Here & Now

John Eason on the Role of Race in Wisconsin's 2022 Elections

Frederica Freyberg:

Now turning to the U.S. Senate race.

Male TV announcer:

Mandela Barnes dangerously liberal on crime.

Female TV announcer:

Mandela Barnes, he stands with them, not us.

Female TV announcer:

Mandela Barnes not just a Democrat, a dangerous Democrat.

Frederica Freyberg:

So different and dangerous. We just saw the words and images in campaign ads for Republican Senator Ron Johnson that are used to describe his Democratic challenger Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes. Many observers say this kind of messaging goes way beyond being racially tinged. Johnson’s campaign says it’s nothing of the sort. That Ron Johnson is talking to voters about the issues important to them including out of control crime. Here to unpack the division and how Wisconsin voters may respond to this is John Eason, associate professor of sociology at UW-Madison. Thank you very much for being here.

John Eason:

Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

How would you describe the kind of messaging that we are seeing now in the Wisconsin U.S. Senate race?

John Eason:

I think it’s reminiscent of ads we have seen in the past from Willie Horton all the way back to the Goldwater campaign with the long black shadow hand really reaching out and speaking about crime and equating blackness with crime.

Frederica Freyberg:

Do you think it goes beyond those kinds of older messages?

John Eason:

I think it’s ironically right on brand but I think given how hyper polarized we are today, there is no real town square in America that there is no way to have real checks and balances, that this is just right on brand. I don’t think it’s any worse.

Frederica Freyberg:

I mean the messages are connected to, on the one hand crime rates, and on the other hand, things like mass incarceration and policing reform. But you have said, when you have general misinformation and you throw racism into the mix, that’s a pretty powerful elixir. How so?

John Eason:

Racism — this country has a long history of this. There are people who try to deny or minimize how much race or racism, specifically, matters. But because we’ve had so much, you know, from people leaving social media platforms, whole contingency swaths of people being siloed within social media platforms, and our news is very segmented. When you add racism into that, you add — you even further diminish the benefit of doubt and you further dehumanize people.

Frederica Freyberg:

Do you feel like this casting of Black men as dangerous is normalized in a majority white Wisconsin?

John Eason:

I think it has been normalized and not just a majority white Wisconsin, but this is normalized across the country.

Frederica Freyberg:

So Johnson’s ads have coincided with his rise in the polls, overtaking Barnes. One pundit told us, well, it works, this kind of attack ad. What does that say, though, about today’s, kind of, scorched earth politics?

John Eason:

It’s not so much it’s just about crime, it’s the fear of crime. And the fear of crime which is inextricably linked to Black people. We’ve seen this forever, but it says a lot about our politics in terms of how we are going to continue forward. Right? So I’m hopeful still because we have so many new voters who may not be captured in these polls. We have so many young voters who are going to primarily vote Democratic, that there may be some hope for changing the tone and tenure of our politics.

Frederica Freyberg:

You feel as though these kind of messages are kind of directed at the older electorate?

John Eason:

They definitely are. I think this is speaking to people whose minds are already made up. I don’t think they are going to sway many new or younger voters who, especially — even in rural communities. I think because of how well Wisconsin’s education system is compared to the rest of the country, I’m just way more hopeful because otherwise we don’t have much room. Right? To move forward. We don’t have a base to really push forward and push past where we’ve been. Not just in Wisconsin, but across the country.

Frederica Freyberg:

But still how divisive is this in a state already keenly divided by race and political lines?

John Eason:

I think it’s incredibly divisive. I think — but the people who it is fueling, the ads that — the markets they are targeting, I think everyone’s mind is kind of made up already. I don’t think this is going to sway people one way or the other. I don’t think someone is going to see this and say this is new information or I have a brand new view on Mandela Barnes.

Frederica Freyberg:

People might have their minds made up already, but how hurtful is it?

John Eason:

This is the only — this is part of why I’m hopeful. Younger voters, in particular, I’ve seen not only in my classrooms but in mentoring graduate students as well, younger people who are more hopeful, you will see this in the coming days at Thanksgiving dinners when they are pushing back against their, you know, the excuse we used to let the old drunk uncle go off and rant about whatever he wanted. You see more friction in families now at holidays because younger people aren’t putting up with this anymore.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right John Eason, thanks very much.

John Eason:

Thank you for having me.