More than halfway through the first year of Donald Trump’s second term as president of the United States and I am wishing African Americans the sweetest of dreams. In fact, I hope they fluff their pillow, turn over and keep on dreaming. Because white-body supremacy is exhausting.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) offers insight into this cultural shift to rest as resistance in the introduction of a report titled “Trump on DEI and Anti-Discrimination Law:”
“When Donald Trump’s administration left office in 2020, two-thirds of surveyed Americans agreed that Trump had increased racial tensions in the United States. The backdrop for that widespread sentiment was the Trump administration’s sustained assault on political, civic, and legal efforts to promote racial justice; Trump’s consistent use of inflammatory racist rhetoric; and his transparent pursuit of a white supremacist agenda rooted in racial grievance.”
His second term is no different, as documented by the Center for Progressive Reform. “It is no coincidence that since taking office on Martin Luther King Day, the Trump administration’s most aggressive actions have targeted historically marginalized groups,” Catalina Gonzalez and Rachel Mayo wrote.
“In fact, the many blatantly illegal, unconstitutional, and bizarre actions we saw during the first month of Trump 2.0—during which we also observed National Black History Month—are specifically harmful to Black Americans,” Gonzalez and Mayo concluded. “Attempts by Trump to freeze federal funding, close federal agencies, curb the rights of workers, and dismiss federal workers, through illegal means and by Republicans using budget reconciliation to cut federal funding for Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, food assistance, and public education, continue a shameful tradition in American history of systematically dehumanizing, disenfranchising, and stealing from Black Americans.”
But this is unsurprising to this community. White-body supremacy is predictable in large part because it follows historical patterns and is fueled by identifiable psychological and social factors, including a perceived threat to the social, political, and economic status of people racialized as white or, as Ta-Nehisi Coates writes in Between the World and Me, “who believe that they are white.” Significant political and social shifts that challenge the legitimacy of “white-dominant culture” have historically been followed by “whitelash,” a reactionary, white supremacist backlash triggered by the social advancement of marginalized and minoritized groups.
One should also not be surprised by these recent polling results. A July YouGov/The Economist poll showed President Trump’s approval rating among African American voters had dropped to just 15%, with a 79% disapproval rating of his job performance. In August, support had dropped to 11%. A Newsweek headline read, “Donald Trump’s Approval Rating Collapses with Black Voters.”
But their disapproval has not been marked by rage. Instead, the community is committed to resting and I’m here on my couch for it.
“Black fatigue,” a term coined by Mary-Frances Winters, is used to describe the emotional, physical, and spiritual toll centuries of systemic racism take on African Americans, leading to exhaustion, stress, and chronic health issues. It stems from the daily burden of microaggressions, the pressure to prove oneself, and navigating a society not built to support them.
The term highlights the pervasive impact of racism on African Americans as individuals and communities, which is not to be confused with the “fatigue” some European Americans say they experience when confronted with discussions of racism. It is a cumulative exhaustion from navigating daily indignities, institutional inequities, and historical trauma.
Winters formally introduced the concept in her book, Black Fatigue: How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body, and Spirit. It is “the multifaceted physical and psychological damage wrought by simply living, day by day, in a racist society.”
Winters explained in a chapter titled “Then Is Now,” Black people are fatigued because of a lack of progress in dismantling centuries-old racist systems.” She continued, “The forces that maintain the status quo are deeply entrenched. The widespread denial that racism is at the root of these interconnected issues is fatiguing and literally killing those who are the victims of this system.”
So, save your breath and snore instead. Put on the sixth season of The Raceless Gospel podcast and keep on dreaming.
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Director of The Raceless Gospel Initiative, an associate editor, host of the Good Faith Media podcast, “The Raceless Gospel” and author of Take Me to the Water: The Raceless Gospel as Baptismal Pedagogy for a Desegregated Church.
