Dawn Turner, a former Chicago Tribune columnist, believes Donald Trump has created an atmosphere in America that makes people feel okay about being racists.
In a Tuesday column for the Washington Post, Turner wrote that she recognizes the anxieties of many Trump supporters as the same feeling expressed by many of her readers when she was a Tribune writer.
“Before Trump gave his supporters license to give in to their lesser selves and convey their hatred in mixed company, they did so in my email box,” Turner wrote. “They are part of a disaffected angry knot of Americans who feel as though they’ve been bruised by diversity.”
“What they really want is to be angry because that covers up what they truly feel: fear. That’s the emotion into which Trump has tunneled. Many of his voters are afraid immigration and affirmative action will dilute their power and white privilege. They’re foolishly terrified that if black lives really do begin to matter, that somehow will devalue theirs.”
Trump is frequently labeled a racist demagogue by his critics in the news media for some of his statements and policy proposals, such as calling for a temporary U.S. ban on foreign Muslims and asserting that as president, he would “build a wall” to keep out illegal immigrants at the southern U.S. border. Trump has defended himself, however, by maintaining that he simply wants to put “America first.”
In her column, Turner said that the Republican candidates rhetoric has nonetheless inflamed racial tensions.
“In 2016, Trump has turned the dog whistle back into a megaphone,” she said. “It used to be that one of the worst things someone could call you in America is a ‘racist.’ The great tragedy is that it’s becoming palatable to actually be one.”
