Dictionary

whitelash en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈ(h)waɪtlæʃ/

Etymology

Blend of white + backlash.

Meanings

1. A backlash by white people against other ethnicities.
   • There are four ‘whitelash’ bills currently before Congress, designed to seriously undermine Native American rights [and] sovereignty, and treaty land. 1996, “'The Lash', 1977”, in Classroom Activities on Wisconsin Indian Treaties and Tribal Sovereignty, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, →ISBN, page 266:
   • The best example of this is when CNN's Van Jones characterized Trump's election as revenge, or a 'whitelash,' against black voters, who overwhelmingly voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012. 2016, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, “Building a Multiracial Movement in the Trump Era”, in Anand Gopal, Naomi Klein, Jeremy Scahill, Owen Jones, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, editors, The Anti-Inauguration: Building resistance in the Trump era, Haymarket Books, →ISBN:
   • There has been a particularly acute white backlash or 'whitelash' in the United States against affirmative action programmes which promote women and black men. 2001, Fiona Mackay, Love and Politics: Women Politicians and the Ethics of Care, Continuum, →ISBN, page 75; n. 3.:
   • This was the blacklash. The whitelash came, too, and blood flowed in the streets. 1970 January 14, John H. Britton, “Into age of sick seventies”, in Jet magazine, page 7:
   • See how the white-lash gave Blacks and Latinos the blues! No way to claim investment profits shareholders lose! 2010, William Hairston, Suburban-Ghetto: A Novel, →ISBN, page 56:
   • My sense is that even Obama didn't see Trump coming; he didn't see the full extent of the whitelash. And it is that whitelash, the likes of which we have yet to see fully, that drives home the fierce urgency of now. 2017, George Yancy, On Race: 34 Conversations in a Time of Crisis, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 7:
   • for more on 'whitelash' reactions to militant black writing. 2000, David Myles Jones, A "new Breed" of Black Consciousness: Re-reading Gender, Ideology, and Generational Change in Neo-black Literature and Criticism, 1965-1975, Volume 2, University of Minnesota, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 406:
   • And while many accomplishments exist for celebrating during the Obama years, specifically in the midst of a Trump whitelash, Obama's immigration policies have been devastating to migrants south of the border 2018, Miguel A. De La Torre, “Chapter 11: Deporter-in-Chief: Why Reject Christian Hospitality?”, in Juan M. Floyd-Thomas, Anthony B. Pinn, editors, Religion in the Age of Obama, Bloomsbury Academic, →ISBN:

Forms

Coordinates

blacklash