What is the evidence that the United States is divided along gender and

racial lines?

Kody John

Senior Project Advisor: Libby Cowles

12th Grade Humanities

Animas High School
27 February 2017

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Part I: Introduction

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 On January 20th, 2017, countless acts of social disruption ensued across the nation during

the inauguration of Donald Trump. Following the inauguration, the publics mixed reactions

revealed how divided the United States has been. Since the colonization of America leading up

to the present day, there has been some form of division: ethnic, gender based, racial, political,

etc. A divided America is a problematic America. The president, who holds extreme views on

already controversial issues, may implicitly allow for a divided America to polarize even further.

The United States is divided, this much is evident as shown by statements and actions of our

president and violent acts against ethnic and gender minorities.

Part II: Historical Context

The dominant system of many societies is one of patriarchy, which unnecessarily divides

the value that males and females are capable of contributing towards society. Regardless of their

capabilities, females have had a disadvantage. From not being allowed to vote until 1920

(History.com Staff. "19th Amendment."), having less social or economic value, including the

stereotype of the female staying at home to take care of the house while the male goes out to

work, these differences in gender are learned behaviors that unfortunately still exist today. In the

article Pay Equity & Discrimination, the economic division with regard to gender can be

summarized with, On average, women continue to earn considerably less than men. In 2015,

female full-time, year-round workers made only 80 cents for every dollar earned by men, a

gender wage gap of 20 percent. ("Pay Equity & Discrimination." Institute for Women's Policy

Research.) No doubt throughout history, women have had less legal rights and career

opportunities than men have.

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 While women have clearly faced oppression and had fewer rights and opportunities than

men, they are certainly not the only group that has experienced challenges based on identity.

People of color have also been discriminated against in our country's history. While the United

States of America was founded on ideals of equality and freedom, there have, unfortunately,

always been racial divides. It began in 1492 when Christopher Columbus landed: from bringing

a variety of diseases and plagues to the indigenous inhabitants, ravaging the land, murdering

innocent men, women, children young and old, and attempting to inflict their beliefs on the

natives which was met with resistance resulting in a racial division between natives and whites.

In 1860, boarding schools were established in order to Kill the Indian, Save the Man by using

education to assimilate the natives into the dominant white culture and civilize them (Native

American History and Culture: Boarding Schools - American Indian Relief Council Is Now

Northern Plains Reservation Aid). Also affected was the African American populus, a key

atrocity in their history is that of being subjected to slavery by southern states prior to the Civil

War, a divisive war which split the nation at the time in half. The U.S became the Union fought

against the Confederacy to stop the act of slavery. Years later followed the racial segregation of

the black and white Americans within the states and ended in 1954 when the U.S Supreme Court

deemed racial segregation illegal (When Did Segregation Start and End?). Another example that

resulted in a more divisive U.S was the Japanese internment camps implemented in World War II

following the Pearl Harbor attack. The camps were created primarily because the U.S was

scared of any connections that the Japanese Americans may have to the enemy. Throughout the

years, people of any race within the U.S have been discriminated and oppressed because of their

appearance, language, and ethnic origins just to name a few, resulting in a more divisive

America.

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 Part III: Research and Analysis

On January 27th, 2017; Donald Trump issued the executive order: Protecting the Nation

from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, or more commonly known as the Muslim

ban, an order that would affect seven Muslim majority countries. The purpose is evident within

the title, to protect the U.S from terrorists entering the nation from foreign countries. With that

in mind, in section one of the order itself, it states, The visa-issuance process plays a crucial

role in detecting individuals with terrorist ties and stopping them from entering the United States.

Perhaps in no instance was that more apparent than the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,

when State Department policy prevented consular officers from properly scrutinizing the visa

applications of several of the 19 foreign nationals who went on to murder nearly 3,000

Americans. And while the visa-issuance process was reviewed and amended after the September

11 attacks to better detect would-be terrorists from receiving visas, these measures did not stop

attacks by foreign nationals who were admitted to the United States (EXECUTIVE ORDER:

PROTECTING THE NATION FROM FOREIGN TERRORIST ENTRY INTO THE UNITED

STATES.). Even though the executive order on its face states the purpose is to protect

Americans from foreign threats, it is clearly targeting a specific group of people: Muslims. This

has resulted in that group to be singled out and be subjected to further discrimination because of

this executive order, such as an increase in hate crimes. Even though the media is hesitant to

report them as hate crimes; this will be elaborated on further. As a result of the orders actual

intent, it was challenged as unconstitutional.

