-financial-challenges-stress-anxiety-and-an-uncertain-future/?sh=1e7af33e4f14">a great degree of anxiety among young people</a> who struggle to achieve the security of their parents’ generation. </p>
<p>Many young men become <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/01/lost-boys-violent-narcissism-angry-young-men/672886/">particularly resentful</a> of these conditions. Male socioeconomic power is traditionally linked with <a href="https://fee.org/articles/why-patriarchy-once-made-economic-sense/">patriarchal authority</a>, a position to which many white men may feel they are entitled. </p>
<p>Throughout American history, white manhood was often defined “through the subjugation of racialized and gendered others,” according to historian <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9780807854945/murder-at-the-sleepy-lagoon/">Eduardo Obregón Pagán</a>. But when they felt their superiority was threatened, white men acted against the supposed enemies whom they felt blocked them from enjoying these benefits of their white male privilege. </p>
<h2>The 1863 New York City draft riots</h2>
<p>During the Civil War, northern states like New York <a href="https://www.historynet.com/draft-riots-civil-war/">instituted a lottery draft</a> of fighting-age white men. At the time, Black men were exempted from the draft because <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/dred-scott-v-sandford">they were not considered U.S. citizens</a>. </p>
<p>The draft infuriated the white working-class population of New York in part because rich white men could hire a substitute or pay $300 to secure an exemption to the draft. This sum was roughly the average yearly salary of an American worker.</p>
<p>In response, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/draft-riots">thousands of white workers rioted</a> between July 13 and July 16, killing over 100 people. They concentrated their attacks on African Americans, whom they beat, tortured and killed. Most egregiously, rioters burned down the <a href="https://maap.columbia.edu/place/35.html#:%7E:text=The%20orphanage%20is%20remembered%20best,City%20draft%20riots%20of%201863.">Colored Orphanage Asylum</a>, which sheltered over 200 Black children.</p>
<p>In one particular display of gendered symbolism, <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/317749.html&title=The+New+York+City+Draft+Riots+of+1863&desc=#:%7E:text=After%20the%20mob%20pulled%20Franklin%27s%20body%20from%20the%20lamppost%2C%20a%20sixteen%2Dyear%2Dold%20Irish%20man%2C%20Patrick%20Butler%2C%20dragged%20the%20body%20through%20the%20streets%20by%20its%20genitals">a 16-year-old white youth</a> dragged a Black corpse through the street by his genitals.</p>
<p>The rioters’ anger over their subordinate social class largely drove their attacks against Black men who were an easier target than the real cause of the draft inequalities – elite white men and government agents.</p>
<h2>The 1919 Chicago race riot</h2>
<p>During the turn of the 20th century, the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/migrations/great-migration">Great Migration</a> saw many southern Black people move from the rural South to northern cities like Chicago. As waves of Black people moved into the city, white Chicagoans on the city’s South Side began <a href="https://interactive.wttw.com/playlist/2019/07/26/chicago-1919-race-riot">bombing campaigns</a> against Black-owned homes to keep them out of white neighborhoods. </p>
<p>In July 1919, <a href="https://time.com/5636039/chicago-race-riots-art-project/">a Black teenager</a> inadvertently drifted into what was considered the white section of Lake Michigan. Angry white people threw rocks at him and he eventually drowned.
The incident sparked the infamous <a href="https://chicagoraceriot.org/">Chicago race riot</a>, which left 38 people dead, most of whom were Black. </p>
<p>The main perpetrators of riot violence were organized white youth gangs operating under the moniker of “<a href="https://www.americanhistoryusa.com/prelude-to-riot-irish-athletic-clubs-and-black-belt-1919/">athletic clubs</a>,” a phenomenon that is the primary focus of <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/colin-kohlhaas-1002757">my own research</a>. While these clubs participated in athletic competitions, they were, in effect, violent gangs who targeted Black men. </p>
<p>These gangs prowled the streets in automobiles and attacked African Americans, burned black homes and businesses, and kept the fires of racial violence inflamed for days. They blamed Black men <a href="https://chicagoraceriot.org/history/great-migration/">for invading their communities</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Black man who is bleeding and laying on a sidewalk is pelted with rocks by two white men." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552176/original/file-20231004-19-57nbim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552176/original/file-20231004-19-57nbim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552176/original/file-20231004-19-57nbim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552176/original/file-20231004-19-57nbim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552176/original/file-20231004-19-57nbim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552176/original/file-20231004-19-57nbim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552176/original/file-20231004-19-57nbim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">White attackers throw rocks at a Black man during the Chicago race riots in 1919.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/whites-stone-an-african-american-man-who-later-died-of-his-news-photo/86288988?adppopup=true">Jun Fujita/Chicago History Museum/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many of the youth gang members were the <a href="http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/943.html">sons of Chicago packinghouse workers</a> and did not want to endure the menial wage work of their parents. Unable to secure social and financial success through legitimate means, such youths turned to crime and violence to make money and <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/ebook/9780691223308/vampires-dragons-and-egyptian-kings">build a sense of masculine identity</a>. </p>
<p>Instead of traditional notions of manhood centered on the family, they internalized what historians call “<a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p081545">rough masculinity</a>,” which prioritized fighting and physical toughness. </p>
<h2>The 1943 Los Angeles Zoot Suit Riots</h2>
<p>During World War II, the U.S government <a href="https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/rationing">rationed many foods and materials</a> for the war effort. One such item was fabric, which forced clothing designers to fashion clothes using less material. </p>
<p>Most Americans embraced wartime rations, viewing sacrifice as their patriotic duty. But in communities on the West Coast, young Mexican American men flaunted flamboyant “<a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/brief-history-zoot-suit-180958507/">zoot suits</a>.” Zoot suits were brightly colored and distinctly flashy, but more importantly, they required a large amount of fabric. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Two men show where their clothes had been sashed by angry white servicemen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552178/original/file-20231004-27-z1eyx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552178/original/file-20231004-27-z1eyx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552178/original/file-20231004-27-z1eyx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552178/original/file-20231004-27-z1eyx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552178/original/file-20231004-27-z1eyx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=983&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552178/original/file-20231004-27-z1eyx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=983&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552178/original/file-20231004-27-z1eyx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=983&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two Latino youths had their clothes slashed by angry white servicemen during the Zoot Suit Riots on Jun. 10, 1943, in Los Angeles, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/noe-vasquez-and-joe-vasquez-latino-youths-who-reported-to-news-photo/85374830?adppopup=true">Anthony Potter Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>White Americans viewed the zoot suits as a mockery of the war effort. On June 3, 1943, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/zoot-suit-riots">a series of riots broke out</a> in Los Angeles as white servicemen attacked young Mexican Americans sporting zoot suits. </p>
<p>Demonstrating their fury over the clothing, servicemen stripped the suits off many victims and burned them. Over the course of three days, over 150 Latino men were injured, but the police did not arrest a single white serviceman. </p>
<p>In many ways, the zoot suiters challenged the masculinity of the servicemen. On one hand, the white men felt affronted by the Mexican Americans’ audacity to scoff at their manly sacrifice to go to war. On the other hand, by attacking the zoot suiters and ripping off their clothes, the servicemen effectively <a href="https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/zoot-suit-riots-and-wartime-los-angeles">denied their claims to manhood</a>. </p>
