WEBVTT - Author Isenberg on New Book on Class: 'White Trash' (Audio)

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<v Speaker 1>Global business news twenty four hours a day at Bloomberg

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<v Speaker 1>This is a Bloomberg Business Flash from Bloomberg World Headquarters.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Katherine Cowdery. Commodity producers and lenders led US docks

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<v Speaker 1>lower after comments from Bank of England Governor Mark Kearney.

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<v Speaker 1>We kindle concerns that Britain's withdrawal from the European Union

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<v Speaker 1>will further weigh on tepid global growth. Energy and financial

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<v Speaker 1>shares were among the biggest losers, with investors showing a

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<v Speaker 1>preference for Haven's Equity. Declines and higher volatility reflected some

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<v Speaker 1>of the anxiety seeing during a two days sell off

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<v Speaker 1>following the Brexit vote. We check the markets every fifteen minutes.

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<v Speaker 1>Now Industrial Average down one hundred nine point six tents

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<v Speaker 1>of a percent. It closed at seventeen thousand, eight hundred forty,

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<v Speaker 1>narrowing earlier losses. SMP five hundred down fourteen points two

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<v Speaker 1>thirds of a percent to two thousand eighty eight. Then

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<v Speaker 1>AZZAC fell forty points seven eighths of a percent to

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<v Speaker 1>forty eight twenty two West exist in a media Crude

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<v Speaker 1>oil down two dollars nineteen cents of carrel four an

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<v Speaker 1>a half percent of forty six eighty one is about

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<v Speaker 1>gold up nineteen dollar seventy cents announced at thirteen fifty

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<v Speaker 1>eight seventy and the tenure treasure got twenty thirty seconds

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<v Speaker 1>with the yield of one point three seven And that's

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<v Speaker 1>a Bloomberg Business flash. You're listening to Taking the Stock

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<v Speaker 1>with Kathleen Hayes and Pim Fox on Bloomberg Radio. As

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<v Speaker 1>we celebrated the fourth of July weekend, many of us lauded,

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<v Speaker 1>appreciated our class. Free society or liberty and hard work

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<v Speaker 1>are meant to ensure real social mobility. Our next guest

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<v Speaker 1>is here to tell us, well, not so fast. Class

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<v Speaker 1>is a much bigger issue not only the history of

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<v Speaker 1>the United States and our democracy, but also alive and

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<v Speaker 1>well in our political system. As two presumptive candidates vy

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<v Speaker 1>for the White Excuse me the White House Yes in November.

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<v Speaker 1>The new book that Nancy Iszenberg has written is White Trash,

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<v Speaker 1>The four year untold History of Class in America. She's

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<v Speaker 1>an author, a professor of American history at Louisia State

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<v Speaker 1>Louisiana State University, and Nancy because I want to get

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<v Speaker 1>to the book. I'm not going to give them all

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<v Speaker 1>your other credits and accomplishments. But white trash. Who is

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<v Speaker 1>white trash? And where does this where does this question

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<v Speaker 1>of what role this group plays come in to American history? Well,

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<v Speaker 1>first of all, if we think of the word white trash,

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<v Speaker 1>we know was first in newspaper print in the eighteen twenties,

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<v Speaker 1>but it has a much longer history. And what I

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<v Speaker 1>began to explore is that it goes all the way

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<v Speaker 1>back to British colonization. Because from the very first, and

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<v Speaker 1>this is one of the points I make, is we imagine,

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<v Speaker 1>at the time of the Revolution, we escaped the class system,

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<v Speaker 1>we broke free from Great Britain, but we didn't break

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<v Speaker 1>free from the ideas about class and poverty. So the

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<v Speaker 1>British when they imagined colonization, they thought of the New

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<v Speaker 1>World not as the city upon the hill, but is

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<v Speaker 1>a large trash heap, a dumping ground where they could

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<v Speaker 1>unload the idle poor. And the people who actually came

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<v Speaker 1>to the New World were not if we think of

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<v Speaker 1>the pure to and seeking the majority seeking religious liberty,

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<v Speaker 1>most of them were coming for economic reasons. So not

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<v Speaker 1>only did we have the rise of slavery, which we

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<v Speaker 1>know was a form of unfree labor, but we had

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<v Speaker 1>large numbers of convict laborers, we had indentured servants, we

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<v Speaker 1>had Irish rebels, we had the children of beggars. And

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<v Speaker 1>that's why I think, I think one of the most

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<v Speaker 1>disturbing things when we go back and realize how children,

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<v Speaker 1>particularly young boys, were the major form of labor to

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<v Speaker 1>be exploited, and most of these people were with an

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<v Speaker 1>indentured contract. It could go anywhere from seven to nine years.

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<v Speaker 1>And if you think about the horrible conditions in Virginia

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<v Speaker 1>at that time, most people would not even live to adulthood.

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<v Speaker 1>So we have to imagine that from the very beginning.

