White pride

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Aryan Guard members protest against an anti-racism rally in Calgary on March 21, 2009, with one of them carrying a "White Pride Worldwide" Celtic Cross flag. Aryan Guard 05.jpg
Aryan Guard members protest against an anti-racism rally in Calgary on March 21, 2009, with one of them carrying a "White Pride Worldwide" Celtic Cross flag.

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. [2] [3] 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.

Contents

Some advocates of white power have been committed to overthrowing the United States government and establishing a white ethnostate using paramilitary tactics. [4]

Provenance

Sociologists Betty A. Dobratz and Stephanie L. Shanks-Meile identified "White Power! White Pride!" as "a much-used chant of white separatist movement supporters", [5] and sociologist Mitch Berbrier has identified the use of this phrase as part of a "new racist ... frame-transformation and frame-alignment by (a) consciously packaging a 'hate-free' racism, (b) developing strategies of equivalence and reversal–presenting whites as equivalent to ethnic and racial minorities, and (c) deploying ideas about 'love,' 'pride,' and 'heritage-preservation' to evidence both their putative lack of animosity toward others as well as their ethnic credentials." [6] In a social psychology experiment that tested how white participants could be influenced to identify with white pride ideology, social psychologists framed white pride as follows: [7]

[P]eople who openly express White pride seem invariably to be those alienated from the mainstream culture—KKK members, skin-heads, and White supremacists—people trying to grab onto some basis for feeling good about themselves when conventional avenues such as successful careers and relationships are not working well for them. Consequently, the vast majority of people who avow White pride seem also to explicitly avow racism.

Sociologists Monica McDermott and Frank L. Samson documented the rhetorical evolution of white pride movements thus, "Because white pride has historically been predicated upon a denigration of nonwhites, the articulation of the duties and requirements of whiteness reflects a desire to correlate a conscious white identity with positive attributes." [8]

Use as an identity marker

Political and social scientists commonly argue that the idea of "white pride" is an attempt to provide a clean or more palatable public face for white supremacy or white separatism and that it is an appeal to a larger audience in hopes of inciting more widespread racial violence. [9] According to Joseph T. Roy of the Southern Poverty Law Center, white supremacists often circulate material on the internet and elsewhere that "portrays the groups not as haters, but as simple white pride civic groups concerned with social ills". [10]

Philosopher David Ingram argues that "affirming 'black pride' is not equivalent to affirming 'white pride,' since the former—unlike the latter—is a defensive strategy aimed at rectifying a negative stereotype". By contrast, then, "affirmations of white pride—however thinly cloaked as affirmations of ethnic pride—serve to mask and perpetuate white privilege". [11] In the same vein, Professor of Education at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Cris Mayo, characterizes white pride as "a politically distasteful goal, given that whiteness is not a personal or community identity, but has been a strategy to maintain inequities of privilege and power." [12]

A white power skinhead wearing a patch that says "Skinheads / Weiss & Stolz" ("Skinheads / White & Proud") in German Neonazi-skinheads-weiss-und-stolz crop.jpg
A white power skinhead wearing a patch that says "Skinheads / Weiss & Stolz" ("Skinheads / White & Proud") in German
Anti-fascists with banner reading "good night white pride" Trump rally protest DSC 4402 (36703241166).jpg
Anti-fascists with banner reading "good night white pride"

Political scientists Carol M. Swain and Russell Nieli, in their text on white nationalism, identify the idea of "white pride" as a relatively new phenomenon in the United States. They argue that over the course of the 1990s, "a new white pride, white protest, and white consciousness movement has developed in America". They identify three contributing factors: an immigrant influx during the 1980s and 1990s, resentment over affirmative action policies, and the growth of the Internet as a tool for the expression and mobilization of grievances. [13] According to Janet E. Helms, founding director of Boston College's Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture, a white person "must become aware of his or her Whiteness, accept it as personally and socially significant ... Not in the sense of Klan members' 'white pride' but in the context of a commitment to a just society." [14] Among people who strongly identify as white, research differentiates between a power cognizant group and a prideful group. The prideful group is more likely to devalue diversity and to show prejudice, while the power cognizant group is more likely to value diversity. [15]

Sociologist Luigi Esposito of Barry University writes that "the emphasis on white pride or white identity resonates with supporters of the alt-right because racial tribalism is regarded as an antidote to the neoliberal emphasis on competitive individualism and self-serving behavior that presumably threatens the interests of whites." [16]