<p>There are many parallels between racial violence of the past and mass shootings of today. Understanding anxieties about class and masculinity can perhaps go a long way to addressing such concerns in a new generation of young white men.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214450/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colin Kohlhaas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Throughout US history, racist attacks against racial minorities were committed by white men grappling with their masculinity and social status.Colin Kohlhaas, Doctoral Candidate, History, Binghamton University, State University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1979602023-03-02T17:48:30Z2023-03-02T17:48:30ZA white riot in Vancouver: Tracing the steps of the 1907 anti-Asian mob<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508708/original/file-20230207-31-wcsbid.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In 1907, a large anti-Asian riot took place in Vancouver. Here is a colourized photo of 245 Powell St., a stop on a walking tour that retraces the steps of the angry mob.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(360 Riot Walk, Henry Tsang)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/a-white-riot-in-vancouver--tracing-the-steps-of-the-1907-anti-asian-mob" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p><em>Editor’s note: Below is an edited account from the forthcoming book, <a href="https://arsenalpulp.com/Books/W/White-Riot">‘White Riot: The 1907 Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver,’</a> by Henry Tsang (Arsenal Pulp Press)</em>. </p>
<p>On Sept. 7, 1907, a crowd gathered at 7 p.m. at the Cambie Street Grounds, now known as Larwill Park in downtown Vancouver. Led by Major E. Brown from the British Columbia Regiment at the Beatty Street Drill Hall, a cavalcade, made up of labour and church leaders and Mayor Alexander Bethune and his wife, Catherine, was accompanied by 5,000 people, many waving white banners reading, “A White Canada for Us.” They proceeded downtown toward city hall.</p>
<p>The event was organized by the conservative <a href="https://www.labourheritagecentre.ca/asiatic-exclusion-league-riot-1907/">Asiatic Exclusion League</a>, founded just months before by the Vancouver Trades and Labour Council. The mayor and several city councillors were founding members, along with many Christian leaders. Its first meeting was held on Aug. 12 and attended by 400 white men. </p>
<p>The league was modelled after the <a href="https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/this-week-in-history-1907-the-asiatic-exclusion-league-is-formed">Japanese and Korean Exclusion League in San Francisco</a> and many others like it along the West Coast. These groups advocated for a “white man’s country” and the prohibition of Asian labour, to be achieved through legislation and, if necessary, violence. A resolution calling on the federal government to exclude Asians from Canada was enthusiastically passed by the newly formed organization. </p>
<p>By the time the group reached city hall, many more thousands had joined in. Estimates of the crowd range from 25,000 to 30,000 people — over a third of the city’s population at the time. Guest speakers included clergymen, lawyers, politicians and anti-Asian activists from New Zealand and the United States.</p>
<p>As the rally grew, an angry mob formed; and marched toward Chinatown. The people there were initially taken by surprise. But they began to organize and to fight back. <em>The Daily Province</em> reported that, “the Chinese armed themselves as soon as the gun stores opened. Hundreds of revolvers and thousands of rounds of ammunition were sold before the police stepped in and requested that no further sale be made to Asians.”</p>
<h2>Police could not contain the mob</h2>
<p>The police force called in all of their off-duty officers, totalling about two dozen. The fire brigade was also called in to help. Badly outnumbered, they were unable to have any impact.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512014/original/file-20230223-738-k80qo3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512014/original/file-20230223-738-k80qo3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512014/original/file-20230223-738-k80qo3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512014/original/file-20230223-738-k80qo3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512014/original/file-20230223-738-k80qo3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512014/original/file-20230223-738-k80qo3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512014/original/file-20230223-738-k80qo3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A colourized photo of Shanghai Alley after the Chinatown riots in 1907.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">360 Riot Walk/Philip Timms/ University of British Columbia Library, Chung Collection, Vancouver, CC-PH-10626</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although there were no documented deaths due to the riots, there were close calls. Arrests were few, in part because the crowd would rescue anyone captured. Only five rioters were eventually found guilty and given jail terms of one to six months.</p>
<p>The local English-language press blamed American labour leaders for inciting the riot. However, local Chinese-language newspapers placed the blame on white unions, most of which were involved in anti-Asian activism and provocation.</p>
<h2>The rioters encountered resistance</h2>
<p>On late Sunday afternoon, the rioters regrouped to attack the <a href="https://heritagevancouver.org/top10-watch-list/2017/9-powell-street-area-nihonmachi/">Japanese residents</a>, who had almost a full day’s warning to prepare for the attack. </p>
<p>They stockpiled bricks and rocks to throw at the rioters and armed themselves with guns and knives. Hand-to-hand combat took place on the streets. From rooftops, rocks, bricks, bottles and blocks of wood were thrown at the rioters, who made it as far as the Powell Street Grounds (now Oppenheimer Park). </p>
<p>The mob did not expect such resistance, nor the escalating number of casualties.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="colourized yellow storefront from 1907" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512015/original/file-20230223-2933-ldl4st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512015/original/file-20230223-2933-ldl4st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512015/original/file-20230223-2933-ldl4st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512015/original/file-20230223-2933-ldl4st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512015/original/file-20230223-2933-ldl4st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1419&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512015/original/file-20230223-2933-ldl4st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512015/original/file-20230223-2933-ldl4st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1419&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Colourized image of 122 Powell St., 1907.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from 360 Riot Walk/Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, PA-067275</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By Monday morning, the riots had died down, in part due to heavy rains. The <a href="http://www.chinatownsocieties.org/society/chinese-benevolent-association/">Chinese Benevolent Association</a> and clan associations organized a general strike that continued until Wednesday morning, shutting down many parts of Vancouver, including the sawmills and a third of the restaurants.</p>
<p>The Japanese went to work Monday, but left in the afternoon to attend a public meeting at the Powell Street Grounds to demand reparation from the city. Mayor Bethune came to address the crowd’s concerns — ironic, given that he was one of the Asiatic Exclusion League’s co-founders.</p>
<h2>A federal inquiry and demands for compensation</h2>
<p>The Japanese and Chinese communities petitioned the federal government to pay for damages. </p>
<p>Ottawa sent the federal deputy minister of labour, <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/william-lyon-mackenzie-king">William Lyon Mackenzie King</a>, to conduct a <a href="https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2016/bcp-pco/Z1-1907-7-eng.pdf">Royal Commission inquiry</a>. </p>
<p>Pressure applied to England by Japan resulted in a swift response, with over $9,000 in settlement for damages. Compensation for the Chinese was slower, as they lacked the political support of an up-and-coming nation, but eventually the compensation was almost $27,000.</p>
<p>King’s investigation revealed that some of the Chinese claims were for businesses related to opium. This eventually led to the creation of Canada’s first anti-drug law.</p>
<p>Shortly after, Japan and Canada reached a “Gentlemen’s Agreement” to <a href="https://bcanuntoldhistory.knowledge.ca/1900/japanese-immigration-limited">reduce Japanese immigration to 400 people a year</a>. In 1928, that number was further reduced to 150.</p>
<p>The Chinese head tax remained at $500, but in 1923, the <a href="https://humanrights.ca/story/chinese-head-tax-and-chinese-exclusion-act">Chinese Exclusion Act</a> came into effect. Under the act, Chinese immigration to Canada was completely banned. The exclusion act was repealed in 1947, mainly as a result of Canada’s signing the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.</p>
<h2>100 years later: A surge in anti-Asian sentiments</h2>
