White supremacy
White supremacy is the belief that white people are better than all other races. The words "white supremacy" are sometimes used to describe a political idea that shows the social and political dominance of whites.[1]
White supremacy is a form of racism. However it is not to be confused with different political and moral differences that people of any race may hold. White supremacists also want racial separation, which means people of different races living apart. White supremacy has often resulted in anti-black racism and antisemitism (Anti-Jewish hate).[2]
The different groups who are in favour of white supremacy do not agree on who is white, or on which group is their worst enemy.[3] White supremacists often consider Jews to be the biggest threat to their cause, because they think Jews are able to mix much more easily than other ethnic groups.[4]
History
Politically, socially and economically, white supremacy was common in the United States before the American Civil War and for decades after.[5] The same is true of white supremacist regimes in South Africa and Rhodesia and of parts of Europe at different time periods; importantly under Nazi Germany's Third Reich. The size of White supremacy's influence on Western culture, and the way in which it influences society, is still being debated. In some parts of the United States, many people who were considered non-white could not vote and were not allowed to be part of the government. They were also not allowed to hold most government jobs — well into the second half of the 20th century. White leaders often thought of Native Americans and Australian Aborigines as stopping society from going forward, rather than as settlers in their own right. Many European-settled countries at the Pacific Ocean limited immigration from Asian and Pacific countries. Many U.S. states banned marriage between races, through "anti-miscegenation laws" until 1967, when these laws were changed. South Africa and Rhodesia kept its white supremacist dicatorships until 1994 and 1980, respectively.
White supremacists have become linked with a racist part of the skinhead subculture, though when the skinhead scene first developed in the United Kingdom in the late 1960s, it was heavily influenced by Jamaican rude boys and British mods.[6][7][8] By the 1980s, a large white power skinhead faction had formed.
White supremacist movements and ideas
White supremacist groups can be found in most countries and regions with a large white population, including North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Latin America. In all of these areas, their views represent a small amount of the population, and the amount of people who are active in the groups is quite small. The militant approach taken by white supremacist groups has caused them to be watched closely by law enforcement officials. Some European countries have laws against hate speech, as well as other laws that ban or limit some white supremacist organizations (but not all).
Religious movements
The Christian Identity movement, which is regarded by most other Christians as heretical is closely tied to white supremacy. Although the Ku Klux Klan's reasons for supporting racial segregation are not mainly based on religious ideals, some Klan groups are openly Christian Protestant because of their northern European/Germanic roots. Some white supremacists say that they follow the Odinist religion, although most Odinists reject white supremacy, and white supremacists make up only a small part of those who support Odinism (belief in the gods of Norse mythology). Some white supremacist groups, such as the South African Boeremag, put elements of Christianity and Odinism together.
The World Church of the Creator, now called the Creativity Movement promotes a federally-recognized racial religious creed called Creativity. The basic ideology is based on the idea of a sound mind in a sound body in a sound society in a sound environment. The religion is dedicated to the "survival, expansion and advancement of the white race" and "building a whiter and brighter world." Central to this is a unique "holy war" referred to as "RAHOWA" is which members of the white race must take steps to preserve their white race. They believe that all races are at enmity with each other for territory and natural resources and their war is a religious war. They are not Christian and essentially atheistic agnostic.
Related pages
- Apartheid, a system of rule by white people in South Africa
- Master race, the belief that one race is or ought to be dominant
Footnotes
- ↑ Wildman, Stephanie M. (1996). Privilege revealed: how invisible preference. NYU Press. p. 87. ISBN 0814793037.
- ↑ Skutsch, Carl (2017-08-19). "The history of white supremacy in America". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2021-06-21.
- ↑ Flint, Colin (2004). Spaces of Hate: geographies of discrimination and intolerance in the U.S.A. Routledge. p. 53. ISBN 0415935865.
Although white racist activists must adopt a political identity of whiteness, the flimsy definition of whiteness in modern culture poses special challenges for them. In both mainstream and white supremacist discourse, to be white is to be distinct from those marked as nonwhite, yet the placement of the distinguishing line has varied significantly in different times and places.
- ↑ Gerstenfeld, Phyllis B. (2003). Hate Crimes: causes, controls, and controversies. Sage Publications Inc. p. 155. ISBN 0761928146.
The third reason that Jews may be so vilified is that, compared with people of color, they can much more easily assimilate; they can easily "pass". This represents a particular threat to white supremacy because Jews can infiltrate the white power structure in a way that people of color cannot.
- ↑ Fredrickson, George (1981). White Supremacy. Oxford Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press. pp. p.162. ISBN 0195030427.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help) - ↑ "Smiling Smash: An Interview with Cathal Smyth, a.k.a Chas Smash, of Madness". Archived from the original on 2001-02-19. Retrieved 2001-02-19.
- ↑ "Special Articles". Archived from the original on 2008-12-17. Retrieved 2008-11-27.
- ↑ Old Skool Jim. Trojan Skinhead Reggae Box Set liner notes. London: Trojan Records. TJETD169.
Further reading
- Dobratz, Betty A. and Shanks-Meile, Stephanie. "White power, white pride!": The white separatist movement in the United States (Twayne Publishers, NY, 1997).
- Lincoln Rockwell, George. White Power (John McLaughlin, 1996).
Other websites
- "White Power" by George Lincoln Rockwell Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
- Anti-Defamation League article on white power music Archived 2007-10-11 at the Wayback Machine