Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Whites and the Next Racial Clash in America
Time ^ | 12/05/03 | JACK E. WHITE

Posted on 12/05/2003 5:44:11 PM PST by freedom44

According to political scientist Carol M. Swain's unsettling new book, "The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration," the U.S. is on the brink of an explosion of white "tribalism" that could trigger unprecedented levels of racial antagonism and an epidemic of violence. The underlying cause: a swelling "white nationalist" movement fueled by simmering resentment of affirmative action programs like those used by the University of Michigan. "The book is a wake-up call to warn people that we're following a dangerous course by pushing identity politics and multi-culturalism," explains the Vanderbilt law school professor. "There's nothing special about the U.S. that says we couldn't have ethnic cleansing and violence here like in Bosnia or Rwanda."

It's shocking to hear such a dire prophesy from a scholar like Swain, who is rapidly establishing herself as one of the leaders of a new, increasingly vocal neoconservative brand of black political analysis that rejects affirmative action and reparations for slavery and holds blacks responsible for their own uplift. Until recently, most left-leaning black theorists derided her as a hopeless optimist. Her previous book, "Black Faces, Black Interests," ruffled many black politicians by dismissing their fear that a Supreme Court ruling that struck down the use of race in the creation of majority black congressional districts would be a disaster. Instead, Swain predicted, the ruling actually would be good for African Americans. As she foresaw, even in the Deep South strong black candidates were capable of winning enough support from whites to prevail in districts where black voters were outnumbered. She also argued that disbursing blacks into mostly-white districts could make it easier for liberal Democrats to compete with conservative Republicans by building multi-racial coalitions. Blacks "need more representation of their liberal views of policy than they need people who look like them" in Congress, Swain contended. Anyone looking at the toothlessness of the Congressional Black Caucus in the Republican-dominated House would find it difficult to disagree.

But, as Swain says, she "turned from a Pollyanna into a Cassandra" as her research into a book criticizing racial preferences made her aware of the spread of what she calls "the new white nationalism," a form of racial extremism more dangerous than the Ku Klux Klan because of its veneer of erudition and mastery of the Internet. Groups such as former Klansman David Duke's National Organization for European American Rights and the National Association of White People eschew the discredited notion of white supremacy. Indeed, they don't claim that whites are superior to anyone else and may even be inferior to Asians.

Instead they push the notion over websites, in publications such as Jared Taylor's "American Renaissance " magazine and through on-campus recruiting drives that all racial groups have unique interests and the god-given right to fulfill their destiny. They see themselves, as Swain has written, as "defenders of the legitimate civil rights of white people against what they allege are a host of racial double standards." In short, that affirmative action has made whites the most discriminated-against group in the country and that it can only get worse as a tide of immigrants transforms the U.S. from a white nation into a rickety Third World republic. The language white nationalists use to promote their insights is stunningly familiar to anyone who has listened to black nationalists like Louis Farrakhan — but that's not surprising, since the white nationalists appropriated it. As Swain observes, "the multicultural left has provided a language that works very well for whites who want to push white-identity politics," says Swain. "They say that if it's good for blacks to celebrate their heritage, it's good for whites to celebrate theirs."

What concerns Swain the most is such groups now seem to be finding an audience among mainstream whites whose gripes about racial preferences and high crime rates among blacks have been tuned out by white liberal politicians. Though she has no proof that the membership of such groups is mushrooming, their influence is being felt widely. Indeed, some of the rhetoric used by white nationalists is indistinguishable from the verbiage used by President Bush in his assault on the "quotas" supposedly used by the University of Michigan. "If we keep going down this road, it's going to increasingly pit racial groups against each other," she warns. "Some white people, who are otherwise good people, who don't hate blacks, are going to be pushed into the arms of these extremists if we don't change course."