<p>Since the formative decades of Vancouver’s founding, much has been gained from a human rights perspective. But 2020 ushered in the COVID-19 pandemic, and with it a <a href="https://www.project1907.org/reporting-centre">dramatic rise in anti-Asian violence</a>, fanned by anti-China sentiment. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/anti-asian-racism-during-coronavirus-how-the-language-of-disease-produces-hate-and-violence-134496">Anti-Asian racism during coronavirus: How the language of disease produces hate and violence</a>
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<p>Vulnerable people, especially lower-income <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/asian-community-hate-crime-charge-jamie-bezanson-1.6403063">seniors</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-police-investigate-potential-raciallly-motivated-assault-1.6599437">women</a>, were targeted. Such instances, along with anti-Black, anti-Muslim and anti-Indigenous attitudes, are all part of the legacy of historic and current racism.</p>
<p>Raising awareness of the 1907 anti-Asian riots will hopefully encourage dialogue and reflection on who has the right to live here as we pursue equality and justice for all.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="People stand in front of a row of buildings, some have broken windows." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508460/original/file-20230206-25-zvjd4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508460/original/file-20230206-25-zvjd4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508460/original/file-20230206-25-zvjd4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508460/original/file-20230206-25-zvjd4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508460/original/file-20230206-25-zvjd4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508460/original/file-20230206-25-zvjd4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508460/original/file-20230206-25-zvjd4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Book cover for ‘White Riot: The 1907 Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://arsenalpulp.com/Books/W/White-Riot">(Arsenal Pulp Press)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://arsenalpulp.com/Books/W/White-Riot">‘White Riot: The 1907 Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver’</a> is based on <a href="https://360riotwalk.ca/">360 Riot Walk</a>, an interactive 360 video walking tour that traces the route of the mob that attacked Vancouver Asian communities. It can be streamed on location with a mobile device or remotely on a web browser, and is available in four languages: English, Cantonese, Japanese and Punjabi. The events occurred on the unceded land of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Contributors include the Asian Canadian Labour Alliance, Michael Barnholden, Paul Englesberg, Melody Ma, Angela May, Nicole Yakashiro, Jeffery R. Masuda, Aaron Franks, Audrey Kobayashi, Trevor Wideman, Andy Yan, and Patricia E. Roy.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197960/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henry Tsang has in the past received funding from SSHRC, the Canada Council, BC Arts Council, Creative BC, and others. He works for Emily Carr University of Art & Design. His art project, 360 Riot Walk, is affiliated with the Powell Street Festival which stewards the public guided tours.</span></em></p>A virtual walking tour traces the route of a white mob that attacked Asian communities of Vancouver in 1907. Learning about past contexts may shed light on the recent surge in anti-Asian violence.Henry Tsang, Associate Dean, Associate Professor, Emily Carr UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1958612022-12-22T13:13:05Z2022-12-22T13:13:05ZHow Democrats won the West<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502278/original/file-20221221-25-1fj47s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C2977%2C1998&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat, celebrates her re-election to a U.S. Senate seat representing Nevada in November 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Election2022NevadaSenate/4f7fbd0b5e5843ee9f91b4c0d271ca03/photo">AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/12/politics/catherine-cortez-masto-nevada-senate/index.html">U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s win</a> in Nevada guaranteed that Democrats would retain control of the Senate after the 2022 midterm elections. It also confirmed the strength of the Democratic Party in the West. </p>
<p>Since 1992, Democrats have flipped the region away from Republican control, a shift that began with the end of the Cold War and carried through a Pacific Coast economic recession, anti-racism demonstrations and violence in Los Angeles and the area’s increasing diversity.</p>
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<p>I am a professor of political science who has published on the subject of critical elections and how regional realignments in voting patterns have had an impact on presidential elections at the national level.</p>
<p>This shift has been particularly obvious during presidential elections. From 1952 to 1988, Republican politicians dominated the West – the <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/state-by-state/west-region.html">13 states</a> of Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico – in presidential contests, as well as a number of statewide contests. In the presidential elections during those years, Democratic candidates took an average of just 13.9% of the Electoral College votes from those Western states. And in those elections, Democrats received an average of 46.4% of the Western popular vote.</p>
<p>But since 1992, Democrats have won an average of 76% of the Electoral College vote in the West through the 2020 election, with an average of 55% of the two-party vote in those 13 states from the Pacific through the Rockies. Democrats garnered 58% of the Western state vote in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.</p>
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<h2>Government changes alter the economy</h2>
<p>The shift began in the late 1980s, with a series of post-Cold War military base closures across the nation. A presidentially appointed Base Realignment and Closure Commission determined which military bases should remain open and which should close, as the nation’s military needs changed. The West bore a disproportionate share, losing 48 bases, while the rest of the nation as a whole lost 120.</p>
<p>That was true especially in the first two rounds of closures, in 1988 and 1991, under President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. The second set of closures, in 1993 and 1995, under Democratic President Bill Clinton, still leaned heavily on the West, but not as much as the earlier rounds had.</p>
<p>Closing a military base has socioeconomic costs: It means an area <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/details?prodcode=RS22147">loses jobs and revenue for local businesses</a>, especially those that supplied the base or served its personnel or their families. There are also costs of military spouses losing their jobs, and of changes to a community’s sense of itself, often built up over decades, especially in rural areas. And this compounded the region’s economic woes, making Westerners more open to switching their votes from an “R” to a “D.”</p>
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<h2>A recession hits</h2>
<p>Additional economic pressure came during the 1990-91 recession, which disproportionately hit the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1993/02/art3full.pdf">according to Mary C. Dzialo et al.</a> The West suffered the highest levels of unemployment among all four geographic regions, and those who lost jobs or business were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230100428_8">quick to blame Republicans</a>, especially President George H.W. Bush, for the tough economic times.</p>
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<h2>Racial violence</h2>
<p>When four Los Angeles Police Department officers were not found guilty in 1992 of charges in the beating of Rodney King the previous year, the city of Los Angeles was engulfed in the flames of a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/18/us/los-angeles-riots-fast-facts/index.html">violent demonstration against racism</a>. Our analysis shows that it was the most severe of the 1980s and 1990s, in terms of deaths, injuries and arrests.</p>
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<p>Instead of acknowledging the police brutality in this case that triggered the societal anger, President Bush focused on “<a href="https://doi.org/10.17953/amer.38.1.41017563463290q7">the brutality of a mob, plain and simple</a>,” according to UCLA sociologist Darnell Hunt. Bush also failed to understand the social and economic factors that had cost Los Angeles jobs and “federal support for housing, education and inner-city community building,” Hunt wrote. </p>
<p>Republicans’ lack of understanding and effort opened up an opportunity for Democrats among minorities and sympathetic whites in the region.</p>
<h2>Increasing diversity</h2>
<p>The West was also getting more diverse, in comparison to other regions. The National Equity Atlas calculates a diversity index for each region, on a <a href="https://nationalequityatlas.org/about-the-atlas/methodology/demographics_indicators">range from zero to 1.79</a>, in which zero indicates that everyone in the area is of the same racial or ethnic group, and 1.79 indicates that equal numbers of people are in each racial or ethnic group. </p>
<p>A look at the index from 1980 to 2019 shows that the West has long been more diverse than the rest of the country, and significantly more so in the 1990s. The rest of the country began to catch up, but the West is still more diverse than the rest of the nation. </p>
