Vox Populi:

A conversation with Eric Foner, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in History.

What will history make of the horror and disbelief experienced by the world on January 6, when the United States Capitol was violently broken into and vandalized by Trump supporters who attempted to stop the counting of the Electoral College votes legitimately won by President-elect Joe Biden?

The painful and unforgettable events that transpired that day, leaving five people dead, not only speak to the fragility of American democracy but also reveal deeply embedded realities about white supremacy and its current and historical efforts to undermine democratic institutions and ideals.

In this interview, Eric Foner, one of the U.S.’s most prominent historians, provides an important historical framework for understanding these recent tragic events. Foner argues that the Capitol mob reflects other moments in our racially fraught history, revealing a common thread: the “inability or unwillingness to accept African Americans as legitimate members of American society, and to accept African American votes as legitimate.”

Foner is the DeWitt Clinton Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University and the author of numerous books, including The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, which in 2011 won a Pulitzer Prize for History, and most recently, The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution.

George Yancy: Your range of work as an American historian is extraordinary. And after recent events regarding the insurrectionist efforts of the mob of white rioters who attacked the nation’s Capitol, I think we need your voice. So, what was your initial response as you watched or heard about what took place on January 6 as so many white people engaged in violence against democracy to stop the process of confirming that President-elect Joe Biden had won the election?

Eric Foner: The day before the attack on the capitol, I was on the phone with a former student of mine who works in Washington, D.C. I mentioned that it would be best to stay indoors tomorrow because all these people are coming in…. I literally said that I wouldn’t be surprised if they just try to storm the Capitol to try to stop the counting of the electoral votes. Now, I’m not a security expert. But I wouldn’t be surprised if eventually it comes out that some of the DC or the Capitol Hill police were in cahoots, or at least were sympathetic and didn’t really feel like doing anything to stop them. But be that as it may, I was appalled and shocked. This is the logical end of Trump’s presidency. He has been inciting hatred and violence for years and now it has come home to roost for all of us. As an historian, I was particularly shocked by seeing the Confederate flag displayed in the Capitol. I can’t think of another time in history where the Confederate flag was prominently on display. Maybe there was such a moment. I don’t know. But again, that’s Trump. He has, among many other things, closely identified himself with the Confederacy, with the Confederate flag, Confederate monuments, and all that. It is pretty clear what people who carry the Confederate flag around think it says. This is not just heritage, so to speak. It’s not just respect of history. This is a symbol of white supremacy. Everybody knows that. You don’t have to have a Ph.D. in history to know that.

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