The director of the Appalachia People’s Union on why the South is ready to stand up to Trump
Editor’s Note: This is the third article in a series of stories and interviews in which Barn Raiser asks rural organizers, elected office holders and political strategists what lessons are to be learned from the 2024 General Election. It is republished here with permission.
‘The things my community needs—affordable housing, health care for all, strong public education and nourishing food—depend on working-class white Southerners choosing solidarity with people of color. . . ‘
I grew up in a small rural white community on a tobacco farm in Eastern Kentucky. My dad was a strip miner, my mom was a grocery store clerk and a factory worker. I am a proud Appalachian. Being working class has given me a sense of belonging, courage and joy, but it has also meant a life of economic struggles for me and my family to keep a roof over our heads, food on the table, to afford medications, doctor’s visits and to even bury our loved ones.
Members of the Kentucky People’s Union, an organizing group co-founded by Beth Howard, pose for a photo after a community meeting in Ashland, Kentucky, in 2023. Participants wore red bandannas to honor redneck miners who fought at the Battle for Blair Mountain in 1921. (Courtesy of Beth Howard)
I have been a grassroots community organizer in the South for nearly 20 years, a region with a long legacy of working-class movements. As the director of the Appalachia People’s Union, a project of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), the largest national group organizing white people for racial and economic justice, I have committed to doing what I can to organize my own people into multiracial movements. The things my community needs—affordable housing, health care for all, strong public education and nourishing food—depend on working-class white Southerners choosing solidarity with people of color. I’m moving my people away from white supremacy because I am a rural, white, working-class woman from Appalachia, not in spite of it.
One of the most important lessons in organizing is that no matter what happens, we stick together. When those in power try to divide us, we have each other’s backs and know who the real enemy is. Divide-and-conquer tactics are what has led to MAGA’s success and power. The far right’s ability to successfully tap into the pain and suffering of working-class white people and divert their anger toward immigrants, trans kids and people of color instead of billionaires and crooked politicians who do the bidding of corporate interests and the ultra-wealthy has once again put Trump in the White House. It has handed MAGA both the U.S. House and the Senate, as well as many state and local governments and judges.
Like those who voted for Trump out of a place of fear and pain, those of us who voted, organized and campaigned to block him from the presidency are hurting too. Now that he has won, we are still hurting and also terrified. We are worried about the future of our communities: our trans loved ones, our immigrant neighbors, students in public schools and those already struggling to survive every day.
White people delivered this victory to Trump. Out of 76 million votes cast for Trump (2 million more than in 2020), 84% of those were white voters. To be clear, urban areas handed some of the largest margin shifts toward Trump, yet he gained even greater margins in rural white working-class counties than the last election.
It’s tempting to blame white rural working-class Trump voters, to see them as ignorant, hateful or “less than.” It’s tempting to push them away, to signal to everyone else, “It wasn’t me. I’m one of the good ones.” That’s human, and it can feel good to lash out and to surround ourselves with those who think and act like we do. But we should not fall into this trap.
Those of us who are fighting against MAGA must be crystal clear: the people to blame are the ruling-class billionaires, the people at the top. Not other working-class people.
To republish this story, please contact Beth Howard for permission. Find Beth Howard at instagram.com/jbethiejean/
Beth Howard is Appalachia Organizing Director of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) and the author of Rednecks for Black Lives, a forthcoming memoir from Haymarket Books. She lives in Lexington, KY, but grew up in a rural white working class community in Eastern Kentucky. Beth has been a lead organizer on winning campaigns to raise the minimum wage and restore voting rights. She's also worked on winning electoral campaigns engaging white working-class Southerners. Beth is the creator of the viral narrative campaign Rednecks for Black Lives. You can find her on Substack at Working Class Love Notes and online at bethhowardky.com.
