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Happy Monday,
Our president tweeted a video with the words "white power" in it, and somehow – after everything – I still can't believe it. So we're talking about it in today's newsletter: the history of the white power movement, its rise over the past few years, and the racist rhetoric Trump is pushing during these revolutionary times.
I encourage you to read today's newsletter and be in inquiry on how we often minimize or justify racist rhetoric. It might be easier to call it out when Trump says something, but not our beloved uncle at the dinner table. How do you make justifications for racist things people close to you may say?
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Nicole
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GET EDUCATED
On Sunday, June 28 President Trump retweeted (and deleted) a video of a Trump supporter yelling "white power," thanking the "great people" in the footage (via NPR). After the tweet was deleted, White House spokesman Judd Deere released a statement that “President Trump is a big fan of The Villages [the community where the video was filmed]. He did not hear the one statement made on the video. What he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters" (via AP News).
Before we start, I need to make one thing clear: President Trump is racist. This is not up for debate in my inbox. Whether he has deep seated beliefs that white people are the superior race, incites racism solely for his political agenda, or is consistently unintentionally racist makes no difference to me, and when it comes to this work, it shouldn't to you. These types of arguments center Trump's character instead of the social and political harm he creates. And as we discussed in an earlier newsletter, impact, not intent, needs to be our focus as we dismantle white supremacy. He is also bigoted, sexist, islamophobic, homophobic, and xenophobic (to name a few) and the intersectionality of these often come into play in his rhetoric. There is no anti-racism work that includes voting for Trump in 2020.
The aforementioned tweet follows a series of hateful commentary and actions from Trump over the past few weeks – and frankly, the past few years – which feel in strict defiance of the movement reshaping our nation. Remember that feelings on racism are rapidly shifting left in America (NYTimes)! Meanwhile, just over half of America considered him racist back in 2019 (USA Today). Here's a running list of Trump's hateful commentary since the 1970s (Vox).
I don't want to say that one comment is "worse" than another, because they're all bad. But sharing and thanking someone for saying "white power" is egregious. The term "white power" is a popular phrase used by white supremacists, or people that believe that white is the dominant race and should have power over other races (more via ADL).
Side note: the Anti-Defamation League has a glossary of definitions on terms you'll see reflected here and in the articles I've referenced. Read more >
The slogan was chosen a counter-rally to the term "Black power," a positive phrase used by activists during the Civil Rights Movement. It united not just those uncomfortable with Civil Rights Act of 1964, but the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (Southern Poverty Law Center). But the white power movement grew to become not just a racially-motivated organization, but a politically-motivated one too. Kathleen Belew, author of The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America, cites that the Vietnam War was a major motivator to organizing and activating this group against one enemy – the government.
Remember that up to this point, the government favored racist policies – and actually needed these vigilantes "to reinforce official policies like slavery and Jim Crow" (NYTimes). It was a threat that the country was adopting more equitable views, and providing more power and privileges to non-white communities.
This group took arms against the government in smaller, isolated incidents, but culminated in the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing, when Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols and other ani-government racists parked a truck of explosives under the day care of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, killing 168 people – including 19 children – and leaving hundreds more injured (History). The Oklahoma City bombing was "the worst terrorist attack to take place on U.S. soil" until 9/11. The youngest survivor of the attack is 26 years old, and his family reflects on the experience in The Buffalo News.
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Ideologies are sometimes not just ideologies. They result in awful actions and we need to be vigilant about that.
Dennis Purifoy, survivor of the Oklahoma City Bombing for the NYTimes
And violent acts of white supremacy continue. It inspired Dylann Roof in 2015 in South Carolina, and James Alex Fields Jr. in Virginia in 2018 (read about both of these murders in our newsletter re: Confederate symbols). A Coast Guard lieutenant and "self-defined white nationalist" was charged in 2019 for stockpiling weapons and planning to start a race war (NYTimes). 22 people were killed at a Walmart in El Paso, TX by a white supremacist against immigration (Axios). In 2019, a U.S. State Department report named that racially and ethnically motivated terrorism from white supremacists is “on the rise and spreading geographically" (Forbes).
Today's protests and the pandemics may have sparked urgency for white supremacists (examples via The Nation). And several cities have questioned whether white supremacists have been intentionally disrupting the protests from the past month, inciting violence and looting (examples from NBC Chicago, NYTimes and CBS News). Regardless if they are, the unrest aligns with an important white supremacist concept called "accelerationism" – inciting and encouraging violence to draw more people into a war (Brookings).
Which is why there is no justification for the racist rhetoric Trump shares. Inciting violence and terror as a president encourages others to repeat the violence and terror of our past. And I'm not sure that will Make America Great Again for anyone other than those that identify as white.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Trump has a long history of hateful and racist rhetoric
"White power" is the rallying cry for white supremacists
Racially and ethnically motivated terrorism from white supremacists is on the rise
There is no anti-racism work that includes voting for Trump in 2020
Thank you for all your financial contributions! If you haven't already, consider making a monthly donation to this work. These funds will help me operationalize this work for greatest impact.
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