White Student Union (Towson University)

Last updated
White Student Union
AbbreviationWSU
Formation2012
TypeYouth activist group
Legal statusActive
PurposeTo advocate for and protect European-American heritage and interests [1]
Location
Region served
Towson University
Official language
English
President
 Matthew Heimbach
Affiliations White nationalism
Website towsonwsu.blogspot.com

The White Student Union (WSU) was an unaffiliated white supremacist organization founded in Towson, Maryland by Matthew Heimbach, at the time a Towson University student. [2] The group advocated for what it sees as the interests of "persons of European heritage". [3] It has been listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. [4] The organization rejected this label, stating in a blog post that "We do not hate any other race and we do not wish anyone harm". [5] In May 2013 Heimbach said that the group would merge with the Traditionalist Youth Network [6] which Heimbach described as an effort to build "a wide coalition of Kinist, social conservatives, Traditionalist Christians, believers in Right-wing politics, and other factions of the pro-white movement." [7]

Contents

Heimbach continued to be active in white supremacist politics after graduating from Towson in 2013.

History

The group's existence caused a series of nationally reported controversies and accusations of promoting racial bigotry and white supremacy. It invited self-described "racial realist" Jared Taylor to speak at one of its meetings, which attracted an attendance of nearly 250. [8] Heimbach said he started the group because of "a culture of crime where primarily it's nonwhites doing it to white students and we perpetually have to live in a system of victimhood." [9] He also said "We'd also want to create a safe space for members who have filed hate/bias reports and who have had anti-white language used against them....Especially the female members who have heard 'cracker' and 'honkie,' and nothing has ever come of it. It’s a support network for a campus that is hostile toward white students." [1] [10]

The White Student Union sought but failed to get official recognition by the college, arguing that the college needed to officially recognize the group in order to show that it does not discriminate against white students. A change.org petition was circulated urging the campus not to recognize a "whites only" group. [11] The organization noted in a press release that the petition was based on the false assumption that the WSU would be a "whites only" group, despite the statement on the WSU website that "the organization invites people of all races, colors, and creeds to join together to celebrate European culture." [12]

Activism

The WSU received national attention for participating in community watch programs to "raise awareness" about violent crime that is primarily directed at the majority-white student body. Heimbach said that "the goal is not to go out and intimidate, the goal is not to go out and prove something, the goal is just to be an extra set of eyes and ears for the [Towson] community at large." [13] Organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League condemned these patrols as being racially motivated. The Southern Poverty Law Center said that the patrols were "a fairly obvious allusion, it appears, to the terroristic role of the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction." [14]

Earlier examples

A 1990 article in the Chronicle of Higher Education mentions a number of white student unions created at the time to oppose racial integration and affirmative action; two of the unions obtained official recognition from their colleges. [15]

Hoaxes

In 2015, Facebook pages appeared announcing "White Student Unions" at over 25 major United States colleges. These pages were all hoaxes; the groups in question did not actually exist. [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white supremacist groups, for its classification of hate groups and other extremist organizations, and for promoting tolerance education programs. The SPLC was founded by Morris Dees, Joseph J. Levin Jr., and Julian Bond in 1971 as a civil rights law firm in Montgomery. Bond served as president of the board between 1971 and 1979.

Black supremacy or black supremacism is a racial supremacist belief which maintains that black people are inherently superior to people of other races.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Council of Conservative Citizens</span> American white supremacist political group

The Council of Conservative Citizens is an American white supremacist organization. Founded in 1985, it advocates white nationalism, and supports some paleoconservative causes. In the organization's statement of principles, it states that they "oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind".

VDARE is an American far-right website promoting opposition to immigration to the United States. It is associated with white supremacy, white nationalism, and the alt-right. Anti-Immigration in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia describes VDARE as "one of the most prolific anti-immigration media outlets in the United States" and states that it is "broadly concerned with race issues in the United States". Established in 1999, the website's editor is Peter Brimelow, who once stated that "whites built American culture" and that "it is at risk from non-whites who would seek to change it".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White pride</span> Racial expression

White pride and white power are expressions primarily used by white separatist, white nationalist, fascist, neo-Nazi and white supremacist organizations in order to signal racist or racialist viewpoints. It is also a slogan used by the prominent post-Ku Klux Klan group Stormfront and a term used to make racist/racialist viewpoints more palatable to the general public who may associate historical abuses with the terms white nationalist, neo-Nazi, and white supremacist.

Virginia Deane Abernethy is an American anthropologist and activist. She is professor emerita of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She has published research on population demography and immigration. She ran for Vice President of the United States in 2012 alongside Merlin Miller for the American Third Position, a party that promotes white nationalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fourteen Words</span> White-supremacist slogans

Fourteen Words is a reference to two slogans originated by David Eden Lane, one of nine founding members of the defunct white separatist insurrectionary terrorist organization The Order, and are accompanied by the 88 Precepts. The slogans have served as a rallying cry for militant white nationalists internationally. The primary slogan in the Fourteen Words is "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children", followed by the secondary slogan "Because the beauty of the White Aryan woman must not perish from the Earth".

The National Policy Institute (NPI) is a white supremacist think tank and lobbying group which is based in Alexandria, Virginia. It lobbies for white supremacists and the alt-right. Its president is Richard B. Spencer.

The European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO) is an American organization founded in 2000, and led by former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke. The group has been described as white nationalist and white supremacist.