<p><a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/160373/democrats-racially-diverse-republicans-mostly-white.aspx">Nonwhites have leaned Democratic in greater numbers</a> thanks to the party’s increased focus on better treatment for minorities, as well as <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/11/29/dont-care-that-a--just-that-hes-indiscreet-about-it/">the open embrace of white supremacy by some members of the Republican Party</a>.</p>
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<h2>Political independence</h2>
<p>The region’s people also showed they were willing to shift their political allegiances when independent candidate Ross Perot ran for president in 1992. The West averaged more support for the Texas businessman than the average for all other regions, 23.6% to 18.1%.</p>
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<p>Nationally, voters also rewarded the charismatic Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton in 1992, who actually took more votes away from incumbent Republican George H.W. Bush than Perot did.</p>
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<h2>Winning the West means winning the White House</h2>
<p>These economic, social, demographic and political factors of the early 1990s helped contribute to the Democrats flipping the region to their column. This translated into national success for Democrats, who in the eight elections from 1992 to 2020 nearly doubled their average Electoral College votes from the 1952 to 1988 period. Meanwhile, the GOP national average of Electoral College votes declined. </p>
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<p>Democrats have won nearly two-thirds of the national Electoral College races in the past 30 years. And the Republicans have won the popular vote just once since 1992, that being in 2004. It’s a trend likely to give Democrats an electoral advantage nationally unless the GOP does a better job of appealing to Western voters.</p>
<p><em>Nicole Morales, a LaGrange College undergraduate student, contributed to this work.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195861/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John A. Tures does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Democrats have ridden the West to presidential electoral success since 1992, reversing their poor performances from the 1950s through the 1980s.John A. Tures, Professor of Political Science, LaGrange CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1529702021-01-14T23:45:44Z2021-01-14T23:45:44ZWhy social media platforms banning Trump won’t stop — or even slow down — his cause<p>Last week Twitter <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/suspension.html">permanently suspended</a> US President Donald Trump in the wake of his supporters’ violent storming of Capitol Hill. Trump was also suspended from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/07/donald-trump-twitter-ban-comes-to-end-amid-calls-for-tougher-action">Facebook and Instagram indefinitely</a>.</p>
<p>Heads <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/technology/twitter-trump-suspended.html?">quickly turned</a> to the right-wing <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2021/0111/As-tech-giants-recoil-from-Trump-and-Parler-is-free-speech-at-risk">Twitter alternative</a> Parler — which seemed to be a logical place of respite for the digitally de-throned president. </p>
<p>But Parler too was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/11/parler-goes-offline-after-amazon-drops-it-due-to-violent-content">axed</a>, as Amazon pulled its hosting services and Google and Apple removed it from their stores. The social network, which has since <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/11/parler-amazon-antitrust-suit-457579">sued Amazon</a>, is effectively shut down until it can secure a new host or force Amazon to restore its services. </p>
<p>These actions may seem like legitimate attempts by platforms to tackle Trump’s violence-fuelling rhetoric. The reality, however, is they will do little to truly disengage his supporters or deal with issues of violence and hate speech. </p>
<p>With an election vote count of 74,223,744 (46.9%), the magnitude of Trump’s following is clear. And since being banned from Twitter, he <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-13/us-president-donald-trump-says-impeachment-absolutely-ridiculous/13053120">hasn’t shown any intention</a> of backing down. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">In his first appearance since the Capitol attack, Trump described the impeachment process as ‘a continuation of the greatest witch hunt in the history of politics’.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Not budging</h2>
<p>With more than <a href="https://www.tweetbinder.com/blog/trump-twitter/">47,000 original tweets</a> from Trump’s personal Twitter account (@realdonaldtrump) since 2009, one could argue he used the platform inordinately. There’s much speculation about what he might do now.</p>
<p>Tweeting via the official Twitter account for the president @POTUS, he said he might consider <a href="https://au.pcmag.com/social-media/84771/trump-considers-building-his-own-social-media-site-after-twitter-ban">building his own</a> platform. Twitter promptly removed this tweet. He also <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/donald-trump-permanently-banned-from-twitter-20210109-p56suo.html">tweeted</a>: “We will not be SILENCED!”.</p>
<p>This threat may come with some standing as Trump does have avenues to control various forms of media. In November, <a href="https://www.axios.com/trump-fox-news-digital-media-competitor-25afddee-144d-4820-8ed4-9eb0ffa42420.html">Axios reported</a> he was considering launching his own right-wing media venture. </p>
<p>For his followers, the internet remains a “<a href="http://link-springer-com-443.webvpn.fjmu.edu.cn/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-64388-5_1">natural hunting ground</a>” where they can continue gaining support through spreading racist and hateful sentiment.</p>
<p>The internet is also notoriously hard to police – it has no real borders, and features such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/facebooks-push-for-end-to-end-encryption-is-good-news-for-user-privacy-as-well-as-terrorists-and-paedophiles-128782">encryption</a> enable anonymity. Laws differ from state to state and nation to nation; an act deemed illegal in one locale may be legal elsewhere.</p>
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<p>It’s no surprise groups including fascists, neo-Nazis, anti-Semites and white supremacists were <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/31/far-right-alt-right-white-supremacists-rise-online">early and eager adopters</a> of the internet. Back in 1998, former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke <a href="https://www.damemagazine.com/2017/10/19/twitter-and-white-supremacy-love-story/">wrote</a> online:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I believe that the internet will begin a chain reaction of racial enlightenment that will shake the world by the speed of its intellectual conquest.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As far as efforts to quash such extremism go, they’re usually too little, too late. </p>
<p>Take <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10576100903259951?scroll=top&needAccess=true">Stormfront</a>, a neo-Nazi platform <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/stormfront">described as</a> the web’s first major racial hate site. It was set up in 1995 by a former Klan state leader, and only removed from the open web 22 years later in 2017.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/social-media-giants-have-finally-confronted-trumps-lies-but-why-wait-until-there-was-a-riot-in-the-capitol-152820">Social media giants have finally confronted Trump's lies. But why wait until there was a riot in the Capitol?</a>
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<hr>
<h2>The psychology of hate</h2>
<p>Banning Trump from social media won’t necessarily silence him or his supporters. Esteemed British psychiatrist and broadcaster Raj Persaud <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trump-social-media-ban-narcissism-violence-by-raj-persaud-2021-01">sums it up</a> well: “narcissists do not respond well to social exclusion”. </p>
<p>Others have highlighted the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/trump-twitter-ban-parler-gab-b1785515.html">many options</a> still available for Trump fans to congregate since Parler’s departure, which was used to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/technology/apple-google-parler.html?">communicate plans</a> ahead of the siege at Capitol. <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/us-news/2021/01/13/trump-social-media-gab/">Gab</a> is one platform many Trump supporters have flocked to. </p>
<p>It’s important to remember hate speech, racism and violence predate the internet. Those who are predisposed to these ideologies <em>will</em> find a way to connect with others like them.</p>
<p>And censorship likely won’t change their beliefs, since extremist ideologies and conspiracies tend to be heavily spurred on by <a href="https://fs.blog/2017/05/confirmation-bias/">confirmation bias</a>. This is when people interpret information in a way that reaffirms their existing beliefs.</p>
<p>When Twitter <a href="https://theconversation.com/qanon-believers-will-likely-outlast-and-outsmart-twitters-bans-143192">took action to limit</a> QAnon content last year, some followers took this <a href="https://twitter.com/Questionwhatis1/status/1285815686737154050">as confirmation</a> of the conspiracy, which claims Satan-worshipping elites from within government, business and media are running a “deep state” against Trump.</p>