Several paragraphs later, at the start of Section two, the policy of the order is as stated: It

is the policy of the United States to protect its citizens from foreign nationals who intend to

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commit terrorist attacks in the United States; and to prevent the admission of foreign nationals

who intend to exploit United States immigration laws for malevolent purposes. On the surface,

the order doesnt address or mention Muslims at all. As brought up in the Washington Post

article Why Trumps refugee order is unconstitutional by Ilya Somin, The text does not even

mention Muslims or any other religious group by name. But the Supreme Court has long

recognized that a seemingly neutral regulation qualifies as unconstitutional discrimination if the

true purpose behind it is in fact to target a specific racial, ethnic, or religious group (Somin).

Even though it does not state anything related to Muslims, the intention and nature of the order

itself is noticeably clear when reading between the lines. The public was able to see the intent of

the order, resulting in the it to be deemed unconstitutional by a federal court and the ban was

initially blocked by the decision. On March 6, 2017, Trump issued a modified travel ban which

would affect six countries instead of seven. But the ban was subsequently blocked by federal

judges in Hawaii and Maryland. (Ratnam) The nature of the order unfortunately resulted in

some of Trumps extremist supporters acting violently towards the targeted group. Even though

the violent acts may appear to just target Muslims, its evident that the hatred is also aimed at

other ethnic groups. Which continues to lay down further groundwork for division and fear

which will be covered soon.

Several months before the Muslim ban was issued, at one of his rallies during the

presidential campaign, Trump stated the following,I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue

and shoot somebody and I wouldnt lose any voters. This was a reckless statement and could

give the impression that he condones violence on those who oppose him. This is evident in a

recent hate crime committed in Olathe, Kansas where two Indian engineers were shot. The two

engineers: Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani, both Indian immigrants were at a local bar.

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Another man by the name of Adam W. Purinton was present and tossing ethnic slurs at the two

men and suggesting they did not belong in the United States, other customers said. Patrons

complained, and Mr. Purinton was thrown out (Eligon). Later he came back in a rage and

fired on the two men (Eligon). The result of the attack left Srinivas Kuchibhotla dead and his

friend Alok Madasani wounded alongside another 24-year-old man who had attempted to

apprehend Purinton. President Trumps statement that he could shoot somebody without

repercussions, along with his statements showing the underlying intent of the travel ban was to

discriminate against Muslims, has emboldened some Americans with such racist and

discriminatory views to act upon those divisive views.

Whereas ethnicity may have prompted this violent act, the boundary between racial and

religious minorities is blurred as threats have recently been made against the Jewish community.

In recent weeks, a number of bomb threats were made against Jewish community centers.

Recently, Juan Thompson has been charged with making a handful of those threats (Schaper).

Even though the perpetrator was apprehended, the Jewish community leaders expressed worries

that other threats of anti-Semitism and hate crimes will continue. Before Thompson was

apprehended, President Trump made a statement denouncing the threats made against the Jewish

community centers. The statement comes from the CNN article More Bomb Threats Target

Jewish Community. Trump Finally Responds, in which Trump states, The anti-Semitic threats

targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful and a very

sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil (Burke).

However, it took him several days to actually denounce the bomb threats, which received plenty

of criticism. And despite Trump denouncing the attacks on Jewish centers and condemning hate

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crimes, his own words have demonstrated the very things he denounced: hate, prejudice, and

evil.

Be that as it may, the ethnic divide was present prior to Trumps election, which is very

evident in the manifesto of Dylann Roof, an American male who committed a horrendous hate

crime in 2015. In 2015, Dylann Roof shot and killed nine people at a church in Charleston,

South Carolina. The church itself is historically a black church. (Shah) His motives are

explained in his manifesto in this online article Dylann Storm Roof's Manifesto Reveals the

Real Motives Behind the Mass Shooting in Charleston, and are as follows, I have no choice. I

am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston because it is

most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the

country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet.

Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me

(Hausam). It is purely coincidental that this occurred the day after Trump expressed his

candidacy, but it does in fact illustrate the radical nature of some individuals in our country and

how it is questionable if Trump can navigate through such delicate matters. While there is plenty

of evidence to show the ethnic divide in the U.S., there is no doubt that there is a concurrent

gender divide.