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<v Speaker 1>White trash goes back to the term that was used

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<v Speaker 1>by British colonization waste people, and for Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson,

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<v Speaker 1>Abigail Adams, their word of choice was rubbish. So one

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<v Speaker 1>of the things I've paid attention to is the tech taxonomy,

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<v Speaker 1>the language, and how each generation creates a set of

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<v Speaker 1>terms to talk about the poor and to talk about

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<v Speaker 1>how the poor are seen as trapped in this class,

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<v Speaker 1>trapped in this class, and that unfortunately leads us to

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<v Speaker 1>the idea that if they're trapped, we can't really help them.

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<v Speaker 1>Charities pointless, and we have to realize that it's also

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<v Speaker 1>connected to our rural history, that for over half of

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<v Speaker 1>our history we were in a grarian nation and the

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<v Speaker 1>language of class was also tied to land. You talk

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<v Speaker 1>about it being one giant workhouse. That's your description of

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<v Speaker 1>the United States, that it's founding right because at the time,

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<v Speaker 1>if we think about the fifteen hundreds, when one of

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<v Speaker 1>the key figures I talk about is Richard Hacklett, who

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<v Speaker 1>was the foremost, foremost promoter of British colonization. He wrote

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<v Speaker 1>the pitch to Queen Elizabeth. He's one who said that

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<v Speaker 1>this is the destiny England has to get in the

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<v Speaker 1>business along with the Spanish and the Dutch and think

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<v Speaker 1>about colonization. But when if we look carefully on on

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<v Speaker 1>what's going on in Great Britain at this time, this

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<v Speaker 1>is when they're beginning to establish workhouses. This is where

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<v Speaker 1>they're beginning to think of how where are we going

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<v Speaker 1>to put the poor um And even we could take

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<v Speaker 1>it back to the fourteen hundreds, where the British had

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<v Speaker 1>already waged a long standing war against the poor. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>you would think then if in essences in Dutch white uh,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, Caucasian European indentured servants were slaves. In effect,

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<v Speaker 1>you would think that freed slaves after the Civil War,

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<v Speaker 1>that these two groups would have had a natural affinity,

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<v Speaker 1>but in fact they didn't. Is that your argument into

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<v Speaker 1>a sense that they were pitted against each other, and

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<v Speaker 1>that has led to a lot of the class and

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<v Speaker 1>racial issues we have today. It goes both ways. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>if you look at the Antebellum South, for example, poor

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<v Speaker 1>whites and slaves created an underground system of trade which

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<v Speaker 1>subverted the power of the plant or elite um and

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<v Speaker 1>well into the twentieth century, they would live side by

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<v Speaker 1>side and they would have relationships. But where they are

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<v Speaker 1>pitted against each other comes out of politics, and I

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<v Speaker 1>focus a lot particularly if we look at the way

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<v Speaker 1>in which the Confederacy itself said that, well, non slaveholders

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<v Speaker 1>and the poor are going to be willing to fight

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<v Speaker 1>for the Confederacy because if they don't, they're going to

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<v Speaker 1>drop down to the level of free black. So they

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<v Speaker 1>use that as a taunt. They use that as a

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<v Speaker 1>threat that gets revived again during reconstruction, Jim Crow, and

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<v Speaker 1>well into the early twentieth century. I want, I'm glad

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<v Speaker 1>to bring us to the early twentieth century because you

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<v Speaker 1>also mentioned a very famous Supreme Court case Buck versus Bell,

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<v Speaker 1>and I just want to give you about thirty seconds

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<v Speaker 1>to tell us why that's relevant. Why that's relevant is

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<v Speaker 1>that one of the other key themes. If I said

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<v Speaker 1>land is important and waste people were the landlist, the

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<v Speaker 1>other important theme is breeding, and this comes from animal husbandry,

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<v Speaker 1>and it also lays the foundation for eugenics. And in fact,

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<v Speaker 1>what we have forgotten and about Buck Fevale is that

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<v Speaker 1>carry Buck was selected as a candidate for sterilization, which

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<v Speaker 1>was part of the eugenics movement. In one states had

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<v Speaker 1>sterilization laws. On the book, she was selected because she

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<v Speaker 1>was seen as a perfect specimen of white trash um

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<v Speaker 1>and that this group, particularly women, poor white women, were

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<v Speaker 1>seen as a group. They first said we should put

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<v Speaker 1>them the asylums during their refertil years, but it was

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<v Speaker 1>cheaper to have them sterilized and then returned them to

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<v Speaker 1>the labor forces as menial workers. Thank you very much

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<v Speaker 1>for sharing your thoughts and congratulations on your new book.

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<v Speaker 1>Nancy Eisenberg, White Trash, the four hundred year untold history

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<v Speaker 1>of class in America. This is Bloomberg coming up. Bloomberg

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<v Speaker 1>Law brought to you by a Bank of America. Mary

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