Frank Fernandez

September 7, 2016

Race & Ethnicity

Notes & Commentary

In the article, White Racism in the Heartland, authors Joe R. Feagin and Hernn Vera

breakdown the time in Dubuque during the late 1980s and early 1990s when white supremacy

was rampant. Due to xenophobia and mythology created by the same citizens who carried out

acts of racial violence, Dubuque became the subject of a 20/20 special report and the face of a

terrified white population. This fear, coupled with prejudice and rising unemployment, allowed

white people to point the fingers toward the black population for all of their problems. This cycle

of racial blaming continues to this day, as we see not only black people, but many people of color

being attributed with causing many of the countrys problem. Mexican immigrants in the modern

day are blamed for taking away jobs from hardworking Americans much like black citizens

during this awful time in Dubuque. White people will always point their finger toward those who

are different from them, instead of looking toward those who are in charge or themselves as the

problem. It boggles my mind that the issues covered in this case study are still being dealt with

today. Yet, for some strange reason, there are still individuals who believe that this country is

living in a post-racism world. They think that after the civil rights era and Martin Luther King

Jrs fight for justice, the country is living in harmony. While this sounds like an ideal world, it is

simply not the case. There are almost constant reminders in that most of our problems have not

been solved, but only got worse with the passing of time. This case study focuses in on one

specific instance of racial discourse and it fascinates me that I now live in this city. I wanted to

highlight a few sections from this article and expand on them.

 The first section I will focus on is A Question of Jobs? The authors state that one of the

most prevalent white objections to black recruitment was phrased in the terms of the threat to

white jobs. The original proposal by the Dubuque city council was not one that called for

preferential treatment by employers but instead welcomed competition and hoped to fill open

positions across the entire spectrum. This resulted in unemployed white people casting blame on

the newly recruited black people for taking their jobs. One man even stated that he had lost his

job to someone who everyone knows is lower than you. The belief that white people are

somehow above people of color automatically is a ridiculous notion. On top of this notion is the

idea that middle class white workers do not look to the capitalist system and the corporate elite

as a reason for economic downturn and lack of job openings, which plays a bigger role than any

sort of black threat to jobs. This irrational belief only fuels the racial divide within our country.

The section continues by breaking down the number of black who would be transferring into

Dubuque due to the proposal. The actual numbers are very small, with only about 700 black men,

women, and children over the span of the recruitment. This adds up to 1 in 83 Dubuque citizens

being black, when put next to the nearly 60,000 people living in the city at the time. Many white

people believed there would be a flood of black people into the city, specifically gang

members. This term is a euphemism for the N word that is used to describe young black men

when white people are scared of them. Today, gang member has been replaced by thug and it

is used mostly in mainstream media in order to describe young black men. The section concludes

with a breakdown of this era in the United States and how even our government officials used

racist and prejudice tactics and language. Our own president, Ronald Reagan used the term

welfare queens to describe black women, mostly to belittle them and paint them as lazy

freeloaders. This did not stop with Reagan, as President George Bush used a number of racially
stereotypical advertisements during his campaign and reluctantly signed a civil rights bill. This

shows that it does not stop with middle class white people in Iowa, but goes all the way up to the

most powerful position in our countrys government.

The final section that I will speak on is entitled Local White Attitudes and Beliefs. Before

the city councils recruitment plan was implemented, the black population in Dubuque was

relatively zero. Most of the people who grew up in the city were surrounded by white people

from the first moment they opened their eyes at birth. Their teachers, doctors, police officers,

coaches, and just about everybody else were white. This lack of diversity resulted in skewed

beliefs and views on people of color, specifically black people. The only things that white people

in Dubuque knew about black people was what they heard because they werent able to live or

work or interact with any themselves. Older white people were quoted as being afraid to go out

at night and feeling that they could no longer raise their family in the city due to the new black

citizens. Young white men complained that they could not stand up to this proposal without

being referred to as racists. This led to the creation of a branch of the NAAWP or the National

Association for the Advancement of White People, an organization created by former grand

wizard of the KKK David Duke. The idea that white people could experience racism is

ridiculous due to the fact that racism is a social construct created BY white people. They dont

understand that people of color are experiencing the same problems as them (trying to support a

family, find a good paying job, etc.) but they also have to deal with racism on top of it all. These

same young white men also took action by burning crosses on the lawns of black families in the

city, as well as burning down the garage of a black family. Other white people in the city enabled

this behavior by co-workers congratulating the cross burners for what theyd done or judges

giving lenient sentences to them for their crimes. Even the DOJ delayed enacting civil rights
laws until 1992, revealing even more about the systems failure to help people of color. It

saddens me that this continues to happen as police officers avoid trial for the shooting of black

people and rapists get off after three months for good behavior. On the other hand, people of

color receive harsh sentences for simple possession. We as a country need to do better to

examine these kinds of misdeeds and horrid treatment of human beings must be amended in

some way. The fact that we still pledge liberty and justice for all and see the type of injustice

we do on a daily basis makes me sick. I hope my children will not to still being experiencing the

same kind of sad world we are today.