Racist context

The slogan "White Pride Worldwide" appears on the logo of Stormfront, a website owned and operated by Don Black, who was formerly a Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. [17] The North Georgia White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan describe themselves as "a patriotic, White Christian revival movement dedicated to preserving the maintenance of White Pride and the rights of the White Race". [18] A 2002 study identified white pride as a motivation for racial hate crimes on a US college campus, [19] while in a different study on internet racism, the slogan was identified as being part of an emerging transnationalist trend in white supremacist movements. [20] The slogan was also documented to have been used in hate speech incidents at New York University, [21] Vassar College, [22] Temple University, [23] the University of Oregon, [24] and the University of Tennessee, [25] and it was a slogan used in posters put up by a white supremacist organization at dozens of US colleges. [26]

Certain Denver Nuggets jerseys were named "white pride" by Adidas and were listed as such on the team's website in 2016, after which internet outcry prompted the team to rename the jerseys. [27] Similarly, a fitness room in River Falls, Wisconsin was renamed to avoid the racist connotations of it being referred to as the "White Pride Fitness Room". [28] The slogan was chanted along with "White Power" by up to 100 neo-Nazis rallying in Manchester, United Kingdom in March 2015 [29] and was the theme of a March 2016 event in Swansea [30] and a March 2017 event in Edinburgh, [31] all of which were organized by the National Front. In an exposé from The Week , James Poulos warned that "Europe is on track to rediscover what looks to us like a highly unsettling form of white pride." [32]

See also

Related Research Articles

White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine of scientific racism and was a key justification for European colonialism.

The Zionist occupation government, Zionist occupational government or Zionist-occupied government (ZOG), sometimes also called the Jewish occupational government (JOG), is an antisemitic conspiracy theory claiming that Jews secretly control the governments of Western states. It is a contemporary variation on the centuries-old belief in an international Jewish conspiracy. According to believers, a secret Zionist organization actively controls international banks, and through them governments, to conspire against white, Christian, or Islamic interests.

White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a race and seeks to develop and maintain a white racial and national identity. Many of its proponents identify with the concept of a white ethnostate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Aryan Resistance</span> Neo-Nazi organization led by Tom Metzger

White Aryan Resistance (WAR) is a white supremacist and neo-Nazi organization in the United States which was founded and formerly led by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon Tom Metzger. It was based in Warsaw, Indiana, and it was also incorporated as a business. In 1993, the group expanded into Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Lane (white supremacist)</span> American white supremacist and criminal (1938–2007)

David Eden Lane was an American domestic terrorist, white separatist, neo-Nazi, and a convicted felon. A member of the terrorist organization The Order, he was convicted and sentenced to 190 years in prison for racketeering, conspiracy, and the violation of the civil rights of Alan Berg, a Jewish radio talk show host, who prosecutors claimed was murdered by a member of the group via a drive-by shooting with Lane acting as driver, though they were unsuccessful in getting murder convictions. He died while still incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Black (white supremacist)</span> American white supremacist and neo-Nazi

Stephen Donald Black is an American white supremacist. He is the founder and webmaster of the neo-Nazi, Holocaust denial, and homophobic website Stormfront. He was a Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan and a member of the American Nazi Party in the 1970s, though at the time he was a member it was known as the "National Socialist White Peoples' Party". He was convicted in 1981 of attempting an armed overthrow of the government in the island of Dominica in violation of the U.S. Neutrality Act.

The National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP) is a white supremacist organization established in 1979 by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke, deriving its name from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. It is considered a racist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

This is a list of topics related to racism:

Stormfront is a neo-Nazi Internet forum, and the Web's first major racial hate site. The site is focused on propagating white nationalism, Nazism, antisemitism and Islamophobia, as well as anti-feminism, homophobia, transphobia, Holocaust denial, and white supremacy.

Neo-Nazism is the post World War II ideology that promotes white supremacy and specifically antisemitism. In Canada, neo-Nazism has existed as a branch of the far-right and has been a source of considerable controversy for over 50 years.