The New Century Foundation is a white supremacist organization founded in 1994 by Jared Taylor known primarily for publishing a magazine, American Renaissance, which promotes white supremacy. From 1994 to 1999, its activities received considerable funding by the Pioneer Fund.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Socialist Movement (United States)</span> American Neo-Nazi organization (1974-)

The National Socialist Movement (NSM) is a far-right, Neo-Nazi, white supremacist organization based in the United States. It is a part of the Nationalist Front. The party claimed to be the "largest and most active" National Socialist organization in the United States. It is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creativity (religion)</span> Religion classified as a neo-Nazi hate group

Creativity, historically known as The (World) Church of the Creator, is an atheistic ("nontheistic") white supremacist religious movement which espouses white separatism, antitheism, antisemitism, scientific racism, homophobia, and religious and philosophical naturalism. Creativity calls itself a "white racialist" religion and it has been classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. It was founded in Lighthouse Point, Florida, United States, by Ben Klassen as the "Church of the Creator" in 1973, and now, it has a presence in several states of the US as well as Australia, Eastern Europe and the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Youth for Western Civilization</span> Defunct American political youth organization

Youth for Western Civilization (YWC) was a far right student group registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States. The group became a corporation in 2006 and began actively organizing in 2008. Kevin DeAnna founded the organization. Its honorary chairman was former Colorado US Representative Tom Tancredo.

Kinism is a white nationalist interpretation of Christianity which is popular among Thomists. The ideology is a "movement of anti-immigrant, 'Southern heritage' separatists who splintered off from Christian Reconstructionism in favor of Thomism in order to advocate the belief that God's intended order is 'loving one's kind' by separating people along 'tribal and ethnic' lines to live in large, extended-family groups."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Heimbach</span> American neo-Nazi (born 1991)

Matthew Warren Heimbach is an American white supremacist who advocated a neo-Nazi ideology. Heimbach now identifies as a National Bolshevik. Instead of supporting racist policies, Heimbach now claims that he advocates "proletarian internationalism and cross-racial solidarity against capitalism and its elites." He tried to form alliances between several far-right extremist groups. In 2018, Heimbach briefly served as community outreach director for the National Socialist Movement (NSM). He founded the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP), which ceased operation in March 2018 until early 2020 when Heimbach and Matthew Parrott once again began collaborating on projects such as the "prisoner aid organization", which was known as the Global Minority Initiative while they were also publicly discussing a relaunching of the Traditionalist Worker Party.

White student unions were white supremacist students' unions created as part of the white separatist movement during the 1960s and 1970s; some continued to be created into the 1980s and 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Traditionalist Worker Party</span> Defunct neo-Nazi and white nationalist American political party

The Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) was a far-right neo-Nazi political party active in the United States between 2013 and 2018, affiliated with the broader "alt-right" movement that became active within the U.S. during the 2010s. It was considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center's list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Identity Evropa</span> Neo-Nazi group in the United States

Identity Evropa was an American neo-Nazi and white supremacist organization established in March 2016. It was rebranded as the American Identity Movement in March 2019. In November 2020, the group disbanded. Leaders and members of Identity Evropa, such as former leader Elliot Kline, praised Nazi Germany and pushed for what they described as the "Nazification of America".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Allsup</span> American white supremacist (born 1995)

James Walker Allsup is an American white supremacist, far-right political commentator, and podcaster. Allsup has stated that he prefers to be described as an "American nationalist." He was a member of the American Identity Movement, a white nationalist and neo-Nazi organization, until it disbanded in 2020. Allsup formerly co-hosted a podcast on the neo-Nazi network The Right Stuff. He was a YouTube personality until his channel was removed by Google as part of a policy shift to remove content affiliated with white supremacy.

References

  1. 1 2 Blackshere, Ryann (September 19, 2012). "Towson Student Wants to Establish White Student Union". Bet.com . Retrieved 2012-10-31.
  2. ↑ "Matthew Heimbach". splc.org. Retrieved 2015-07-30.
  3. ↑ "White Student Union". Vice News . vice.com. December 25, 2013. Retrieved 2017-08-14.
  4. ↑ http://blog.adl.org/extremism/hate-app-targets-towson-university Hate App Targets Towson University
  5. ↑ "Weekly Update". Towson White Student Union. 4 April 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-05– via blogspot.com.
  6. ↑ "White Student Unions: White Nationalist Minor League?". Southern Poverty Law Center . August 2, 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  7. ↑ "Towson Community Outreach". towsonwsu.blogspot.com. 22 May 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2014– via blogspot.com.
  8. ↑ "White Student Union Speaker Preaches Racial Separateness". Northbaltimore.patch.com. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
  9. ↑ "Towson Student Wants White Student Union". Theroot.com. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
  10. ↑ Kingkade, Tyler (September 10, 2012). "Matthew Heimbach Attempts to Form ‘White Student Union’ at Towson University". Huffington Post . Retrieved 2017-08-16.
  11. ↑ "Towson U White Student Union Controversy Sparks Creation of Change.Org Petition". Inthecapital.com. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
  12. ↑ "About the WSU". Towson White Student Union. Retrieved 2013-06-05.
  13. ↑ Wells, Carrie (2013-03-25). "Towson White Student Union to patrol campus looking for crime". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2013-06-05.
  14. ↑ "Racist Maryland Student Leader Vows Patrols Against 'Black Crime'". Hatewatch. Southern Poverty Law Center. March 27, 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-05.
  15. ↑ "New White-Student Unions on Some Campuses Are Sparking Outrage and Worry". Eric.ed.gov. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
  16. ↑ Weill, Kelly (23 November 2015). "Racist Trolls Are Behind NYU's 'White Student Union' Hoax". The Daily Beast . Retrieved 28 June 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.