<h2>Social media and white supremacy: a love story</h2>
<p>The promotion of violence and hate speech on platforms isn’t new, nor is it restricted to relatively fringe sites such as Parler.</p>
<p>Queensland University of Technology Digital Media lecturer Ariadna Matamoros-Fernández describes online hate speech as “<a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/104184/">platformed racism</a>”. This framing is critical, especially in the case of Trump and his followers.</p>
<p>It recognises social media has various algorithmic features which allow for the proliferation of racist content. It also captures the governance structures that tend to favour “free speech” over the safety of vulnerable communities online. </p>
<p>For instance, Matamoros-Fernández’s <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/104184/7/104184.pdf">research</a> found in Australia, platforms such as Facebook “favoured the offenders over Indigenous people” by tending to lean in favour of free speech. </p>
<p>Other <a href="https://research-management.mq.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/135775224/MQU_HarmfulContentonSocialMedia_report_201202.pdf">research has</a> found Indigenous social media users regularly witness and experience racism and sexism online. My <a href="https://research-management.mq.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/92634728/MQU_Cyberbullying_Report_Carlson_Frazer.pdf">own research</a> has also revealed social media helps proliferate hate speech, including racism and other forms of violence.</p>
<p>On this front, tech companies are unlikely to take action on the scale required, since controversy is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/11/trump-twitter-ban-capitol-attack-facebook-youtube-google">good for business</a>. Simply, there’s no strong incentive for platforms to tackle the issues of hate speech and racism — not until not doing so negatively impacts profits. </p>
<p>After Facebook indefinitely banned Trump, its market value <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/facebook-twitter-stock-price-trump-ban-capitol-riots-twtr-fb-2021-1-1029965338">reportedly</a> dropped by US$47.6 billion as of Wednesday, while Twitter’s dropped by US$3.5 billion.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profit-not-free-speech-governs-media-companies-decisions-on-controversy-101292">Profit, not free speech, governs media companies' decisions on controversy</a>
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<hr>
<h2>The need for a paradigm shift</h2>
<p>When it comes to imagining a future with less hate, racism and violence, a key mistake is looking for solutions within the existing structure. </p>
<p>Today, online media is an integral part of the structure that governs society. So we look to it to solve our problems.</p>
<p>But banning Trump won’t silence him or the ideologies he peddles. It will not suppress hate speech or even reduce the capacity of individuals to incite violence. </p>
<p>Trump’s presidency will end in the coming days, but extremist groups and the broader movement they occupy <a href="https://time.com/5927685/white-supremacism-threat-outlast-trump/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_term=ideas_politics&linkId=108691555">will remain</a>, both in real life and online. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/reddit-removes-millions-of-pro-trump-posts-but-advertisers-not-values-rule-the-day-141703">Reddit removes millions of pro-Trump posts. But advertisers, not values, rule the day</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152970/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bronwyn Carlson receives funding from The Australian Research Council. She is also the recipient of an unrestricted gift from Facebook for research. </span></em></p>Fascists, neo-Nazis, anti-Semites and white supremacists have historically been agile adopters of the internet — and they know how to use it to their advantage.Bronwyn Carlson, Professor, Indigenous Studies, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1402552020-06-09T05:26:21Z2020-06-09T05:26:21ZCoronavirus weekly: racism, COVID-19, and the inequality that fuels these parallel pandemics<p>The protests against systemic racism and police violence <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/06/world/george-floyd-global-protests.html">sweeping the globe</a> highlight the intersection between <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-york-protesters-say-they-are-facing-two-deadly-pandemics-n1225241">two pandemics</a>: COVID-19 and <a href="https://theconversation.com/george-floyd-and-ahmaud-arbery-deaths-racism-causes-life-threatening-conditions-for-black-men-every-day-120541">racism</a>. Researchers are pointing out that structural inequalities mean people of colour are hit harder by the coronavirus.</p>
<p>Politicians are also concerned the protests may trigger an increase in the spread of COVID-19, so public health experts are providing <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-protest-during-a-pandemic-and-still-keep-everyone-safe-from-coronavirus-6-questions-answered-139978">tips</a> on how to protest safely.</p>
<p>And while <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/08/opinion/brazil-coronavirus-bolsonaro.html">many countries</a> grapple with increasing rates of COVID-19, New Zealand has declared it has <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealand-hits-zero-active-coronavirus-cases-here-are-5-measures-to-keep-it-that-way-139862">eliminated the virus</a>, and is now aiming to keep it that way. </p>
<p>In this week’s roundup of coronavirus stories from scholars across the globe, we explore the disproportionate impact of COVID-19, New Zealand’s success, and the latest on drug trials.</p>
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<p><strong><em>This is our weekly roundup of expert info about the <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/covid-19-82431">coronavirus</a>.</em></strong>
<br><em>The Conversation, a not-for-profit group, works with a wide range of academics across its global network. Together we produce evidence-based analysis and insights. The articles are free to read – there is no paywall – and to <a href="http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines">republish</a>. Keep up to date with the latest research by <a href="http://theconversation.com/newsletter">reading our free newsletter</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Pandemics expose inequality</h2>
<p>Past pandemics have exposed existing inequalities, and this one is no different. Our experts explain why COVID-19 is having a greater impact on people of colour and other marginalised groups. </p>
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<ul>
<li><p><strong>Disproportionate impact</strong>. Black Americans have been dying from the coronavirus at nearly three times the rate of white Americans, while black people in the United Kingdom are four times more likely to die from COVID-19 than their white compatriots. Medical historian Mark Honigsbaum writes about <a href="https://theconversation.com/epidemics-have-often-led-to-discrimination-against-minorities-this-time-is-no-different-140189">the relationship between pandemics and inequality</a>.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Social justice is crucial to healthcare</strong>. Systemic racism means marginalised groups have limited access to resources that impact health, <a href="https://theconversation.com/doctors-cant-treat-covid-19-effectively-without-recognizing-the-social-justice-aspects-of-health-138787">according to an interdisciplinary team</a> of US health researchers. Doctors need to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-shows-the-world-needs-physicians-who-can-look-beyond-medical-charts-138460">trained to understand</a> the social determinants of health to deal with problems like COVID-19, argue researchers from Rwanda’s University of Global Health Equity.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Safely protesting</strong>. Public health experts are concerned the protests will increase the spread of COVID-19. An infection prevention researcher at Monash University <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-you-socially-distance-at-a-black-lives-matter-rally-in-australia-and-new-zealand-how-to-protest-in-a-coronavirus-pandemic-139875">gives some tips</a> on how to minimise the risk of transmission when taking to the streets.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>“Fear of what others might think when they see a Black man in a mask.”</strong>. Despite masks providing increased safety during the pandemic, black and other minority groups are often subjected to racist abuse or discrimination when wearing them. Jasmin Zine of Wilfrid Laurier University explores the <a href="https://theconversation.com/unmasking-the-racial-politics-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic-139011">racial politics of mask wearing</a>.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>A lack of clean water</strong>. Clean water is crucial for hygiene and hand washing, key elements of infection control. But many people do not have access to good quality water, especially in slums and refugee camps, <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-heightens-water-problems-around-the-world-140167">according to researchers</a> from the National University of Singapore and the University of Glasgow.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>New Zealand eliminates the virus</h2>
