White Extremists Research Articles

“A Future for White Children”: Examining Family Ideologies of White Extremist Groups at the Intersection of Race and Gender

Many White Americans believe that racism, racial violence, and hate groups are relics of the past, and yet we have witnessed the resurgence of White extremist groups and overt racism in recent years. This resurgence requires an examination of White extremist ideologies, particularly as they center traditional family values in justifying their extremism. In this study, we utilize a content analysis of the websites of six White extremist organizations to examine ideologies surrounding the family at the intersection of race and gender. Furthermore, we question why these ideologies take shape as they do and the potential implications of espousing family values with a rise in White extremism. Our study addresses the gender gap in existing White extremist research and highlights the need for an intersectional approach in understanding how ideologies differ between a White extremist group specifically for women and those under the leadership of men.

Domestic Terrorism in the United States of America after the Attacks September 11, 2001 A statistical study of the role of the extreme right))


 
 
 
 The United States of America faces many internal threats and challenges, and terrorism is one of the most significant challenges and threats. The years following the attacks of (September 11, 2001) witnessed a substantial decrease in the rate of external (foreign) terrorism in the United States, at a time when domestic terrorism witnessed an apparent rise at unprecedented rates in the last two decades. There are four main categories of ideologies in the United States of America: the far right, the far left, religious extremism, and ethnic extremism. The far right is the first and most significant challenge and threat to the United States, as the operations and attacks of this wing have increased rapidly in terms of quality and quantity. Within this wing, there are many movements, and white extremists and anti-government extremists are considered the most critical movements. It is a statistical study that tries to shed light on domestic terrorism in the United States of America after the 11 September 2001 attacks by collecting data from American formal and informal institutions. The study utilizes the quantitative approach as a tool for analyzing these data.
 
 
 

Popular fiction and white extremism: Neo‐Nazi ideology and medievalist crime fiction

Dystopian near-future fantasies of violent white revolution and genocide—most infamously, William L. Pierce's The Turner Diaries (1978)—are the most well-known and studied fictions by white extremists. They are, however, not the only genre through which the extreme far-right engage with popular culture. In this article, we explore how popular historical fictions can accomodate white extremist presence and propagandising. We analyse generic conventions in the medieval murder mystery The Black Flame (2001) by self-identified neo-Nazi Harold A. Covington (1953–2018), showing that the book shares trends and tropes with contemporary medievalisms, including in historical crime fiction and other popular genres and media. By focussing on these conventions, we seek common places in the popular that can, paradoxically, create space for the fringe extreme.

White identity, Donald Trump, and the mobilization of extremism

ABSTRACT This paper seeks to examine the relationship between extremist mobilization and elite cues. Specifically, I explore how political elites can mobilize fringe extremists by looking at a specific example where Trump's 2016 candidacy mobilized members of the White extremist alt-right by appealing to their sense of White in-group identification. It will first be shown how the alt-right was responsive to Trump's rhetoric by performing interrupted time series analyses on blog texts from the prominent extremist Daily Stormer. Then, I will incorporate results from a survey experiment showing how White identity motivates those high in alt-right sentiment to support candidates who use racialized and White identity-related rhetoric. Finally, I connect these observations using data from the 2016 ANES pilot to show how White identity uniquely motivated primary-era support for Trump, showing how Trump was distinct in his appeal to those high in White identity. Across these last three analyses, I also show how out-group animus in the form of racial resentment consistently fails to predict the unique support that Trump received from the alt-right. Overall, this paper shows how White identity can result in White extremist support for a mainstream political candidate.

“A Skinhead at Heart with a Hate-Filled Mind”: Understanding the Themes Present in the White Power Music Scene

White extremism in the U.S. has not received much attention in the literature, despite scholars arguing that it represents the most sustained form of terrorism in the U.S. While much of the research on extremist movements has focused on the groups’ violent acts, there has been significantly less attention on the nonviolent activities, such as music. Following a social movement theoretical framework, we set out to understand the role that music plays in constructing the worldview and narrative of white extremists. Using lyrics from 337 white power songs from seven white power bands, we analyzed the linear and interconnected narrative that emerges in the music. What we found is a narrative interwoven throughout the music that presents a clear picture of white societies under threat from immigration, the Jewish-controlled media, and liberalism, with clear directives for extreme violence and vigilante justice. Based on this picture, we discuss the potential counterextremism implications and provide several avenues for future research.

Ideological Legitimacy, Color-blindness, and Racially Conservative Organizations

AbstractAlthough scholars of racial inequality have investigated the transformation of racial ideologies in the post-Civil Rights Era, comparatively little research has been done on a corresponding transformation in racial advocacy organizing. Using an original dataset, I introduce racially conservative organizations, provide a history of their growth from 1960 to 2000, and estimate their formation in metropolitan areas over three decades to better specify the factors that led to their emergence. Measures of organizational strength, stability, and growth reveal that racially conservative organizations thrived relative to white extremist organizations in the second half of the 20th century, alongside the de-legitimation of explicit racism and rise of color-blind racism. The multivariate analysis indicates that metropolitan areas with increased political opportunities witnessed a greater likelihood of organizational formation among racial conservatives. In the 1970s, threats to dominant group interests emboldened racial conservatives and incited mobilization. However, in later decades, these conditions weakened dominant group interests in a way that deterred collective action. Racially conservative organizations are more likely to form in contexts that provide them with legitimacy to mobilize around racially sensitive issues. The findings challenge past research that conflates racial conservatism and white extremism and assumes that they share the same determinants.

Inter-ideological mingling: White extremist ideology entering the mainstream on Twitter

ABSTRACTThis case study explores the convergence of white extremist political ideology with mainstream political ideology on the micro-blogging platform Twitter – a phenomenon termed “inter-ideological mingling”. Exploring the spread of white extremism in the digital environment can provide insight into the growth of hate groups in the physical environment. A sample of 4800 tweets was examined through hierarchical cluster analysis and textual analysis. Several pieces of evidence were found supporting inter-ideological mingling. Cluster analysis shows that extremist terms are not isolated from terms found in mainstream political discourse. Textual analysis of individual tweets provides evidence for five strategies of inter-ideological mingling: joining, blending, piggybacking, backstaging, and narrating.

The Ku Klux Klan, Conservative Politics and Religion: Taking Extremism to the Political Mainstream

Prior to the Internet, information available to the public on white extremist groups, such as the United White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, came from news events which prevented these groups from controlling the information presented to the public about themselves, their organization, ideals, or goals. But the Internet has allowed these groups to develop websites through which they can directly dictate their image to vast audiences. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between political orientation and fundamental Christian beliefs and agreement with the values of a white extremist group, as presented by the United White Knights on their website. Results suggest political orientation and Christian fundamental beliefs are significantly related, but not as strong as expected, to agreement with the values of the United White Knights: as levels of conservatism and Christian orthodoxy increase, the more likely a person is to be in agreement with the group's values/beliefs. These findings support the notion that some Klan organizations, such as the United White Knights, are taking steps to rebrand their image into a more mainstream organization with an ideology similar to white, religious and political conservatives.

The Rhetoric of Sir Garfield Todd: Christian Imagination and the Dream of an African Democracy (review)

Reviewed by: The Rhetoric of Sir Garfield Todd: Christian Imagination and the Dream of an African Democracy Jairos Kangira The Rhetoric of Sir Garfield Todd: Christian Imagination and the Dream of an African Democracy. By Michael W. Casey. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2007; pp xii + 389. $49.95 cloth. Michael Casey's latest book, The Rhetoric of Sir Garfield Todd: Christian Imagination and the Dream of an African Democracy, is a timely publication. It has come out at a time when Zimbabwe, called Southern Rhodesia or simply Rhodesia before the attainment of independence in 1980, is reeling in a political and economic crisis mainly due to the undemocratic principles of the ruling regime. Thus the current situation is more or less the same as the one Sir Garfield Todd's prophetic rhetoric so fiercely attacked when he became a radical advocate of African democracy. Juxtaposing Todd's heroic fight for African rights through his rhetoric and actions with the current situation in Zimbabwe, one can come to the conclusion that surely history repeats itself, with the main difference between the two epochs being the dramatis personae in the violation of human rights. One also gets the feeling that had whites swallowed their pride and given majority rule to Africans at an earlier stage as Todd advocated, the civil war that claimed thousands of lives in Rhodesia could have been avoided. In this book, Casey explores the legacy of Alexander Campbell's teachings to Todd's oratory. The Campbellian tradition was grounded upon beliefs that included "the priesthood of all believers, the right of an individual to think for oneself, the importance of education and reason, and the impulse to reform society or the spreading of liberty and liberation across all society" (16). We see Todd's ethos as growing out of the democratic rhetorical tradition of the Disciples of Christ, thus as providing an example of "how religion can serve as a basis for political rhetoric" (121). Casey also corrects the view that Todd's democratic ethos was grounded in the British liberal political tradition. The author provides undisputed evidence that plainly shows that Todd's democratic ethos emanated from his religious heritage within the Churches of Christ. The author also illustrates how early training in public speaking established the foundation of Todd's future oratorical success as both preacher and politician. Casey does not shower Todd with praises for being the champion of the African cause throughout the book. The writer identifies Todd as a limited democrat who "did not want universal franchise in the 1940s and 1950s, believing that it would lead to universal chaos" (49). But the reader's disillusionment at this realization changes as Casey traces Todd's gradual transformation into a radical fighter for democracy, leading to the chagrin of the white Rhodesians who felt betrayed by Todd's actions and his rhetoric. We see a Todd whose "rhetorical trajectory . . . naturally led him away from paternalism as Africans saw him as a Moses and a Savior who was crucified by whites on a cross of racism" (40). Sowing the seeds of [End Page 350] African nationalism was unacceptable to the whites who believed in segregationist policies, denying the Africans basic rights in their native land. This led to the whites' ouster of Todd as prime minister, making him a sacrificial lamb in their quest to perpetuate white supremacy in Southern Rhodesia. Casey expertly documents Todd's spellbinding oratory. As a preacher of democratic values, Todd condemned the discriminatory laws of the white government by attacking them as anachronistic. We are shown Todd's radical democratic ethos through his sermon texts, political speeches, and prophetic speeches. For instance, after becoming the first missionary prime minister, Todd "cultivated a rhetorical premiership paralleling the American rhetorical presidency and an eloquence paralleling American presidential rhetoric" (118). As a preacher, former MP, and prime minister, Todd's prophetic rhetoric about the situation in Rhodesia was so compelling that, in 1962 and 1964, the UN Committee on Colonialism supported Todd's proposal "to give majority rule to Southern Rhodesian Africans and to restrain the white extremists" (82). Such addresses in local and international venues attracted the wrath of Ian Smith...

All Things to All People or Nothing for Some: Justice, Diversity, and Democracy in Sociological Societies

This presidential address first explores the increasingly popular position known as racial realism, which argues that the problem of racism has largely been solved, and places blame for any tenacious remnants of racism on a small group of intransigent white extremists and on people of color themselves. The racial realist perspective is not difficult for sociologists to dispute, using the extant research on institutional racism and its effects on people of color. However, the address then examines how white privilege is ingrained not only in the society at large, but also in the discipline of sociology itself and, more particularly, in sociological professional societies, including the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP), both historically and contemporaneously. The address concludes with suggestions for improving the culture and practices of SSSP with regard to issues of privilege, race, and ethnicity.

The return of cultural history? ‘Literary’ historiography from Nietzsche to Hayden White

Often overlooked is the fact that postmodern theory brought to the fore a crisis in the humanities. The implied universalism of the current “iconic turn” in postmodern thinking is a blow to the traditional sciences grouped around national literatures and cultures. In the 1980's, postmodern practitioners in the United States began to assault the discursive practices of the mainstream under the banner of cultural studies. The current crisis in the humanities surfaced in the emancipation of the various studies from their traditional fields in the humanities. The German Studies practiced today in the United States for instance, has no counterpart in Germany's traditional departments of Deutsche Philologie. Whereas the icon in the United States has become an object of investigation for the various studies, it has not yet displaced the littera in Germany's literary sciences. However in the 1990's, the historical sciences in Germany responded to the challenge of the various studies by directing their attention not to cultural studies, but to cultural history, with its well-defined set of methodologies. But what kind of cultural history is it? Is it built on 19th century German foundations, or is it grafted to current North American notions of post-industrial culture? In this paper I show that the supposed opposition between cultural studies and cultural history is artificial. Through a close reading of Hayden White's extremist questioning of historical practice in Metahistory (1973), I demonstrate that there is no opposition between the icon and the littera in this recent radical critique of mainstream humanistic science. The vehement German reaction to his North American assault on European Kultur is based on a misunderstanding of White's premises. Rather than being constructed on a hodgepodge of postmodern approaches, I show that White's postmodern history is in fact conventionally grounded in 19th century Nietzschean thinking.

Recruitment by extremist groups on the Internet

Recruitment efforts of white extremist groups on the Internet were examined using qualitative methods. There is no evidence of a concerted effort to target children at popular locations where children are active on the Internet. Most propaganda writings are not well written and persuasive. White extremists attempt to attract children with text, MP3 music, and games, but their efforts are not well organized and are more reactive than aggressive. Findings are reported for the uses of the Internet, methods employed, and how technology of the Internet contributes to these activities.

Election '99 South Africa (review)

The modestly bound and rapidly produced volume Election '99 South Africa, edited by Andrew Reynolds, deserves more than a quick look. The thirteen chapters written posthaste by perceptive and experienced scholars that span the generations, do far more than describe South Africa's second democratic multiparty election of June 1999. Description alone would not be much of an achievement. The basic electoral data, after all, can be viewed on the Internet, by anyone who taps in < http://www.agora.stm.it/elections>. This book, however, goes further, and merits solid praise. It offers analysis, depth, and perspective on the birth and evolution of a sometimes troubled but miraculously democratic government. The authors review how far the country has moved since its momentous transition to majority rule just five years ago. The April 1994 elections, South Africa's first under a universal franchise, attracted thousands of international observers (among whom this reviewer was one). The outcome was no foregone conclusion, for there were up-to-the-wire concerns that it might be aborted by a possible refusal to participate by the Inkhata Freedom Party, or be subverted by violent attacks from white extremists setting off occasional explosives shortly before the vote. The first national election was held under a transitional government still largely staffed by the apartheid President F.W. de Klerk. Therefore, in 1994, just holding elections was a great achievement, permitting Nelson Mandela to become President of a Government of National Unity that included de Klerk, until he withdrew in 1996. The fine tuning was still to come. The 1999 vote deserves even more attention, for it marks the budding maturation of a democratic government. It evolved after leaders of a bitterly divided people made a pact that allowed an interim constitution to capture tumultuous, indeed revolutionary changes, and institutionalize them into a new framework, filled with extraordinary creativity, and marked by an elaborate bill of rights, a "power sharing" National Executive, three levels of national, provincial, and local government, and a Parliament with a new second house, the National Council of Provinces. These structures are bolstered by several state institutions supporting democracy--including the Constitutional Court, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which is avidly studied in other deeply divided societies seeking to find their way out of violence and struggle. The constitution is supreme, and guided the nation through five years of breathtaking change. As a result, the [End Page 158] government of Nelson Mandela left a precious legacy of peaceful change and rule of law to his chosen successor, the current President Thabo Mbeki. In the book, a brief but comprehensive chapter by Richard Calland tells how South Africa found its own style of government as the 1999 Parliament took office with a turnover of a quarter of the seats. David Pottie discusses the first five years of sometimes tentative and often controversial provincial government. A fascinating presentation of voter preference surveys by Robert Mattes, Helen Taylor, and Cherrel Africa shows the sophistication of South Africa's polling organizations, and demonstrates that while the ANC managed to improve its majority over the 1994 elections, nevertheless the victory margin of 66% (a smidgen short of a 2/3 majority) was not foreordained. For voting was characterized by considerable differences in viewpoint that cut across divisions of race, gender, and geography, as well as party. This bodes well for the future of a multiparty system. There are six illuminating party studies, by mature scholars of South Africa, including Tom Lodge on the ANC, David Welsh on the Democratic Party, and Willie Breytenbach on the New National Party. Sipho Maseko and Jessica Piombo present fresh analyses of the minority parties that challenged the ANLC majority. The media and the gender issues receive good attention. And, in his solid concluding chapter, Andrew Reynolds presents a comprehensive account of the results, marked by an 89 percent turnout, considers how alternative electoral systems might have worked, and briefly examines future prospects. There is...

The apartheid malady

There are principally two parties in South Africa in strong mutual aggression, the black and colored people and the white extremists. The government, as the third party, tries to maintain this aggression in a latent state. However, the government has to grapple as well with mutual aggression from both of the two parties, strongly with the colored people, less pronounced with the white group. A mathematical model shows that the government has to keep its power on a high level and has to be faster acting than the two very militant groups in order to avoid an outbreak of manifest aggression in the form of a civil war. The outcome of this investigation is that the government cannot remove apartheid unless the two warlike groups turn the aggression into a devotion toward each other: Pia disideria!