Swain thinks there's only one way out of this bind: recognizing that whites have "legitimate" beefs about race that should be openly debated by politicians and scholars. She also believes we should immediately do away with racial preferences in university admissions, hiring and government contracts that not only fuel white resentment but send the message to blacks that they can't meet the same standards as everyone else. Swain's detractors say such steps amount to no more than a cowardly capitulation to racism, but she won't back down because she does not believe that blacks need the crutch provided by race-conscious policies. For Swain, a deeply devout evangelical Christian, such beliefs are not academic. Now 49, she went from being a high school drop-out and single mother in rural Virginia to a Ph.d and a chair at a leading university. "Somehow, we've got to embrace an American national identity that pulls us together instead of dividing us into warring camps," says Swain, "perhaps through a renewed emphasis on the Judeo-Christian idea of a common creator and the brotherhood of man." It's an old-fashioned idea that could prevent Swain's troubling predictions from coming true.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bookreview; carolswain; newwhitenationalism; preferences
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 141-160161-180181-200 ... 341-356 next last
To: Doc On The Bay
Right now we abort our young
161 posted on 12/05/2003 11:36:16 PM PST by U S Army EOD (When the EOD technician screws up, he is always the first to notice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 132 | View Replies]

To: Vision
Is TIME still considered a real magazine?

Good one! And CBS is still our preimier news reporing TV network, and...

162 posted on 12/05/2003 11:40:29 PM PST by xJones
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: B-Chan
Indeed, that is my prayer.
163 posted on 12/05/2003 11:46:50 PM PST by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 156 | View Replies]

To: Clemenza; wardaddy
Isn't it a bitter farce that a black Cuban, a mostly indian Bolivian and a pure white Castillian are all called "Hispanic?" What the heck do they have in common? They can barely understand one another's Spanish.
164 posted on 12/05/2003 11:49:33 PM PST by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 140 | View Replies]

To: freedom44
The underlying cause: a swelling "white nationalist" movement fueled by simmering resentment of affirmative action programs like those used by the University of Michigan.

And if it does happen, the government will no one to blame but itself.

165 posted on 12/06/2003 12:02:03 AM PST by A2J (Oh, I wish I was in Dixie...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freedom44
for later.
166 posted on 12/06/2003 12:08:40 AM PST by Mark17
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee
"There's nothing special about the U.S. that says we couldn't have ethnic cleansing and violence here like in Bosnia or Rwanda."

except that Americans intermarry...thirty percent of Hispanics intermarry, thirty percent of Asians intermarry, and ten percent of "blacks" intermarry (the pc term black ignores the West Indian and African blacks, who are less racially oriented.).

Bosnians didn't intermarry, and Rwandans didn't mix in their "tribes". I was told by a Bosnian that the mayor of Dubrovnic came from the north end of the island, which was originally populated by refugees from the Roman colony...the implication being that they still remembered the slavic/roman wars of 1200 years ago...

So the lack of teaching history in our schools has an advantage.

Besides, most "white" americans don't consider their ethnic background as "white", but where their ancestors came from...
167 posted on 12/06/2003 12:19:41 AM PST by LadyDoc (liberals only love politically correct poor people)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: LadyDoc
Hey, I'm the biggest fan of the melting pot theory you ever saw!
168 posted on 12/06/2003 12:27:27 AM PST by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 167 | View Replies]

To: freedom44
Go to any American white nationalist message board and you'll see the general consensus is that the US is lost.The new agenda seems to be to relocate to the highest percentage 'white' countries like Australia,Argentina and Iceland.The left here is up in arms about recent white nationalist American speakers being allowed to visit OZ setting up the new HQ of Church of the Creator here.Personally,i dont see the purpose of having a reactionary-based organisation in a country that has virtually no blacks.
169 posted on 12/06/2003 1:04:34 AM PST by smpc
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee
The Iraqis were armed to the teeth. Aimed fire, or lack thereof, seemed to be a serious issue for them, though.

