About this item
Campaigning for president in 1980, Ronald Reagan told stories of Cadillac-driving "welfare queens" and "strapping young bucks" buying T-bone steaks with food stamps. In trumpeting these tales of welfare run amok, Reagan never needed to mention race, because he was blowing a dog whistle: sending a message about racial minorities inaudible on one level, but clearly heard on another. In doing so, he tapped into a long political tradition that started with George Wallace and Richard Nixon, and is more relevant than ever in the age of the Tea Party and the first black president. In Dog Whistle Politics, Ian Haney López offers a sweeping account of how politicians and plutocrats deploy veiled racial appeals to persuade white voters to support policies that favor the extremely rich yet threaten their own interests.
About the Author
Ian Haney López was born and raised in Hawaii to a father from Washington (the Haney part) and a mother from El Salvador (the López side) . He teaches constitutional law at the University of California, Berkeley, and has a special interest in how racism has evolved over the last five decades. In "Dog Whistle Politics" (2014) , Ian explained the tactics used by the Republican Party since Richard Nixon to win votes by stoking racial anxiety, thereby tilling the ground for Donald Trump. In his most recent book, "Merge Left," he shows how to neutralize coded racism in politics and build a multiracial progressive future. Ian holds an endowed chair as the Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the University of California, Berkeley.
