White Nationalism In The USA

White Nationalism

White nationalism is a problem today in the United States. Every day, we see something horrific on the internet involving some type of violent notion or unfair treatment of a person of color. This problem keeps many wondering just how much longer can we withstand this sick fantasy, and when the time will come to face that terrifying reality.

It’s main causes are Trump as president, the internet, and the demographics of cities in America. The effects of White Nationalism are the rise of hate crimes, young people are getting influenced by murderers on the internet, and people are scared of the “white genocide” or “white replacement,” white genocide thoery is the belief that the white race will soon become oppressed by the non white race. To fix this we should contact our local mayor, congressman, or U.S senator, speak out about white nationalism in our area, and protest about it in your local area or out of your area.

In the article “White Nationalism as Immigration as Policy” by Jayashri Srikantiah & Shirin Sinnar of Stanford Law Review Online, they explain that white nationalism is “the belief that national identity should be built around white ethnicity, and that white person should therefore maintain both a demographic majority and dominance of the nation’s culture and public life.”

Due to America being built on white nationalism it also birthed white supremacy. White Supremacy, is the desire to see white people have greater power and authority in today’s society. Both White Nationalists and White Supremacists believe that America should stay and preserve the white culture in America. To this day many groups still choose to follow this type of thinking and even push this type of thinking on to children. Some examples of these groups are the Ku Klux Klan, the Skinheads, Neo-Nazis, and sometimes regular people. There are some who are not apart of any of these groups. They are just regular people who just are scared that their very own race is becoming “extinct.”

White nationalism dates back many years in our history and findings.The constitution only really dedicated to the white man and only the white man. Not the white women, because even at the time they still didn’t fully have rights yet. It definitely wasn’t to protect the rights of other races either. One of the first events of major white nationalism in our history was the genocide of the Native Americans. The Trail of Tears was fueled by racism to remove all the natives and push them away from their lands to expand it for white settlers and to create more farms. The U.S. Government forced the native to walk thousands of miles, almost all barefoot. Many died due to malnourishment and disease. Many at the time and now still view white people as savages because of this ruthless history.

According to Elizabeth Thomas, of ABC News, “ “The Turner Diaries,” a white nationalist fantasy novel published in 1978 by William Luther Pierce, told the story of an armed uprising against the federal government by defenders of the white race.” The book influenced many “defenders” like Lane and Timothy McVeigh, the planners of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 that killed 168 and injured more than 680 people. According to Luke Darby of GQ magazine, “ The Turner Diaries had inspired at least 200 murders since it was published.” Lane and Timothy were only 2 out of the 200 that were inspired from this book more will come throughout history.

A potential cause of the rise of white nationalism in America is Donald Trump. Since the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump always seemed to find a way to put Mexicans and Muslim people in his speeches. From calling Mexicans rapists and drug dealers to calling Arabic people terrorists and just being Islamophobic. When saying all these things his voters hear and start agreeing, thinking we need to start closing our borders for Mexican people and ban the Arabs from our country. Hearing our president talk like this encourages others to think the same way as he does and this normalizes white nationalist thinking.

The outcome of this is you can no longer feel comfortable in public. Non-whites cannot go to Walmart without worrying that they might get attacked or caught in a public shooting. Kids can no longer go to school without fearing for their lives. People worry about their lives because of the color of their skin. The reason why white nationalism is a problem is that hate crime has gone up drastically. The most recent being the El Paso shooting in Walmart in Texas, the shooter who is in fact a white supremacist said that the Mexicans are “invading Texas” and his way of “fixing” that problem was violence. Again Trump always talks about getting rid of the Mexicans in our country in his speeches and this is the effects of it.