<p>New Zealand has hit the historic milestone of zero active cases, and lifted almost all its coronavirus restrictions. Two of the leading public health experts behind the successful elimination now explain the challenge of maintaining it. Meanwhile, across the Tasman Sea, experts chart Australia’s journey in controlling the virus.</p>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>Cautious celebration</strong>. New Zealand has successfully eliminated COVID-19, but elimination is not one point in time: it requires ongoing work. Two public health professors from the University of Otago <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealand-hits-zero-active-coronavirus-cases-here-are-5-measures-to-keep-it-that-way-139862">describe five ways</a> the country can protect itself in the long term. </p></li>
<li><p><strong>Asymptomatic cases</strong>. Removing coronavirus restrictions in New Zealand increases the chance of a new outbreak to 8%, according to <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealand-hits-a-95-chance-of-eliminating-coronavirus-but-we-predict-new-cases-will-emerge-139973">modelling from an interdisciplinary research team</a>. This is because there may be hidden asymptomatic cases that haven’t been uncovered by testing.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Australia’s success</strong>. On the other side of the Tasman, Australia’s response has also been one of the most successful in the world. Yet small outbreaks continue to crop up. Steven Duckett and Anika Stobart from the Grattan Institute <a href="https://theconversation.com/4-ways-australias-coronavirus-response-was-a-triumph-and-4-ways-it-fell-short-139845">explain four factors behind the success</a>, and four ways Australia’s response could have been even better.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Testing is key</strong>. The success of both New Zealand and Australia is supported by a high number of tests per thousand people, according to a researcher from the University of Sydney, who <a href="https://theconversation.com/cases-deaths-and-coronavirus-tests-how-australia-compares-to-the-rest-of-the-world-139753">poured over the worldwide data</a>. Bahrain, Qatar, Lithuania and Denmark are also among the countries with the highest rates of testing per thousand people.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>The latest on drug trials, spread, contact tracing</h2>
<p>As the world awaits a vaccine that might not arrive, intensive research continues into possible drugs to treat COVID-19. Trials of hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug spruiked by US President Donald Trump, continue in the face of ongoing controversy.</p>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>Study retracted</strong>. One study had previously made global headlines after concluding hydroxychloroquine and the related drug chloroquine were <a href="https://theconversation.com/could-taking-hydroxychloroquine-for-coronavirus-be-more-harmful-than-helpful-139309">associated with an increased risk of death</a>. But the study has been <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/lancet/article/s0140673620313246">retracted</a> by prestigious medical journal The Lancet because of concerns over the data. Some clinical trials have been paused, while others continue.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>The history of clinical trials</strong>. The concept of clinical trials might be new to many of us, but they have an ancient history. One of the earliest experiments happened almost 1,000 years ago in China, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-fascinating-history-of-clinical-trials-139666">writes Adrian Esterman</a> from the University of South Australia.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Will it burn out?</strong>. The original SARS virus disappeared in 2004. But Connor Bamford, a virologist from Queen’s University Belfast, says COVID-19 is <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-original-sars-virus-disappeared-heres-why-coronavirus-wont-do-the-same-138177">unlikely to do the same</a> because it spreads more easily than SARS. Instead, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, might become an endemic virus that settles into the human population.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Contact tracing isn’t new</strong>. Contact tracing has been an important tool in controlling COVID-19 in many countries. Two researchers from the University of Glasgow examine the history behind the idea, and how it was used <a href="https://theconversation.com/contact-tracing-how-physicians-used-it-500-years-ago-to-control-the-bubonic-plague-139248">to tackle the bubonic plague</a> 500 years ago. </p></li>
<li><p><strong>Development risks</strong>. Pregnant women have experienced greater anxiety and depressive symptoms since the start of the pandemic. <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-hausse-des-problemes-de-sante-mentale-chez-les-femmes-enceintes-139358">This could affect the development of foetuses</a>, writes Berthelot Nicolas from the University of Quebec (in French).</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340472/original/file-20200609-165383-1636h87.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340472/original/file-20200609-165383-1636h87.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340472/original/file-20200609-165383-1636h87.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340472/original/file-20200609-165383-1636h87.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340472/original/file-20200609-165383-1636h87.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340472/original/file-20200609-165383-1636h87.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340472/original/file-20200609-165383-1636h87.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ongoing saga surrounding hydroxychloroquine takes another twist as The Lancet retracts a study claiming the anti-malarial drug increased the risk of death.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<p><em>This article is supported by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/partners/judith-neilson-institute">Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140255/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Our experts look at why people of colour are being hit harder by COVID-19, New Zealand’s success in eliminating the virus, and the latest on drug trials.Liam Petterson, Deputy Politics Editor, The Conversation AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1398142020-06-05T12:08:22Z2020-06-05T12:08:22ZMinneapolis’ ‘long, hot summer’ of ‘67 – and the parallels to today’s protests over police brutality<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339971/original/file-20200605-176554-a6i53b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C80%2C2983%2C1891&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Police stand guard on Plymouth Avenue as firemen battle fires on July 21, 1967.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Robert Walsh</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The scene was intense. Black residents of Minneapolis angered over an incident of police brutality <a href="https://startribune.newspapers.com/image/188066486">fought with officers in the streets</a> and set buildings ablaze. Many were injured; dozens were arrested. Eventually the National Guard, called in to patrol the streets, ordered black citizens back into their homes. </p>
<p>This may sound a lot like a scene from the past week, but it’s actually a flashback to 1967, when <a href="https://www.mnopedia.org/event/civil-unrest-plymouth-avenue-minneapolis-1967">African Americans took to the streets</a> of north Minneapolis after a series of abuses that, like today, culminated in days of unrest.</p>
<p>It took place in one of the “<a href="https://www.ushistory.org/US/54g.asp">long, hot summers</a>” of the 1960s, when black Americans in cities across the country protested and rioted over police abuse and segregation. While our history books <a href="https://theweek.com/captured/712838/long-hot-summer-196">remind us of famous riots</a> in major cities like Los Angeles, Newark and Detroit, what took place in Minneapolis – where the black population back then was <a href="https://www.minnpost.com/mnopedia/2020/01/how-near-north-came-to-be-one-of-minneapolis-largest-black-communities/">just 8%</a> – is often forgotten. </p>
<p><a href="https://sst.asu.edu/content/rashad-shabazz-0">I stumbled</a> across this story while doing research on a book about the Minneapolis music scene and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-minneapolis-made-prince-130173">how it made Prince</a>. With protests and riots taking place across the country to protest the murder of <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/george-floyd-87675">George Floyd</a>, now’s a good time to revisit what happened in Minneapolis in 1967 – and why it represents a missed opportunity that laid the seeds for today’s unrest.</p>
<h2>‘Long, hot summers’</h2>
<p>African Americans living in north Minneapolis in the 1960s faced the <a href="http://www.doi.org/10.2307/2096395">same problems of segregation, poverty and disinvestment</a> that blacks in other American cities endured.</p>
<p>Frustration with the resulting marginalization as well as discriminatory Jim Crow laws <a href="https://www.ushistory.org/US/54g.asp">led to a rippling series of urban uprisings</a> in the U.S. in 1964. The unrest finally reached Minneapolis in 1966, when <a href="https://www.mnopedia.org/event/civil-unrest-plymouth-avenue-minneapolis-1967">looting and arson took place on Plymouth Avenue</a>, a major street in north Minneapolis. </p>
