Did Kids Become More Racist Under Trump?

When sociologist Margaret Hagerman set out to interview middle-schoolers about their ideology and politics in 2017, she asked each child the same series of questions, warming them up with a few softballs — “What’s your neighborhood like?” and “Do people put up a lot of political signs?” — before moving on to “How did you feel after the presidential election?” and, later, “Some people say there’s a lot of racial tension in America right now. What do you think?”

She still remembers the afternoon when she sat across the table from an 11-year-old girl named Cammie. (All the subjects’ names in Hagerman’s research are pseudonyms.) The two could hear basketballs bouncing on a nearby court as Cammie answered the racial-tension question by critiquing the Black Lives Matter movement for picking on police officers who are just trying to help “us.” Cammie, who is white, told Hagerman she celebrated with her parents the morning after Trump’s election. “I am happy because Trump will look out for people like us,” she said. It was the second time the girl used that word — us.

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