Racism in America after slavery, I would argue, has been less about skin color and more about power clashes between tribal cultures in the North as well as in the South. Southern racism is different from northern racism because the tribal alignments and conflicts are different. So it's not really racism, but "tribalism". Humans have a deep need to define themselves as us over against an "Other", and in doing so race and religion play a role, but they are secondary to tribal/cultural affiliation. Tribe is primary, religion is only relevant insofar as it supports the tribal worldview and its interests. Being a Protestant or Catholic in Northern Ireland, for instance, has nothing to do with the Christianity of the gospels. Religion (or race) are simply tribal markers, significant not in themselves, but only as they point to likely tribal affiliation.
The persistence of racism in America is deeply linked to the resistance of African American descendants of the slaves to assimilate the way most of the European immigrants did, or even the new African immigrants like Obama's father. This is not only because the descendants of the slaves who sought assimilation were refused; it's also in large part rooted in the fact that African American customary culture is rich and venerable; it was "home" for American blacks, a home that Europeans immigrants didn't have in America in the same way, so the Europeans were more motivated to assimilate, although of course many did not.
Many, maybe most, American Blacks felt no need to assimilate, and to the degree that any minority refuses assimilation, it is looked at by the already-assimilated as the Other. I would add that the situation of the descendants of the slaves in America is very similar to that of the American Indian. Neither group immigrated here in the hope of becoming assimilated Americans, and the idea of joining the culture of those who oppressed them smacked of treasonous Uncle Tomism. It still does.
A similar phenomenon is the way ethnic blue collar types loathe yuppies, especially the ones that left the old neighborhoods to become one. Yuppies, when they are assimilated former ethnics, are people who want to forget where they came from. They have left the tribe and its values behind to become deracinated narcissists concerned about their careers and investments more than their tribal loyalties and responsibilities. That at least is how they are caricatured. The film Namesake is an interesting study in this regard.
Assimilation, though, is inevitable in a generation or two for people who for whatever reason no longer live in those old neighborhoods. The kids just don't get it, and the lure of the consumer fusion culture is too strong. Cosby, Smiley, Oprah, and Obama are assimilated blacks, the way I'm assimilated Irish. Once you're assimilated, you get along with everybody because your old ethnic or racial tribal identity has become virtually meaningless. But back in the old neighborhoods, the Irish, Italians, Jews, Puerto Ricans and Blacks couldn't stand one another; it's only after they left and experienced some degree of assimilation that they could get along.
I think that explains in part the initial lack of enthusiasm in the black community for Obama's candidacy. He looks like them, but he has signaled in so many ways that he is not really one of them–and he isn't. His father was an immigrant; his mother was white. He went to Harvard. He's about as assimilated as you can get. That's why educated whites feel comfortable with him. It's not that they are less racist than anyone else; it's just that he doesn't send off the Otherness vibe the way Al Sharpton does. Obama is black the way John Kennedy was Irish Catholic. And, like Kennedy did, Obama charms Americans because he's just different enough in his having retained an atavistic black eloquence the way Kennedy retained an Irish eloquence and wit.
But the one is not black nor was the other Irish in the deeply tribal sense, even though their blackness and Irishness causes or caused discomfort for nativists and know-nothings. The level of "racial" comfort/discomfort non-Blacks feel for Blacks is primarily cultural or tribal, not physical, and Obama feels comfortable. Much of Obama's core support comes now from assimilated educated Americans, in other words people very much like Obama, and more recently from African Americans who have now come to embrace him as Irish-Americans embraced John Kennedy.
So why do the blue-collar ethnic tribes seem to prefer Hillary? I think lingering racism plays a peripheral role, but it's certainly not because these ethnic blue-collar types see her as one of their tribe. I think it has more to do with her being a known brand, and predictably bland, i.e., not trendy, no surprises, so therefore relatively more trustworthy and down to earth. They couldn't care less about transformational politics, and they buy the argument that Hillary's competence and experience are more likely to get things done than Obama's eloquence. She's postioned herself as a fighter and a hard worker and contrasts that with Obama as merely a talker. To the degree that they buy that characterization of the two candidates, Clinton aligns more with what they feel comfortable with.
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