<p>One result of the tumult was black cultural centers began to spring up across the country, including in Minneapolis, where <a href="https://www.startribune.com/plymouth-avenue-racial-tensions-since-the-60s/353209691/">city officials helped establish</a> The Way in the north of the city. The center became a space where local African Americans could hold community meetings, play sports and perform. Prince, who grew up in the neighborhood, practiced and performed there – and even played a little ball. </p>
<p>But it also became a place where blacks could share their stories of life in the city and organize themselves. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339975/original/file-20200605-176585-d7352n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339975/original/file-20200605-176585-d7352n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339975/original/file-20200605-176585-d7352n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339975/original/file-20200605-176585-d7352n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339975/original/file-20200605-176585-d7352n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339975/original/file-20200605-176585-d7352n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339975/original/file-20200605-176585-d7352n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prince grew up in north Minneapolis near The Way, where he frequently performed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A week of unrest</h2>
<p>The city’s response to unrest one year later was decidedly less accommodating. </p>
<p>On July 19, 1967, an <a href="https://startribune.newspapers.com/image/184838858/?terms=Aquatennial%2Bparade%2Briot%2Bnegro%2Bwoman">altercation broke out</a> between two teenage black girls at the city’s <a href="https://www.mnopedia.org/event/minneapolis-aquatennial">Aquatennial Torchlight parade</a>. Nearby police trying to break up the scuffle between them threw both girls to the ground. When a young teenage black boy who witnessed the incident complained to the officer about the treatment of the girls, another officer struck him too. </p>
<p>News of what had happened spread quickly among black residents, and many gathered at The Way the next day to organize a protest in response. Later that night, black residents marched along Plymouth Avenue and demanded the officers be held accountable. </p>
<p><a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1053/stribjuly21.pdf?1591324500">Police arrived</a>. <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/07/19/minneapolis-plymouth-avenue-riots-anniversary">Tensions escalated</a>. An officer struck a pregnant woman in the belly – she subsequently miscarried – and fights between residents and police broke out. Protesters threw rocks and set fires to buildings with Molotov coattails.</p>
<p>More cops were called, and more residents joined the ensuing fight. By the next morning, the protesters were causing havoc, prompting the city’s mayor, Arthur Naftalin, to call in the National Guard to squash the protests. Burned buildings, injured protesters and over 30 arrests marked the end of the protest four days later. No police officers were held accountable for their treatment of black citizens. </p>
<h2>A tale of two responses</h2>
<p>City officials, naturally, wanted to get to the bottom of what had happened in hopes of preventing another riot in the future. They did so in two ways. </p>
<p>The first was a <a href="https://startribune.newspapers.com/image/188066642/?terms=Aquatennial%2Bparade%2Briot%2Bnegro%2Bwoman">public forum</a>, organized by local religious leaders, that focused on listening to the grievances of the protesters and other residents. Protesters who attended made it clear that fatigue with police brutality was the main reason they marched and rioted. </p>
<p>“This will show them we are not going to take any more of the cops shoving and pushing us,” said one protester. Another explained the violence of the protesters was a normal response to social conditions. “You back a colored man into a corner and complain when he comes out fighting,” he said. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339974/original/file-20200605-176554-1on7thk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339974/original/file-20200605-176554-1on7thk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339974/original/file-20200605-176554-1on7thk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339974/original/file-20200605-176554-1on7thk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339974/original/file-20200605-176554-1on7thk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339974/original/file-20200605-176554-1on7thk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339974/original/file-20200605-176554-1on7thk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">George Floyd’s brother Philonise Floyd, far right, and cousin Shareeduh Tate, second from right, share their memories of Floyd at a memorial service at North Central University, on June 4, 2020, in Minneapolis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But in the city’s other response, officials came to a very different conclusion for what caused the unrest. The county impaneled an all-white grand jury to identify those who “perpetrated the crimes,” determine if there was a conspiracy and consider any “constructive decisions that would be helpful in the future.” </p>
<p>From the start, the prosecutorial nature of the grand jury made it feel like officials were ignoring the community’s call for a different model of policing, one that takes black safety and the value of black life seriously. </p>
<p>Moreover, the grand jury’s report, in addressing whether there were any “constructive decisions” that could prevent a recurrence, disregarded the community’s claims of brutality as the impetus for the uprising. </p>
<p>“No weapons were fired by authorities,” the report claimed, though a young black man <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1054/stribjuly21b.pdf?1591324576">was rushed to the county hospital</a> with a gunshot wound. “And there is no evidence of so-called ‘police brutality.’”</p>
<p>The grand jury recommended The Way and its staff be investigated for inciting the disturbance. Finally, the report concluded that more beat police patrolling “certain areas” like north Minneapolis would help to better establish positive connections between police and communities of color.</p>
<p>And so, by ignoring the voices of the black community and their calls for change and accountability – and instead doubling down on the kind of policies that caused the problems – the city of Minneapolis squandered an opportunity to improve relations between black citizens and the police. Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25 is a consequence of this public policy failure. </p>
<p>As Americans grapple with how to respond to today’s unrest, I hope they don’t make the same mistake they did in 1967. </p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklysmart">You can get our highlights each weekend</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139814/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rashad Shabazz receives funding from the Institute for Humanities Research at Arizona State University. </span></em></p>After a riot broke out in 1967, Minneapolis officials squandered an opportunity to address the structural racism that led to George Floyd’s death and a wave of unrest across the country.Rashad Shabazz, Associate Professor at the School of Social Transformation, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1232562019-09-13T11:41:53Z2019-09-13T11:41:53ZWhy Sikhs wear a turban and what it means to practice the faith in the United States<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292055/original/file-20190911-190012-1s4t5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People participate in a candlelight vigil near the White House to protest violence against Sikhs in 2012.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Sikh-Temple-Shooting-Vigil/ad57c7685bef4f4bb6cddecaa1883221/20/0">AP Photo/Susan Walsh</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>An elderly Sikh gentleman in Northern California, 64-year-old Parmjit Singh, was recently <a href="https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2019/08/27/sikh-stabbed-to-death-tracy-parmjit-singh/">stabbed to death</a> while taking a walk in the evening. Authorities are still investigating the killer’s motive, but community members have <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/29/us/california-sikh-mans-death-fbi-trnd/index.html">asked the FBI to investigate</a> the killing. </p>
<p>For many among the <a href="http://pluralism.org/religions/sikhism/sikhism-in-america/the-sikh-community-today/">estimated 500,000</a> Sikhs in the U.S., it wouldn’t be the first time. According to the Sikh Coalition, the largest Sikh civil rights organization in North America, this is the <a href="https://www.kqed.org/news/11770976/hate-crime-sikh-community-asks-fbi-to-investigate-stabbing-death-in-tracy">seventh such attack</a> on an elderly Sikh with a turban in the past eight years. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&view_op=list_works&authuser=1&gmla=AJsN-F7irP4mmhGxZbPfBF8jBXPvOLWMrqTjeDnqSnXJsyWttjQGrUI9m_tJBBh0QJHK1BWEVbHbPbe-ihA2qhlr05ClxIa12g&user=DxunMTcAAAAJ">As a scholar of the tradition</a> and a practicing Sikh myself, I have studied the harsh realities of what it means to be a Sikh in America today. I have also experienced racial slurs from a young age.</p>
<p>I have found there is little understanding of who exactly the Sikhs are and what they believe. So here’s a primer.</p>
