And we see this in the polling between Trump and Clinton. If the United States were largely white—if its electorate were as monochromatic as Britain’s—then Trump might have the advantage. As it stands, people of color in America are acting as a firewall for liberalism—an indispensable barrier to this surge of ethno-nationalism.

...This is critical. In our fixation on these dislocated whites, we forget those that haven’t embraced backlash. And in the United States, at least, we forget that the world of disadvantaged working people includes millions of people of color. They too have been harmed—often irreparably—by the march of financial capitalism and the weakening of the social safety net (if they even had access to it). But they reject the overtures of demagogues. Which is a reminder that, for as much as workers are circumscribed by forces out of their control, they aren’t pawns of history. They can still make choices. Nativism is one choice. We don’t have to respect it.