The term, “white backlash” first came into the public consciousness during the civil rights era of the 1960s. It was a reaction to the fast and furious gains made by African-Americans. In the South, white people were horrified that the Black people they had subjugated for centuries might actually gain the equality that was assumed by the Declaration of Independence. In the North, others were made uneasy by the annual summer riots in the cities as well as the nascent Black Power movement that threatened to undermine the docility of Dr. Marting Luther King Jr.’s message of non-violence.

The white backlash in the South found fatal expression in the 1964 murders of activists James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, the notorious “Mississippi Burning” case; followed by the brutal response to the Selma March to Montgomery and the killing of Viola Liuzzo the next year. In the North, however, Dr. King’s efforts to integrate the Chicago suburb of Cicero was met with violence (and openly displayed swastikas) so vicious that he said afterwards that the hatred expressed there was worse than anything he had witnessed below the Mason-Dixon Line.

But the white backlash is nothing new in American history. The first occurred immediately after the Civil War freed millions of enslaved Blacks who were then allowed to vote, become educated (reading and writing deemed illegal beforehand) and even hold public office. During Reconstruction, white terrorist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan, Red Shirts and Redeemers came into being with the blessing of local and state officials. Organized massacres of Black communities were common, the most notorious being one in Memphis where white Tennesseans slaughtered 46 African-American men, women and children and Colfax, Louisiana where the murder rate doubled.

The next white backlash inflicted on innocent African-Americans was the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre where the entire black Greenwood District was burned to the ground. In this case, white Oklahomans were outraged that this neighborhood was prosperous enough to be nicknamed “The Black Wall Street.” The ferocious destruction of Greenwood reads like something out of a major war; it was bombed by aircraft with some of its victims machine-gunned. Not surprisingly, the all-white police force did nothing to prevent the assault but joined in.

The idea that Black Americans could become wealthy and successful has always terrified white citizens, especially those who need a scapegoat for their own struggles. It lives today where every successful Black American — especially a Black American woman — is being libeled as a “DEI Hire” which is just the latest incarnation of the N-word (among other bigoted usages.) This undisguised racist attitude now exists at the highest level of our government.

Which brings us to the latest “white backlash,” now in effect since Donald Trump’s inauguration. It’s no surprise that Trump and Elon Musk are white supremacists, a position Trump made clear from the get-go in August 2015 when he labeled all Mexican immigrants as rapists, thieves and murderers; still a frequent chant from his mesmerized followers. Their pathological obsession with DEI is unprecedented. Instead of fighting inflation and the high cost of living expenses, Trump has instead declared war on words and terms with a long list of those forbidden. The following are now officially banned from government documents: “Black,” “Diversity,” “Racism,” “Social Justice”, “Native American,” “Inequality,” and “Oppression.” There’s more but I think you get the picture (and to show how crazy this transformation really is; other banned terms include “Breastfeed” and “Pregnant Person”!)

Worse than the ban on words is the ban on people of color, the most glaring example being the firing of Air Force General CQ Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. There was no excuse for his dismissal other than him being a Black man. Trump’s claim that he believes in “merit-based opportunity” is belied by his hiring of incompetent, loyalist hacks like Pete Hesgeth to run our military. Add to this the sudden disappearance of all webpage links related to Black, Hispanic and women veterans who are buried at the Arlington National Cemetery.

The white backlash is not an exclusively American phenomenon. Instagram is awash with videos showing Muslims or other non-whites marching or merely promenading in European cities with sinister warnings about “Them” taking over. Subsequent comments demonstrate enthusiasm for white racial purity and deportation of the others. In Israel, the threatened ethnic-cleansing of Gaza has wide support.

Hopefully, these white backlash eruptions are short-lived. The question is how much damage they will do before they disappear.

Daniel A. Brown lived in Franklin County for 44 years and has written a monthly My Turn column for over two decades. He lives outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico with his wife, Lisa and dog, Cody.