<h2>Founder of Sikhism</h2>
<p>The founder of the Sikh tradition, Guru Nanak, was born in 1469 in the Punjab region of South Asia, which is currently split between Pakistan and the northwestern area of India. A majority of the global Sikh population <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781135367459">still resides in Punjab on the Indian side of the border</a>.</p>
<p>From a young age, Guru Nanak was disillusioned by the social inequities and religious hypocrisies he observed around him. He believed that <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781136451010">a single divine force</a> created the entire world and resided within it. In his belief, God was not separate from the world and watching from a distance, but fully present in every aspect of creation. </p>
<p>He therefore asserted that all people <a href="http://www.iuscanada.com/journal/archives/2011/j1312p42.pdf">are equally divine</a> and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jaar/article-abstract/74/3/646/895695">deserve to be treated</a> as such.</p>
<p>To promote this vision of divine oneness and social equality, <a href="http://www.academicroom.com/article/guru-nanak-and-%E2%80%98sants%E2%80%99-reappraisal">Guru Nanak created institutions and religious practices</a>. He established community centers and places of worship, wrote his own scriptural compositions and institutionalized a system of leadership (gurus) that would carry forward his vision.</p>
<p>The Sikh view thus rejects all social distinctions that produce inequities, including gender, race, religion and caste, the predominant structure for social hierarchy in South Asia. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230978/original/file-20180807-191044-t68ftq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230978/original/file-20180807-191044-t68ftq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230978/original/file-20180807-191044-t68ftq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230978/original/file-20180807-191044-t68ftq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230978/original/file-20180807-191044-t68ftq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230978/original/file-20180807-191044-t68ftq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230978/original/file-20180807-191044-t68ftq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A community kitchen run by the Sikhs to provide free meals irrespective of caste, faith or religion, in the Golden Temple, in Punjab, India.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/shankaronline/38938496121">shankar s.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Serving the world is a natural expression of the Sikh prayer and worship. <a href="https://therevealer.org/why-sikhs-serve/">Sikhs call this prayerful service “seva,”</a> and it is a core part of their practice.</p>
<h2>The Sikh identity</h2>
<p>In the Sikh tradition, a truly religious person is one who cultivates the spiritual self while also serving the communities around them – or a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=FqvTRUrwt2UC&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=sikh+saint+soldier++&ots=eM7EOLjPBV&sig=jXLxItv_Xp9n7Plh-C55G0M6oaM#v=onepage&q=sikh%20saint%20soldier&f=false">saint-soldier</a>. The saint-soldier ideal applies to women and men alike.</p>
<p>In this spirit, Sikh women and men maintain <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=TJb_i97CG70C&pg=PT149&dq=sikh+identity+articles+of+faith&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXx4TZtszcAhWm44MKHU-ICfQQ6AEIQTAE#v=onepage&q=sikh%20identity%20articles%20of%20faith&f=false">five articles of faith, popularly known as the five Ks</a>. These are: kes (long, uncut hair), kara (steel bracelet), kanga (wooden comb), kirpan (small sword) and kachera (soldier-shorts). </p>
<p>Although little historical evidence exists to explain why these particular articles were chosen, the five Ks continue to provide the community with a collective identity, binding together individuals on the basis of a shared belief and practice. As I understand, Sikhs cherish these articles of faith as gifts from their gurus.</p>
<p>Turbans are an important part of the Sikh identity. Both women and men may wear turbans. Like the articles of faith, Sikhs regard their turbans as gifts given by their beloved gurus, and their meaning is deeply personal. In South Asian culture, wearing a turban typically indicated one’s social status – kings and rulers once wore turbans. The <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17448720500132557">Sikh gurus adopted the turban</a>, in part, to remind Sikhs that all humans are sovereign, royal and ultimately equal. </p>
<h2>Sikhs in America</h2>
<p>Today, there are <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=7QEjPVyd9YMC&pg=PA275&lpg=PA275&dq=sikhs+30+million&source=bl&ots=urtHXKjCPx&sig=nyZTGrreOK6owh5EmmPA16YVD8A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj_8Lbk9M7cAhXis1kKHWCPB-UQ6AEwFXoECAIQAQ#v=onepage&q=sikhs%2030%20million&f=false">approximately 30 million Sikhs worldwide</a>, making Sikhism the world’s fifth-largest major religion. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231170/original/file-20180808-191019-xqmsqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231170/original/file-20180808-191019-xqmsqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231170/original/file-20180808-191019-xqmsqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231170/original/file-20180808-191019-xqmsqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231170/original/file-20180808-191019-xqmsqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231170/original/file-20180808-191019-xqmsqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231170/original/file-20180808-191019-xqmsqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘A Sikh-American Journey’ parade in Pasadena, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After British colonizers in India seized power of Punjab in 1849, where a majority of the Sikh community was based, <a href="http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/books/9789004257238">Sikhs began migrating to various regions</a> controlled by the British Empire, including Southeast Asia, East Africa and the United Kingdom itself. Based on what was available to them, Sikhs played various roles in these communities, including military service, agricultural work and railway construction.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ccss.org/Resources/Documents/Sikh%20Migration%20to%20CA%20_%20West%20Coast.pdf">The first Sikh community entered the United States</a> via the West Coast during the 1890s. They began experiencing discrimination immediately upon their arrival. For instance, <a href="http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/bham_intro.htm">the first race riot targeting Sikhs</a> took place in Bellingham, Washington, in 1907. Angry mobs of white men <a href="http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/bham_history.htm">rounded up Sikh laborers</a>, beat them up and forced them to leave town. </p>
<p>The discrimination continued over the years. For instance, when my father moved from Punjab to the United States in the 1970s, racial slurs like “Ayatollah” and “raghead” were hurled at him. It was a time when <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/15/world/meast/iran-hostage-crisis-fast-facts/index.html">52 American diplomats and citizens were taken captive in Iran</a> and tension between the two countries was high. These slurs reflected the racist backlash against those who fitted the stereotypes of Iranians. Our family faced a similar racist backlash when the U.S. engaged in the Gulf War during the early 1990s. </p>
<h2>Increase in hate crimes</h2>
<p>The racist attacks spiked again after 9/11, particularly because many Americans did not know about the Sikh religion and may have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17448727.2013.822138">conflated the unique Sikh appearance with popular stereotypes</a> of what terrorists look like. News reports show that in comparison to the past decade, the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-trump-sikhs-20170509-htmlstory.html">rates of violence against Sikhs have surged</a>.</p>
<p>Elsewhere too, Sikhs have been victims of hate crimes. An Ontario member of Parliament, Gurrattan Singh, was <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/09/01/brampton-mpp-gurratan-singh-denounces-islamophobic-remarks-made-toward-him-at-muslimfest.html">recently heckled</a> with Islamophobic comments by a man who perceived Singh as a Muslim.</p>
<p>As a practicing Sikh, I can affirm that the Sikh <a href="http://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1296&context=law_facultyscholarship">commitment to the tenets of their faith</a>, including love, service and justice, keeps them resilient in the face of hate. For these reasons, for many Sikh Americans, like myself, it is rewarding to maintain the unique Sikh identity.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-are-the-sikhs-and-what-are-their-beliefs-97237">first published</a> on Aug. 9, 2018.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simran Jeet Singh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Sikh gurus adopted the turban, in part, to remind Sikhs that all humans are sovereign, royal and ultimately equal. But their attire can also lead to misunderstandings and at times, hate crimes.Simran Jeet Singh, Henry R. Luce Post-Doctoral Fellow in Religion in International Affairs Post-Doctoral Fellow, New York UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.