Fear of changing demographics is also a factor in the rise of White Nationalism. Many whites are fearing and believing the “white genocide” theory will become reality. The “White Genocide” theory is that the white race will soon become oppressed by the non white race. According to Amanda Taub of New York Times, white nationalism is “built around white ethnicity, and that white person should therefore maintain both a demographic majority and dominance of the nation’s culture and public life.” More and more minorities are moving into communities and some people are afraid they will take over. Luke from GQ magazine talks about refugees arriving to the small town of Minnesota town, St. Cloud and the backlash of it. He states, “ While some in the town have welcomed their new neighbors, others are actively working against them.” The towns non-white population, 77,000 people, rate went up 16% in the past 30 years. They don’t think as these refugees as humans, they think of them as invaders of their country and that they steal jobs from the Americans.

Some of the people who fear the “white genocide” will even go out of their own way and take into their own hands. And it often ends up becoming violent and deadly to the race they target. Using the El Paso shooting in Texas for example. The man traveled all the way to a Walmart in a Mexican dominated community and began shooting in the open.

A cause for the spread of white nationalism is the internet. For example websites like 4chan, Reddit, Discord, and YouTube. It is our first amendment many of the users of these sites take advantage of it and use their rights by spreading hate. 4chan is one of the worst sites to come across for white nationalism, their side website 8chan has been known to be FILLED with all white nationalist posts and blogs. In the article “Sites like Facebook, Google and Twitter allowed white supremacists to flourish. Now what?” by David Heath and Kevin Crowe of USA TODAY explain that “Users of both sites often have seemed indistinguishable. Both sites are full of vile language, with frequent use of the N-word and slurs against Jews. Both are “image boards,” where users embed images in their posts.” Also to mention YouTube is trying very hard to “ban” the white nationalist channels but still let channels like Lauren Southern and Dylann Roof, who is a “the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, still maintains his own YouTube channel, as do other prominent white nationalist groups.” Many take inspiration from these platforms. Kids can easily come across these videos on the internet and just listen to them. Youtube is a very influential website.

The internet is a big void, anyone can find almost anything in it, dark web or not. Kids and young teens can be influenced by anyone on the internet. For example YouTube, Pewdiepie is the biggest YouTube channel. Back in 2018 he paid two men to hold up a sign that said anti-semitic words. His viewers being children simply laughed it off not thinking much of it. Although in reality this was a very big thing. Children will think of these types of ‘jokes’ as humorous and use it like a common joke when a genocide of a whole race isn’t funny at all. Although he apologized for all of his actions he became the talk with terrorists around the world. Another example is how easy it is for white nationalist groups to recruit young kids. In the video “How White Nationalists recruit Online.” by MSNBC News the guest of the video, Brain Levin explained “White Nationalists and extremists exploited the internet and used it as a platform to eradicate lies.” White Nationalists and supremacists take advantage of this and recruit young kids with propaganda.

Although, I personally believe that white nationalism is something that can’t ever be stopped there are solutions to help prevent it from becoming something very big. One of the three solutions is to encourage our US senators, Congressmen, or state Mayors to take a stand against white nationalism and fight it. Text, email, or write them your concerns about white nationalism and let your voice be heard by them.

Solution number two is speak up against white nationalism even if it means you have to stand up alone. If you see someone making rude and racist comments at your workplace, school, or maybe one of your friends made a racist comment don’t just stay silent, call out all the white supremacy or nationalism in your life. Petition and protest against white nationalism in your local area or go to a planned protest. If people see you petitioning and protesting against it they will start understanding how important ending and stopping white nationalism is, be the leader your local area needs.

Another solution to stop the rise of White Nationalism is to stop covering our history of past White Nationalist events. For example the Trail of Tears, it’s a part of our history that many people are trying to cover up. If we learn from our past mistakes with White Nationalism we can learn to not make those mistakes again. I use the Trail of Tears for an example, because in 5th grade my mom sent me to a Christan Church school. From the 5th to freshmen year of high school I never once knew about the Trail of Tears. When I went back to ask my teachers at the time their reply was that it was “irrelevant” to learn.

In conclusion, if you want to change the world of white nationalism get involved into protests in the area or even outside your area. If you want something changed then help those who are already trying to make a change in this world.