White power music is music that promotes white nationalism. It encompasses various music styles, including rock, country, and folk. Ethnomusicologist Benjamin R. Teitelbaum argues that white power music "can be defined by lyrics that demonize variously conceived non-whites and advocate racial pride and solidarity. Most often, however, insiders conceptualized white power music as the combination of those themes with pounding rhythms and a charging punk or metal-based accompaniment." Genres include Nazi punk, Rock Against Communism, National Socialist black metal, and fashwave.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Metzger</span> American white supremacist and Neo-Nazi leader

Thomas Linton Metzger was an American white supremacist, neo-Nazi leader and Klansman. He founded White Aryan Resistance (WAR), a neo-Nazi organization, in 1983. He was a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. Metzger voiced strong opposition to immigration to the United States, and was an advocate of the Third Position. He was incarcerated in Los Angeles County, California, and Toronto, Ontario, and was the subject of several lawsuits and government inquiries. He, his son, and WAR were fined a total of $12.5 million as a result of the murder of Mulugeta Seraw, 28, an Ethiopian student, by skinheads in Portland, Oregon, affiliated with WAR.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan</span> White supremacist and antisemitic hate group

The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is a group styled after the original Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Formed around 2012, it aims to "restore America to a White, Christian nation founded on God's word".

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

Identity Evropa was an American far-right, neo-Nazi, neo-Fascist, 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">Nationalist Front (United States)</span> Loose coalition of white supremacist groups in the United States

The Nationalist Front was a loose coalition of radical right and white supremacists. The coalition was formed in 2016 by leaders of the neo-Nazi groups National Socialist Movement (NSM) and Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP). Its aim was to unite white supremacist and white nationalist groups under a common umbrella. Originally the group was named the Aryan Nationalist Alliance and was composed of neo-Nazi, Ku Klux Klan and White power skinhead organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">It's okay to be white</span> Slogan associated with white supremacy

"It's okay to be white" (IOTBW) is an alt-right slogan which originated as part of an organized trolling campaign on the website 4chan's discussion board /pol/ in 2017. A /pol/ user described it as a proof of concept that an otherwise innocuous message could be used maliciously to spark media backlash. Posters and stickers stating "It's okay to be white" were placed in streets in the United States as well as on campuses in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White ethnostate</span> Racist state whose citizenry is limited to White people

A White ethnostate is a proposed type of state in which residence or citizenship would be limited to Whites, and non-Whites and any other groups not seen as White would be excluded from citizenship. Native populations would also be excluded from citizenship, such as the indigenous peoples of the United States.

