Westenley Alcenat
Abstract : At every stage of major historical events in America in the last century, Du Bois’s thesis has been validated. The New Deal, for example, failed to radicalize the politics of race and create a more inclusive union. Instead, what initially seemed to be a class struggle took on the racialized perception of being more socially beneficial to white Americans than to others. Furthermore, the notoriety of the Civil Rights movement, in terms of the conflicts it posed between government and civil demands, and between the professed ideals of the Constitution and the legal practice of racial segregation, substantiates Du Bois’s claim. President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society also emerged with a racial premise, except this time whites viewed its social policies as benefiting African Americans. More importantly, the cultural and racial backlash spurred by the Civil Rights movement and the Great Society extended well into the 1960s and 1970s, further highlighting the significance of the color-line. Yet, what if we reconsider the Du Boisian analysis in a different light? This essay will part ways with his racial analysis to argue that the sociopolitical lives of Americans are also dominated by a national consciousness of individualism. As a result, many Americans disregard issues relating to the class problems of the country. Consequently, focusing on issues of class inequalities is easily confused with socialism. Therefore, while race and class mutually reinforce each other, the political and social perceptions in which they are framed view class as unimportant. The Tea Party movement, while not representative of the larger public, is symptomatic of this point. Reframing Du Bois’s warning, this essay argues that in the 21st century (as in the 20th century), U.S. politics lacks a class consciousness. It accentuates the schism between traditional American individualism and an emerging need to redress acute class issues.
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