Whilst many of President Trumps statements on race have been contentious, it also

comes to show in many statements that he has made towards women, clearly contradicting

himself. A derogatory and demeaning statement that demonstrates his lack of respect for women

comes from a 2005 interview, where Trump was recorded bragging about women saying, "I'm

automatically attracted to beautiful [women]I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just

kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything ... Grab

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them by the pussy. You can do anything" (Mathis-Lilley). This is one of many statements that

have clearly expressed his attitude towards women. Now one statement by itself wont do

justice, even though it is blatantly offensive. We can go further into this by taking a look at other

statements made by him which are clearly sexist. The following five quotes are from the article

51 Things Donald Trump Has Said About Women, and are clearly said in an objectifying and

sexist manner. In 1991 he said, "You know, it doesn't really matter what [the media] write as

long as you've got a young and beautiful piece of ass." Then in 2004 he said the following about

Lindsay Lohan: "What do you think of Lindsay Lohan? There's something there, right? But you

have to like freckles. I've seen a close-up of her chest. And a lot of freckles. Are you into

freckles? ... She's probably deeply troubled, and therefore great in bed. How come the deeply

troubled women deeply, deeply troubled they're always the best in bed?" Then in 2005 he

was asked if he would stay with his wife Melania if she was disfigured in a car crash: "How do

the breasts look?" was his response. Later in 2014, he said this to a female reporter: "We could

say, politically correct, that look doesn't matter, but the look obviously matters. Like you

wouldn't have your job if you weren't beautiful." This final example dates to 2015 when Mr.

Trump said, She gets out and she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions. You could

see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever" (Lange), about

Megyn Kelly. The previous statements are but a few out of countless remarks Trump has made

towards women.

President Trump made plenty of statements about women and the remarks previously

quoted are but a fraction of what hes said. Each and every statement are clearly crude, ignorant,

and disrespectful towards the women mentioned and to women as a whole. The nature of these

statements have all been said in a public setting, such as interviews, rallies, and debates. The fact

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that he does this in the public eye can easily be seen as acceptable behavior by those who support

him, including impressionable young men. Resulting in women to be treated in various manners

of disrespect, widening the gender divide. However Trump was has once again contradicted his

years of the mistreatment of women. Especially when he said, "Nobody has more respect for

women than I do. Nobody. Nobody has more respect (Lange). One supportive statement isnt

going to undo the years of damage he has caused towards women. Actions speak louder than

words and his past actions outweigh his current ones that attempt to appeal to those that dont

support him. The damage that he has done with his reckless statements will result in a lengthy

recovery process for the American people.

While Trump holds such contemptuous views towards women, such views are also held

by his supporters. We will have to go back to the time of the presidential election in order to get

a new understanding on his supporters views on women. First of all, those who support Trump

had a variety of reasons why they felt nervous about the election. In the Vox article "Hostility

toward Women Is One of the Strongest Predictors of Trump Support," the author comes to the

conclusion that Trumps misogamy during the early part of his campaign being less vocal clearly

found a very accepting audience. Within that same article its mentioned that three political

scientists conducted research which found that the more hostile a voter was, the more likely it

was that they would support Trump. Their research was conducted before the recording of

Trump bragging about advancing on women without consent came to light as well as plenty of

women coming out to accuse him of sexual assault. Also from the article, it states that the

researchers, found hostility toward women was a major factor, predicting support for Trump

more strongly than authoritarian attitudes and about as well as racial prejudice (Nelson). The

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method chosen in order to conduct their research was to conduct a survey. That survey asked

participants if they agreed with the four following statements:

Most women interpret innocent remarks or acts as being sexist.

Many women are actually seeking special favors, such as hiring policies that

favor women over men, under the guise of asking for equality.
Feminists are not actually seeking for women to have more power than men.
Feminists are making entirely reasonable demands of men.

Survey participants were also asked how strongly they supported Clinton or Trump. With that in

mind, the higher a participant was on the sexism scale made it more likely for them to vote for

Trump over Clinton. One of the researchers, Carly Wayne was then quoted saying that: Its the

kind of sorting that people do to go into one party or the other, and that they, tend to have

attitudes that are more traditionalist, more old-fashioned, less likely to want the kinds of changes

that feminism, for example, is pushing. However, Wayne couldnt compare the correlation

between sexist attitudes on a national scale to support Republicans had in prior election. Which

made it unclear to say if Trump made the situation worse or not. Brian Schaffner who is a

separate political scientist used the same survey in a poll he conducted in New Hampshire and

found that sexism played a much bigger role than it had in the 2012 election. Which is presented

in a graph from the same article (Nelson). With the results of Brian Schaffners poll in New

Hampshire, the gender divide was shown to grow much larger in this election than any other,

mainly due to Trump drawing out people who are more hostile to womens equality as a whole.

While the gender divide between men and women is still growing, the issues that the

transgender community are also very relevant. The most recent issue to hit the transgender

community was the revocation of the protection of their right to use the bathroom that matches

their gender identity. Prior to Trumps presidency, President Obama made it possible for

transgender students to utilize the bathroom that they identify with. One month into Trumps

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presidency, his administration undid what Obama had done. The Associated Press bring to light

in the article Donald Trump Revokes Barack Obama Guidelines on Transgender Bathrooms on

what his administration did by ending federal protections for transgender students that

instructed schools to allow them to use bathrooms and locker rooms matching their gender

identities (Press). The move results in states and school districts to construe anti discrimination

laws and decide whether students should have access to bathrooms based on their gender identity

over their biological sex. While many have found solutions to protect all students within

schools, many conservative activists favored the change. They claimed that the Obama

directives were illegal and violated the rights of fixed-gender students, especially girls who did

not feel safe changing clothes or using restrooms next to anatomical males (Press). Overall, the

change is a setback in the progress that was made for the transgender community, setting them

apart from everyone else.