I suspect the same would be the case for those homies.
170 posted on 12/06/2003 4:07:07 AM PST by FreedomPoster (this space intentionally blank)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 147 | View Replies]

.
171 posted on 12/06/2003 4:10:07 AM PST by Vigilantcitizen (Go Dawgs....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mylife
We do have a government "for that", and hopefully the government isn't run by people like Bill Clinton who believed he was the first black president. When government loses its mind, what are free prople left to do. I see nothing wrong with sounding the alarm here. Why should we believe we are immune to the kind of infighting that has hurt so many other nations? Because we have a government and a constitution? With the liberal, activist judges we have now, what will that paper be worth to those who want to be left alone? It won't protect their liberties and they will have to fend for themselves. Let's pray not, but it certainly is within the realm of possibility--and that's all the article is saying.
172 posted on 12/06/2003 4:25:54 AM PST by discipler
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: freedom44; mhking; Trueblackman; L.N. Smithee; Khepera; Noumenon; Travis McGee
For those of you that do not know, Jack E. White is a black race baiter extraordinaire for Time magazine. Right up there with Derrick Z. Jackson. 'Pod
173 posted on 12/06/2003 5:45:40 AM PST by sauropod (I believe Tawana! Sharpton for Prez! Slap the Donkey or Spank the Monkey? Your Choice)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

"Swain thinks there's only one way out of this bind: recognizing that whites have "legitimate" beefs about race that should be openly debated by politicians and scholars"

It will never happen because anyone attending would be termed racist

174 posted on 12/06/2003 6:03:52 AM PST by Jakarta ex-pat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies]

To: ETERNAL WARMING
The time of my sympathy is well past.

I share that sentiment.

175 posted on 12/06/2003 6:31:41 AM PST by BureaucratusMaximus (if we're not going to act like a constitutional republic...lets be the best empire we can be...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 125 | View Replies]

To: BureaucratusMaximus; ETERNAL WARMING
>>The time of my sympathy is well past.

An interesting observation on that. I'm on a neutral board where there are a lot of young libs. We discuss Bush and Iraq and other issues daily. These folks are extreme Dem Liberals, rabidly anti-Bush / anti-Republican / anti-Conservative.

What is interesting is that when issues of race and preferences, and Sharpeton/Jackson statements, come up, many of the Libs are right with us on that. They're getting tired of it, too.
176 posted on 12/06/2003 6:45:18 AM PST by FreedomPoster (this space intentionally blank)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 175 | View Replies]

To: U S Army EOD
If you have superior firepower and the other side isn't willing or able to fight back effectively. You win initially but all you do is piss off the other group even more.

The gang-bangers think they're so "bad", with all the guns they have in their clubhouses. They think the white suburbs would be a pushover if they just got enough people together

I don't think the gang-bangers have any conception of how much firepower the average suburban neighborhood has these days.

177 posted on 12/06/2003 7:24:52 AM PST by SauronOfMordor (Happiness is a belt-fed weapon)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 82 | View Replies]

To: Dianna
A riot or attacks in a white neighborhood would do it. Why? Because what will the cops do to protect us? Will they protect us to the best of their ability? Or will they use bean bags because they don't want anyone calling them racist?

Post-LA-riots, any middle-class white who doesn't have at least one firearm, along with at least a thousand rounds for it, is a fool.

If a riot spills over into white areas, I don't think the rioters will go into the residential areas. They know that homeowners would have the right to shoot to kill in order to protect their families, and that homeowners WOULD shoot.

The primary targets would be the stores and shopping malls and banks

178 posted on 12/06/2003 7:29:03 AM PST by SauronOfMordor (Happiness is a belt-fed weapon)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 122 | View Replies]

To: SauronOfMordor
Once the suburbs got organized and didn't sit around waiting for the police to tell them what to do, things would get a little rough. Or we could just call in the Korean store owners.
179 posted on 12/06/2003 7:30:37 AM PST by U S Army EOD (When the EOD technician screws up, he is always the first to notice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 177 | View Replies]

To: macrahanish #1
The first violence won't come from people influenced by the likes of Duke. Al-Fuqra or NOI will hit first in large, co-ordinated attacks. Well armed whites will see black faces as the enemy.

That would be an effective tactic. Hit the whites a few times, provoke them into hitting back, with the retaliation mainly hitting people who weren't involved in the attack. This will radicalize both sides in a widening spiral

The black side, under attack, will then be looking for leadership -- with NOI ready to step in.

180 posted on 12/06/2003 7:42:37 AM PST by SauronOfMordor (Happiness is a belt-fed weapon)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 85 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 141-160161-180181-200 ... 341-356 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson