Racist Rhetoric Research Articles

Zero-Tolerance: The Trump Administration's Human Rights Violations Against Migrants on the Southern Border

In 2017, the Trump Administration imposed its policy of zero-tolerance immigration enforcement on the southern border. This policy resulted in the forcible separation of families and the prolonged detention of children in harsh conditions, without due process or adequate resources. The Trump Administration unleashed these policies to deter people from immigrating and seeking asylum, consistent with President Trump’s racist rhetoric and campaign promises. This article analyzes and critiques these policies based on international human rights law, noting the resonance human rights norms find among diverse religious traditions. The article begins with detailed analysis of the Trump Administration’s policies that divided families and detained children in wretched conditions, in violation of U.S. law. It proceeds to evaluate and criticize these policies under treaties ratified by the U.S., conventions it has signed but not ratified, and established customary international law. In the name of border enforcement and immigration deterrence, the Trump Administration’s policies violated the fundamental human rights of migrants and people seeking asylum in the United States, including the right to family life, rights of the child, and rights to be free from ill-treatment and arbitrary detention. The abrupt and often permanent separation of families, the indefinite detention of children without proper care, and the failure of process in these policies are all stark violations of binding international human rights laws. These policies affront the moral conscience of multitudes, eliciting sustained protest from civil society and faith leaders. The article concludes with a recognition that international institutions and legal mechanisms may not be adequate to compel the Trump Administration to respect international law, so political and electoral responses are vital to ensure that human rights remain at the heart of the American enterprise. It suggests the accord between religious, ethical perspectives and human rights principles is valuable to reinforcing popular support for these norms. As the world bears witness to these cruel abuses of human rights, Americans must decide whether and how to hold the government accountable for the inherent dignity of all people within the rule of law.

To be and not to be: With wisdom and grace or stupidity and disgrace after the SARS-CoV2 outbreak

The day before yesterday, it was shameful for some politicians, especially President Trump, to label SARS-CoV2 virus as discriminatory “Chinese Virus”. Politicians should be more professional and graceful, and distance themselves from the independence of the academy if something remains unknown to them. Besides, there were two months for President Trump to prepare the Americans for this Virus [1]; unfortunately, could he have given more attention to his duty of anti-SARS-CoV2 action, despite spending time to defending against the impeachment of his presidency? Besides, in line with this idea, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wrote: ”The president is turning to racist rhetoric to distract from his failures to take the coronavirus seriously early on, make tests widely available and adequately prepare the country for a period of crisis. Don’t fall for it. Don’t let your friends and family fall for it”

The racial lens of Dylann Roof: racial anxiety and white nationalist rhetoric on new media

ABSTRACT This essay claims that white nationalism is a political identity animated by the affect of racial anxiety. Drawing from Frantz Fanon's work on blackness as a phobic object, Hortense J. Spillers's conception of the flesh/body distinction, and Jacques Lacan's seminar on anxiety, the essay argues that the racial anxiety of the white nationalist subject emerges from encounters with the incapacity of post-racial fantasies of national wholeness to fully disavow the abjection of blackness that holds together the symbolic structure of race. The essay performs a rhetorical analysis of Dylann Storm Roof's manifesto “rtf88,” claiming that Roof's racial anxiety is anchored by an identification with the trope of “racial awareness” as an abject metaphor for his sovereignty. The essay uses this trope to trace three different relationships to racial anxiety that the white nationalist subject articulates on new media: discovery, mapping, and mobilization. The essay concludes by outlining future directions for scholars of race and media who wish to study white nationalism on the internet.

Henriette Kraze's <em>Heim Neuland</em> (1908) and the Idealized Nonviolent Colonial Community

This article explores how Friederike Henriette Kraze’s relatively unknown novel Heim Neuland (1908) depicts an idealized community of German colonialists claiming Heimat in Namibia (German South-West Africa) who are dedicated to peaceful coexistence with the indigenous population. Kraze’s novel links the colonial project to the larger national aim of establishing Germany as a global industrial power. Simultaneously, Kraze presents the colonial setting as a space that offers settler women new freedoms. What distinguishes Kraze’s writing from that of her contemporaries is a focus on the importance of nonviolence for the success of German colonialism. Kraze’s writing is infused with racist rhetoric, but she also defines the use of unjustified violence and cruelty as reasons for exclusion from the colonial community. This is a vision that appears in sharp contrast to the German mercilessness that caused the Herero and Nama genocide, which occurred following the writing of Heim Neuland in January 1905 and prior to its publication in 1908.

Henriette Kraze’s Heim Neuland (1908) and the Idealized Nonviolent Colonial Community

This article explores how Friederike Henriette Kraze’s relatively unknown novel Heim Neuland (1908) depicts an idealized community of German colonialists claiming Heimat in Namibia (German South-West Africa) who are dedicated to peaceful coexistence with the indigenous population. Kraze’s novel links the colonial project to the larger national aim of establishing Germany as a global industrial power. Simultaneously, Kraze presents the colonial setting as a space that offers settler women new freedoms. What distinguishes Kraze’s writing from that of her contemporaries is a focus on the importance of nonviolence for the success of German colonialism. Kraze’s writing is infused with racist rhetoric, but she also defines the use of unjustified violence and cruelty as reasons for exclusion from the colonial community. This is a vision that appears in sharp contrast to the German mercilessness that caused the Herero and Nama genocide, which occurred following the writing of Heim Neuland in January 1905 and prior to its publication in 1908.

Negative Compliment or Contemplations on Racist Rhetoric

Negative Compliment or Contemplations on Racist Rhetoric Felicia Zamora (bio) You don't see the back of your own wordsthe ones grazing my face, the almost humin summon on your tongue, to dig a hole& place me in, just so my brown body makessense to you, to lower in your vision, your scoopas to think my bones for collection, for descentas in a placement that you control. I shut my eyes,rest my hand gently upon your shoulder, evento my own shoulder; I've come to let you: let goof the tick in the back of your throat, the murmurof your fragility, of what makes you scared of whatI will take away. Open your eyes: see me: brown& powerful & releasing this weight you left hereupon my brain, my capillaries, my nervous system.These are yours. Take your words & let them burnto ash, so the flame of them cinders the message &stings your taste buds, so you inhale your own grit,your own sour smell in your lungs, so your words maybecome phoenixes & learn from the scars & searsthey inflicted, become all genders, grow out of eachof your ribs & spread wings of billowing tufts of plumeto release you—out of your own spinal axis—the drill in the trench you continue to dig & dig & dig. [End Page 84] Felicia Zamora Felicia Zamora is the author of five books of poetry including Quotient (Tinder-box Editions, forthcoming), Body of Render, winner of the 2018 Benjamin Saltman Award, and Of Form & Gather, winner of the 2016 Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. She's received fellowships and residencies from CantoMundo, Ragdale Foundation, PLAYA, Moth Magazine, and Martha's Vineyard, authored two chap-books, and won the 2019 Wabash Prize for Poetry and 2015 Tomaž Salamun Prize, and she was the 2017 Poet Laureate of Fort Collins, CO. She teaches creative writing online at Colorado State University and is associate poetry editor for Colorado Review and program manager for the Center for Imagination in the Borderlands at Arizona State University. Copyright © 2020 University of Nebraska Press

How is Australianness represented by prime ministers?: Prime ministerial and party rhetoric of race, class, and gender on Australia Day and Anzac Day, 1990–2017

ABSTRACT Australia Day and Anzac Day, held on January 26 and April 25 annually, are key moments used by prime ministers to share, shape, and reproduce their understanding of what and whom is representative of a unique Australian identity and nationalism. This paper uses qualitative and quantitative methods with content analysis to evaluate and compare prime ministerial and party rhetoric in their Australia Day and Anzac Day speeches between 1990 and 2017 regarding class and economic relations, gender and sexuality, and race and national identity. We ask: How have prime ministers as reflexive actors used their speeches on Australia Day and Anzac Day to represent what it means to be Australian? The study reveals that despite prime ministers sometimes using intentionally inclusive discourses, they simultaneously reproduce a classless, hetero-masculine, and Anglocentric Australianness as a normative representation of national identity in Australian society.

Far-Right Media as Imitated Counterpublicity: A Discourse Analysis on Racial Meaning and Identity on Vdare.com

Calling attention to a lack of analytical clarity regarding far-right media within alternative media literature, we seek to answer the question: what is far-right about far-right media? Turning to Vdare.com, a prominent right-wing website run by white nationalist Peter Brimelow that publishes under the tagline “The Premier News for Patriotic Immigration Reform,” we examine racial representation, as well as the sourcing practices used by their contributors. Employing discourse analysis, we analyze a total of 227 pieces on Vdare published in August 2017. Bringing together literature from counterpublic theory as well as Fields and Fields’ notion of racecraft, we argue that far-right media is the performance of imitated counterpublicity in which critical race rhetoric is coopted to mobilize white supremacist sentiment and organize white tribal politics. To better understand far-right media, we extend counterpublic theory by questioning who gets to wear the mantle of counterpublic, as well as what limits we place on the notion of publicity as a concept of critical theory. In doing so, we call attention to the ideological closure of discursive space, the disavowal of dialogue and deliberative engagement with broader publics, and the mystical qualities of racial meaning that take place in far-right media.

Discussing the elephant in the room: the Republican Party and race issues

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the subtle racist rhetoric used by members of the Republican Party over the last 60 years connected to issues of race. The authors start by providing a brief history of the Republican Party and race issues. Then, the authors discuss the civic thinking skills stressed within the C3 Framework, specifically the ability to analyze politicians’ arguments. Then, the focus shifts to look at the racial literacy framework discussed by King et al. Finally, three activities are provided that enable students to grasp the subtle racist rhetoric used by some Republicans connected to issues of race. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors explore race issues with members of the modern Republican Party. The authors design three classroom-ready activities by drawing on the best teaching practices advocated for in the C3 Framework. To elaborate, these activities allow students to research and analyze arguments made by some Republican politicians. This enables students to engage in the four dimensions of the Inquiry Arc in the C3 Framework. Findings The authors provide three activities that can be utilized in the high school social studies classroom to enable students to dissect American politicians’ messages connected to race issues. These activities can be adapted and utilized to enable students to examine a political candidate’s messages, especially those that contain subtle racist rhetoric. By completing the steps of these three activities, students are better prepared to be critical consumers of political messages and to hold elected officials accountable for their words, policies and actions. Originality/value In this paper, the authors explore the role of racist political rhetoric employed by members of the Republican Party over the last 60 years. The authors use the racial literacy framework advocated for by King et al. in three classroom-ready activities. The three activities are provided to help students break down the racist political rhetoric employed by notable members of the Republican Party.

Is racism a tactic? Reflections on susceptibility, salience, and a failure to prevent violent racist extremism

Humans are intrinsically susceptible to extremist ideologies. A more humanizing approach to education would help us both to reduce prejudice toward others and to recognize our own human vulnerability to racism and other fundamentally destructive worldviews. Reflecting on the lessons learned from an outburst of violent racist extremism two decades ago and insights from the field of teaching and learning about the Holocaust, the author argues that our individual susceptibility and institutional vulnerability to extremism allow doctrines like racism to be effective not just as an ideology that persuades others but also as a tactic that makes various identity categories more salient. White Americans, for example, need not feel persuaded by racist rhetoric for it to be successful; as long as the category of “race” becomes more salient and they feel positioned by racial rhetoric, it may have achieved its aim.

Exploring critical communication approaches through Grandmama’s birthday: An application of the self-reference effect through public and personal timelines

ABSTRACTIn many classroom conversations when exploring critical communication issues such as gender and race, students are often unable to identify the relevance of past events and uninterested in exploring the concepts. This activity was created as a way to help students uncover the significance of events and movements from which they feel disconnected. At its core, this activity provides students with a meaningful and personal way to explore historical events related to course concepts through a single in-class activity that utilizes the creation of overlapping public and personal timelines. By viewing this information through the lens of personal familial connections and by engaging the self-reference effect, students are provided a vehicle for making strong connections to numerous critical communication concepts.Courses: Organizational Communication, Critical Communication, Gender Communication, Introduction to Communication Theory and History, Communication and Careers, Rhetoric of Race, Rhetoric and Social Change, Research Methods, Family Communication.Objective: This activity aims to provide students with an active-learning process for making personal connections to foundational critical communication concepts and approaches.

“Scattered Like Sand” WeChat Warriors in the Trial of Peter Liang

ABSTRACTThis paper builds on social media activism scholarship and critical historiographies of Asian-Black conflict to examine the February 20, 2016 rallies for Peter Liang as a digital grassroots effort and a symbolic referendum on Asian-Black relations in the era of Black Lives Matter. Considering WeChat activism as a counterpublic enclave, we seek to bring critical context to the collision of new digital media strategies and old neoconservative “colorblind” race rhetoric that brings power to the increasingly visible Chinese American conservative movement.

Is Brandenburg’s Spirit Still Alive? A Perspective of the Greek Anti-Racist Law

This Article analyzes the issue of hate speech limitations under the scope of both the Brandenburg Test and the Greek anti-racist Law. Although the Brandenburg doctrine has been criticized, especially with regard to its being applied to the phenomena of racism or xenophobia, its standards can also be detected in the Greek anti-racist Law, which has been recently amended. This Article examines the magic words “imminence”, “public order”, and “incitement to actions” and concludes that mere utterance of racist rhetoric is not punishable. Greek jurisprudence seems to be in line with the Brandenburg principles, tolerating inflammatory words that are harmless to social harmony and peace. This Article further suggests that, for public order to be endangered by hate speech, an in concreto analysis of the surrounding circumstances is necessary. In sum, Brandenburg helps Greek legal thought to understand the dynamic of the disturbance of public order through the “clear and present danger” perspective, while the Greek anti-racist Law offers an example of when and how hate speech may be deemed as an incitement not only to lawless action, but also to actions of hatred and discrimination.

Economic Populism and Bandwagon Bigotry: Obama-to-Trump Voters and the Cross Pressures of the 2016 Election

Through an analysis of validated voters in the 2016 American National Election Study, this article considers the voters who supported Obama in 2012 and Trump in 2016. More than 5.7 million in total, Obama-to-Trump voters were crucial to Trump’s victory in the Electoral College. They were more likely to be white, working class, and resident in the Midwest. They had lower levels of political interest, were centrist in both party affiliation and ideology, and were late deciders for the 2016 election. On economic interests, they were centrists, except for trade policy, which they viewed, on average, as a greater threat than other voters. They claimed to have more experience with economic vulnerability than Democratic loyalists of comparable social standing. On racial attitudes, including the racialized economic topic of immigration, they had a profile similar to Republican loyalists. While their support of Trump may be attributable to surging white nativism, this article argues for an alternative explanation. Voters who were attracted by Trump’s economic populism only joined his coalition if they could accept his racialized rhetoric. As a result, the Trump bandwagon predominantly attracted generically bigoted voters with racial attitudes similar to Republican loyalists.

Pro-Slavery Appropriations and Inadvertent Agencies: The Elder(ly) “Uncle” in Plantation Fiction

Pro-slavery, or apologist literature has, justifiably, been largely abandoned in humanities’ discourse since Civil Rights; yet, due to the manipulation of superannuated slaves as involuntary spokespeople for enslavement within such works, no other genre offers more representations of the elderly enslaved in nineteenth-century America. Despite the racist rhetoric of apologist literature, a slippage exists between its “happy” fictions and the appalling realities of slavery, wherein its ugly truths and the agencies of the elder(ly) enslaved surface. What these schisms inadvertently reveal are coping mechanisms and acts of resistance by aged slaves significant to our understanding of this largely overlooked faction. Plantation literature presumed that white masculinity was under constant attack, and apologists apparently believed the most effective means of reinforcing their status was representing black males as dependent, effeminate, eccentric, and frail. In deforming aged-slave men into groveling, grotesque caricatures and excluding younger slaves from their narratives, male apologists positioned their white protagonists (and themselves, by extension) as the superior masculine specimens in their readers’ imaginations. This article is an in-depth consideration of 1) the ways in which white, male authors manipulated the slave “Uncle” to desexualize black men and argue the paternalism of chattel slavery, and 2) the unexpected acts of aged-slave agency that manage to reveal themselves through the blatantly racist caricatures of apologist fiction.

Trumping Racism: The Interactions of Stereotype Incongruent Clothing, Political Racial Rhetoric, and Prejudice Toward African Americans

Trumping Racism: The Interactions of Stereotype Incongruent Clothing, Political Racial Rhetoric, and Prejudice Toward African Americans

White Racial Activism and Paper Terrorism: A Case Study in Far-Right Propaganda

ABSTRACTIn 2017, far-right mobilization and demonstrations in the United States were at the highest levels since the 1980s and 90s. This coincided with a marked increase in propaganda campaigns in neighborhoods and across college campuses. Racial activists renewed efforts to rebrand extreme positions, soften racist rhetoric, and grow the movement. The purpose of this case study was to explore the rhetorical content of the propaganda created by one white supremacist. This study contributes to a growing body of literature on far-right propaganda through an examination of common themes, and a comparison of the framing techniques and rhetorical strategies used by other white supremacists.

Euro-Americans Favoring People of Color: Covert Racism and Economies of White Colorism

African American colorism in the United States is often viewed as an intraracial problem in which prejudice and discrimination are relegated to the scope of internal issues. What is often lacking in the discourse on colorism is the interracial component of intraracial hierarchies—referred to as White colorism. Colorism is not a phenomenon that originated within the Black community. Rather, it is a result of European American practices that further divided Blacks according to skin color. The historical underpinnings of colorism include colonialism and slavery, yet these ideologies continue to inform racism today. This article explores how colorism was established and is now sustained by Whites in various capacities, including social and economic spheres. Additionally, racialized dichotomies, borders of Whiteness, and Black consciousness are considered to demonstrate the intersection of historical racism and current racial rhetoric. Last, the effects of White colorism on Black achievement status, including education and employment, is elucidated through an analysis of data and literature.

Happily never after: the visual politics of contemporary French interracial romantic comedy

ABSTRACTThe term humour communautaire has been adopted to describe the widely popular genre of ethnic comedy cinema in France, films both praised for their ability to bring together diverse groups through humour while also raising scepticism as to whether a genre reliant upon stereotypes is not simply producing racist rhetoric. Such typecasting is particularly salient when non-European characters are juxtaposed against white counterparts, notably the case in films about interracial marriage. While stereotypes are certainly an important aspect of the representation of race in these films, this paper deviates from this typical reading to examine instead how the mise en scene in Romuald & Juliette (1989) and Qu’est-ce qu’on a fait au Bon Dieu ? (2014) undercuts narrative unity through spatial hierarchies and visual separation of racially marked bodies and white French characters. By interpreting the politics of representation in contemporary interracial comedies through the colonial and postcolonial theories of Albert Memmi and Frantz Fanon, it argues that the films ultimately portray the impossibility of complete cohesion as found in colonial-era cinema.

Disciplining Black activism: post-racial rhetoric, public memory and decorum in news media framing of the Black Lives Matter movement

ABSTRACTThe Black Lives Matter movement was created from a hashtag used on Twitter in 2013 in the United States when George Zimmerman was acquitted of murdering unarmed Black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, United States. Advocacy and non-violent protests by Black Lives Matter groups have been framed in news media reporting as riots and the group has been called ‘racist’ and ‘anti-law enforcement’. This paper will unpack three rhetorical strategies that the news media uses to discuss BLM. I argue that the effect of these rhetorical strategies is the delegitimization of the very real problems concerning racial profiling and racial killings that the Black Lives Matter group protests. I will examine Black Lives Matter’s own goals and how these are ignored or questioned by the news media in that the group is framed in a delegitimizing manner. This paper uses Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s concept of racial grammar in conjunction with a Foucauldian emphasis on governmentality to examine these instances of racist rhetoric in re-presentations of Black Lives Matter movement in US news media.