Part IV: Conclusion

The gender divide that has existed has risen to another level. Now, the gender divide that

we face leaves an impression that will not only leave men and women at different stances when it

comes to various issues but also for the transgender community. Future reckless statements

made by Trump are bound to flood, which will continue to fuel the divide and spark future issues

to come to light. With the research and evidence present, we can come down to a conclusion that

men who are hostile towards women will continue to be hostile towards them. Especially

towards feminist movements, in which they could claim that feminists want to gain an edge over

men. Another field this will play in is the impression that it will be acceptable to sexually assault

women in an objectifying manner. Transgender individuals will no doubt face a growing divide

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where they will be subjected to use the bathroom that fits their anatomical gender rather than

their preferred gender identifies with. Another issue that they face with the growing divide is

discrimination as a whole. The divide that every gender face is relevant now more than it has

ever been..

Even though the gender divide is growing, it is not the only one that is evidently growing.

Alongside the gender divide is the ever growing ethnic divide under Trump. Years before

Trump, progress was being made with plenty of incidents that would prove minor to the progress

made along the ethnicities within the U.S. However, now under Trump, there is a growing

tension and presence of fear among the ethnicities in the U.S. The fear and tension that comes

from Muslims, African Americans, Native Americans and other ethnicities is very relevant. With

the acts of violence and discrimination prior to Trump being horrific, its evident that their

feelings on sensitive topics are not wrongly placed. Knowing that some of Trumps supporters

are capable of throwing hateful slurs at any race and also able to inflict violence at will is not

only alarming, but also very a way towards further division. One insensitive by a person who

supports Trump may also cause those affected to retaliate. They wont only retaliate against the

aggressor, but they will also retaliate against Trump. Retaliation towards hate wont necessarily

cause unity but cause further retaliation, leading to terrifying outcomes. Overall the divide that

runs along ethnic lines in the U.S is growing under Trump due to fear and tension between each

other.

When looking at what the Trump administration could do to close the divide is only ideal.

However what they can do close the divide is to urge push back on the move that ended

protection on transgender students using bathrooms they identify with. With that in mind, the

administration can also strongly urge Trump to evaluate his views on race and gender. Now

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when looking at race, the administration can look into what the public wants as a whole for

immigration and find ways to establish a compromise on political grounds regarding issues

surround race. The ways his administration sound appealing to those who find themselves

opposing Trump, however they are only ideal given that some of his cabinet share similar

contentious views as him.

Although the ideas in which the Trump Administration could do to close the divide are

ideal, it may be more attainable on the level of ordinary citizens. One person by their lonesome

is only one voice. But when many voices come together, they are many. The point is that one

person trying to make a change and try to close the divide by themselves is unattainable. But if

many choose to act and make efforts to close the divide, that means hate can be rooted out. What

ordinary people can do is talk. Even if the point of view from an ethnic persons point of view

on America are vastly different from the view a white persons point of view, it would still be a

very healthy conversation to gain new insights. Now when it comes to fear along the ethnic

divide, what can be done is to make efforts to remove that fear, again in a manner that would

benefit everyone in the end. Similar to how ideal the moves the Trump administration could

make, the moves ordinary citizens can do are more attainable on a personal level rather than a

higher political level.

Going forward, there is plenty of research that can be done on each of the topic of the

divide in the U.S. To begin with, the effects in each state based on what is determined when

choosing to either revoke the ability for trans students to use the restroom that is in line with the

gender identity. Now this can be helpful to see how it affects the districts where students can use

the restroom they identify with against the districts that prohibit that choice. What can also have

research done on is looking at what womens rights will be affected under Trump alongside his

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views on them. This too would be beneficial in order to show how his views and upcoming

policies will affect womens equality. To expand further on research that can be done is the

tracking of the amount of hate crimes going forward under Trumps presidency. But the media

would also play a role in how the research will be done. Currently the media is more likely to

report a hate crime as a possible hate crime which shows a hesitance to report on such a

sensitive issue. What needs to be done in order to track the amount of hate crimes moving

forward is to truly report hate crimes as hate crimes instead of reporting them as possible hate

crimes. As a final point, the ideas stated in terms of research should be done because they are

ways to measure and show the growth or decline of a gender and racial divide in the United

States of America moving forward under President Trump.

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