References

  1. ↑ Staff (March 21, 2009). "Neo-Nazi group and anti-racism protesters clash in Calgary". The Star . Toronto.
  2. ↑ Van McVey, Sarah (2008). Race, Gender, and the Contemporary White Supremacy Movement: The Intersection of "isms" and Organized Racist Groups.
  3. ↑ Gabriel, John (4 January 2002). Whitewash: Racialized Politics and the Media. Routledge. pp. 5–. ISBN   978-1-134-75016-0.
  4. ↑ Belew, Kathleen (2019). Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. Harvard University Press. p. 3. ISBN   978-0-674-23769-8. The white power movement that emerged from the Vietnam era shared some common attributes with earlier racist movements in the United States, but it was no mere echo. Unlike previous iterations of the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacist vigilantism, the white power movement did not claim to serve the state. Instead, white power made the state its target, declaring war against the federal government in 1983.
  5. ↑ Dobratz, Betty A.; Shanks-Meile, Stephanie L. (2001), The White Separatist Movement in the United States: White Power, White Pride, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, p. vii, ISBN   978-0-8018-6537-4
  6. ↑ Berbrier, Mitch (November 1998). "'Half the Battle': Cultural Resonance, Framing Processes, and Ethnic Affectations in Contemporary White Separatist Rhetoric". Social Problems. 45 (4): 431–450. doi:10.2307/3097206. JSTOR   3097206.
  7. ↑ Greenberg, Jeff; Schimel, Jeff; Martens, Andy; Solomon, Sheldon; Pyszcznyski, Tom (2001). "Sympathy for the Devil: Evidence That Reminding Whites of Their Mortality Promotes More Favorable Reactions to White Racists". Motivation and Emotion. 25 (2): 113–133. doi:10.1023/A:1010613909207. S2CID   146201804.
  8. ↑ McDermott, Monica; Samson, Frank L. (2005-01-01). "White Racial and Ethnic Identity in the United States". Annual Review of Sociology . 31: 245–261. doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.31.041304.122322. JSTOR   29737719.
  9. ↑ Swain, Carol M. (2002), The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p.  16, ISBN   978-0-521-80886-6
  10. ↑ Roy, Joseph T. (September 14, 1999), Statement of Joseph T. Roy, Sr. before the Senate Judiciary Committee, U.S. Senate Committee on The Judiciary, archived from the original on 2008-05-20, retrieved 2015-01-21
  11. ↑
    • Ingram, David (2004), Rights, Democracy, and Fulfillment in the Era of Identity Politics: Principled Compromises in a Compromised World, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, p. 55, ISBN   978-0-7425-3348-6
  12. ↑ Mayo, Cris (2004). "Certain Privilege: Rethinking White Agency". Philosophy of Education. 60: 308–316. doi: 10.47925/2004.308 . S2CID   143308655.
  13. ↑
  14. ↑ Tatum, Beverly Daniel (2017). Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race. Basic Books. p. 94. ISBN   978-1-5416-1658-5.
  15. ↑ Mendoza-Denton, Rodolfo (26 April 2012). "Does White Pride Lead to Prejudice?". Greater Good.
  16. ↑ Esposito, Luigi (18 January 2019). "The Alt-Right as a Revolt against Neoliberalism and Political Correctness: the Role of Collective Action Frames". Perspectives on Global Development and Technology. 18 (1–2): 93–110. doi:10.1163/15691497-12341507. S2CID   159077076.
  17. ↑ Faulk, Kent (1997), "White Supremacist Spreads Views over the Internet", The Birmingham News .
  18. ↑ Hilliard, Robert L.; Keith, Michael C. (1999), Waves of Rancor: Tuning in the Radical Right, Amonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, p. 62, ISBN   978-0-7656-0131-5
  19. ↑ Jackson, Ronald L.; Heckman, Susan M. (1 June 2002). "Perceptions of White Identity and White Liability: An Analysis of White Student Responses to a College Campus Racial Hate Crime". Journal of Communication. 52 (2): 434–450. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2002.tb02554.x.
  20. ↑ Back, Les; Keith, Michael; Solomos, John (1998). "Racism on the Internet: Mapping Neo-Fascist Subcultures in Cyberspace". In Kaplan, Jeffrey; Bjørgo, Tore (eds.). Nation and race : the developing Euro-American racist subculture. Boston: Northeastern Univ. Press. ISBN   978-1-55553-332-8.
  21. ↑ "NYU's Jewish, Gay Communities Shaken But 'Strong' After Finding Swastika Sticky Notes in Dorm, Campus Rep Says". Algemeiner.com. Retrieved 2017-04-07.
  22. ↑ "Hate speech continues to impact Vassar, United States – The Miscellany News". 29 March 2017. Retrieved 2017-04-06.
  23. ↑ "Temple U. pulls out the stops to find culprit behind 'hateful' white pride stickers - The College Fix". The College Fix. 2017-03-28. Retrieved 2017-04-06.
  24. ↑ Tobin, Michael. "'White Pride' chalk graffiti spotted on campus". Daily Emerald. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  25. ↑ Ohm, Rachel. "University of Tennessee deletes tweet responding to hate speech on the Rock". Knoxville News Sentinel . Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  26. ↑ "Meet the neo-Nazi coming to put up white pride posters on your campus". The Tab US. 2017-02-15. Retrieved 2017-04-06.
  27. ↑ "Return Of Denver Nuggets' 'White Pride' Uniforms Causes A Stir [PHOTOS]". 2016-10-21. Retrieved 2017-04-06.[ clarification needed ]
  28. ↑ Paulsen, David (2 February 2016). "'White Pride Fitness' uproar prompts school to change name". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
  29. ↑ O'Leary, Abigail (28 March 2015). "Arrests at White Pride rally in Manchester city centre's Piccadilly Gardens". Manchester Evening News . MEN Media. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  30. ↑ McCarthy, James (2016-03-26). "Hundreds protest against Swansea White Pride rally" . Retrieved 2016-09-03.
  31. ↑ "'Neo-Nazis' plan White Pride march on same day as Sikh religious festival". The Independent. 2017-03-18. Retrieved 2017-04-06.
  32. ↑ Poulos, James (13 April 2015). "Europe's shocking and unsettling future: White pride". The Week . Michael Wolfe. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
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