Tim Wise breaks down racial scapegoating & the politics of white male anxiety in “The Great White Hoax”
It’s never been more important to break down the impact of racial scapegoating and white male anxiety on American presidential politics.
A wealth of polling data has now clearly established that Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election had a lot more to do with racism, sexism, and cultural anxiety among white working class voters than with economic anxiety. And there’s now clear evidence – corroborated from within the administration itself – that Trump fully intends to use these same hypermasculine, race-baiting tactics to win white working-class voters in even bigger numbers in 2020.
If you’re looking for educational tools to help shine a light on these dynamics as the 2020 presidential election heats up, be sure to check out our recent release The Great White Hoax: Donald Trump and the Politics of Race & Class in America, featuring acclaimed anti-racism educator and activist Tim Wise.
While the film’s primary focus is Trump’s 2016 campaign for the presidency, it widens its scope to show how Trump’s divisive rhetoric about African-Americans, Latinos, and Muslims fits within a longstanding historical pattern of race-baiting that cuts across partisan lines and goes back centuries in American politics.
The Great White Hoax is a powerful educational tool for navigating debates about “cultural anxiety” and the politics of white grievance as the 2020 presidential race heats up.
“My seminar was MESMERIZED by The Great White Hoax [and] gave it the highest possible rating. I would recommend this unreservedly to show in college classes and in discussion groups, community organizations, and religious institutions.”
— Mark Naison | Professor of History and African American Studies at Fordham University
“In this searing film, Tim Wise offers a history lesson, sociological analysis, and call to action that should be required viewing for all Americans. For the sake of our democracy, my hope is that this clear-eyed film receives as wide a viewing as possible.”
— Celeste Watkins-Hayes | Professor of Sociology & African American Studies at Northwestern University
“Timely and visually provocative! Makes a compelling case for the ongoing need for resistance to white racism. An excellent teaching tool!”
— Woody Doane | Chair of Social Sciences Department at the University of Hartford
“Timely and necessary. Demonstrates that racial scapegoating is one of the oldest games in American politics and that we must defeat the narrative of fear and division in order to move our country forward.”
— Van Jones | CNN commentator
“A kaleidoscopic view of a nation still grappling with white supremacy, and still riven by deep and persistent inequalities along racial lines.”
— Stephen Steinberg | Author of The Ethnic Myth: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in America
“This brilliant documentary situates the political rise of Donald Trump within decades of racial scapegoating that stokes white anxiety based on racial nativism and cultural insecurity fundamentally rooted in anti-Blackness.”
— Kevin Cokley | Author of The Myth of Black Anti-Intellectualism
“Tim Wise and the Media Education Foundation have done it again. We will remember this video for many presidencies to come.”
— Zeus Leonardo | Author of Race, Whiteness, and Education
“This film is a must see for those opposed to racism in all its forms.”
— Tukufu Zuberi | Lasry Family Professor of Race Relations at the University of Pennsylvania
“This invaluable educational resource arrives at precisely the right moment for professors, high school teachers, and librarians who want to help their students develop the tools to understand and resist the rising tide of racism and bigotry in this country.”
— Jackson Katz, Ph.D. | Author of Man Enough? Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and the Politics of Presidential Masculinity