At one time I thought that racialized advantages accruing to white workers would dissolve in the face of the unifying imperatives of class struggle, class unity, and class ideology. But I was wrong.

First, racialized advantages accruing to white working people date back to the earliest days of white settler colonialism in the 17th century. During the long formation of the United States as a continental and world power in the centuries that followed, they became more embedded and pervasive. Today, they remain “facts on the ground.”

Second, white skin advantages (or privileges if you prefer) assume different forms as one racial order evolved and gave way to another in the course of contested and fierce struggles.

Third, they serve as stabilizers of the dominant political blocs and parties across time, not to mention play an essential role in deepening the exploitation of working people and the super exploitation of workers of color.

Fourth, the advantages that accrue to white workers are structured into the workplace, the neighborhood, the school, the health care and criminal justice system, and more. Conversely, the structural counterpart to white skin advantage is systematic and systemic discrimination, inequality, and disadvantage imposed on workers of color in the same social spaces.

Fifth, white working people perceive the material advantages accruing to them as natural, expected, and earned, while the subordinate and unequal status of people of color is understood by them as the result of their inferiority, indolence, and moral laxity. That their status might be the consequence of the racialized force of law, politics, economics, and legal and extra legal violence doesn’t figure in their thinking anymore than their advantages might not be the consequence of their own doing, industry, and intelligence.

Finally, the willingness of white workers to give up their racialized group advantages is neither automatic nor structurally determined by their place in the system of social production. Even in the face of a faltering economy that threatens the livelihood of all workers, there may not be such a disposition. In fact, in moments of economic and social crisis when their advantages appear to be at risk, white workers can as easily assume a defensive and self-protective posture. And in such circumstances become easy prey to right wing, racist zealots, such as Trump. This is especially so when progressive and left activists have a negligible presence in the labor movement and working class life.

As election day draws closer, and with the triple crises — health, economic, and political — still awaiting resolution and no abatement in the popular demand for radical criminal justice reform and other anti-racist measures in sight, the clash between the country’s two main political blocs — the Democratic Party-democratic coalition bloc in one case and the right wing extremist, white nationalist, authoritarian bloc, led by Trump in the other case — can only reach a fever pitch. And whatever the outcome, this clash will continue after all the votes are counted and a winner declared. And in case it needs to be said, the winning side will be advantageously positioned to remake the state, economy, and social and democratic relations in accordance with its vision. In this light, the dangers are as frightening as the possibilities are palpable, exciting, and within reach.

To say that the racist murder of George Floyd and the massive anti-racist protests in reaction to this heinous crime shook the country and world, reconfigured politics, recast the understanding of racism and anti-racism in the minds of millions, revealed new dangers to democracy and democratic governance, and gave new urgency to defeating Trump carries not a hint of overstatement.

The floor on which people dance out their lives has changed in dramatic ways. Unforeseen and unpredictable events have washed away the old floor, replacing it a floor, both larger and differently configured. On it more people, many more, gather to dance. But they don’t dance to old familiar tunes. Nor is choreography of the past repeated. They move to a new rhythm and snap their fingers to a new beat, while swinging with new partners long into the night.

Looks like Martin Guino, the 75 year old man who was pushed to the pavement by police in Buffalo and remains in the hospital, is nothing but a troublemaker, an “Antifa  Provocateur,” Trump tells us? Or maybe something worse? Who knows. I’m sure Trump will help his polling numbers with this crazy gambit.