# White nationalism

White nationalism is a type of nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a race and seeks to develop and maintain a white national identity. Its proponents identify with and are attached to the concept of a white nation. White nationalism is sometimes described as a euphemism for, or subset of, white supremacy, and the two have been used interchangeably by journalists and other analysts. Adherents hold that white people should maintain their majority in majority-white countries, political and economic dominance, and that their cultures should be foremost. Critics argue that the term "white nationalism" and ideas such as white pride exist solely to provide a sanitized public face for white supremacy, and that most white nationalist groups promote racial violence.

## Quotes

(Sorted alphabetically by author/source)
* Days after a deadly attack on two mosques in New Zealand by a gunman who appeared to align with the white supremacist movement, Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine said President Trump's rhetoric emboldens white nationalists around the world. "The president uses language often that's very similar to the language used by these bigots and racists. And if he's not going to call it out, then other leaders have to do more to call it out and I certainly will," Kaine told "Face the Nation." "I think the president is using language that emboldens them." The suspected gunman in the New Zealand shooting had written a manifesto referencing "white genocide" driven by "mass immigration" and accused Muslims of invading the country. He also directly referenced Mr. Trump in his writings.
** CBS News: "Kaine says Trump's rhetoric "emboldens" white nationalists", Emily Tillett (17 March 2019)
* We should recognize that white male supremacy is a deep current in American history. It’s not gonna go away immediately. But there have been dents, significant ones. So for example, even in the mainstream, when the New York Times ran the 1619 Project, it couldn’t have happened a couple of years earlier. And it’s because of changes in general consciousness and awareness. Of course, there was an immediate backlash, strong backlash, and you’re gonna expect that, white male supremacy is a deep part of American history and culture. To extirpate it is not gonna be easy. And, but there are, there’s very significant progress. Plenty of conflict coming. It’s not gonna be an easy struggle.
** Noam Chomsky, AOC & Noam Chomsky: The Way Forward + transcript October 28, 2021
* Expressing deep frustration and anger over President Donald Trump’s ongoing refusal to unequivocally condemn white nationalism, critics on Sunday pushed back against the White House’s dismissal of reports that the suspect in last week’s Christchurch mosque attacks admired the president—even as Trump once again expressed support for white supremacist views... “This is a president who peddled the birther conspiracy about President Obama, called for a complete and total shutdown of Muslims, said he was open to closing down mosques in this country after the Paris attacks, has suggested that he’s open to getting rid of Muslims in this country,” said Waleed Shahid, communications director for Justice Democrats, on CNN. “I mean if that’s not white nationalism then I don’t know what is.” The mention of Trump in the suspect’s writings called to mind for many Trump critics the president’s refusal to condemn white supremacists who staged a violent rally in Charlottesville in 2017, his characterization of Central American immigrants as “invaders,” and his executive order banning travelers from several majority-Muslim countries—one of his very first actions as president.
** Common Dreams: "Trump defends Fox Hosts’ racist remarks as administration dismisses reports that president inspired Christchurch attacker", Common Dreams (18 March 2019)
* According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, an advocacy group that tracks hate and bigotry toward marginalized communities, there were at least 950 active hate groups in the United States in 2017, up from 917 the previous year. Experts say the term “hate group” is increasingly difficult to define, as extremist groups grow in number, diversify in ideology and use codewords to spread their messages. “I think they’re scared they’re going to lose everything they’ve worked for, their standing in society and everything that’s dear to them,” said A.J. Marsden, assistant professor of psychology at Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida. “In our culture, it has been traditionally easier for white people to get good jobs, for them to go to school, to get a good education, et cetera, and I think they start to see their opportunities narrow”...
** The Center for Public Integrity: "White Extremist Groups are Growing & Changing" (4 September 2018)
* Arno Michaelis, a former racist who’s now an anti-extremism activist, was a member... in the late 1980s and early ’90s... Hammerskin Nation, whose website states, “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for White Children.” Michaelis said recruiters for extremist groups target white people — often working class and ex-military — who believe they’ve been victimized and short-changed by society. “So that’s what we would do,” he said, “is look for ways that people were suffering, look for whatever is wrong in their life, and then we would try to spin that problem into our narrative and invite them in as a means to addressing that problem.” This fear of becoming a minority is one commonly shared among far-right extremists, regardless of otherwise differing ideologies. Michaelis said the reinforcement of this fear is key to the radicalization process. “All white-power ideology stems from the idea that white people are oppressed,” he said. “And therefore anything goes in order to fight this oppression, the same way that anyone else who felt oppressed would justify fighting against what they see as their oppressors.” He said it was the people who treated him with undeserved kindness that ultimately motivated him to reject racism.
** The Center for Public Integrity: "White Extremist Groups are Growing & Changing" (4 September 2018)
* Racist isn’t a descriptive word. It’s a pejorative word. It is the equivalent of saying, ‘I don’t like you.’ ‘Racist’ is just a slur word,” he said. “I think race is real, and I think race is important. And those two principles do not mean I want to harm someone or hate someone. But the notion that these people can be equal is not a scientific way of looking at it.”
** Flathead Beacon: "Who is Richard Spencer?" (26 November 2014)
* This nationalist duality has intensified the battle over the border wall. The conflict is not really about the barrier’s physical composition, length or cost. Rather, it is about which conception of the nation will prevail. To civic nationalists, locking out migrants betrays the creed they hold dear. Racial nationalists are convinced that people of color and Muslim faith are invaders bent on subverting their America, abetted by cosmopolitan elitists. These attitudes have been rolled into already polarized party identities. And because American voters are fixated on the national narrative, candidates, officials and mediated voices in every state must attend to the issue.
** The Guardian "Star-spangled shutdown: how nationalism and nationalization warped US politics", Michael Cornfield (6 Jan 2019)
* Following the horrific terror attack in New Zealand, President Trump said he didn’t think there was a growing threat of white nationalism. For Fact’s Sake, Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle break down how white nationalism actually is on the rise – particularly in the United States.
** MSNBC: "For Fact’s Sake: White nationalism is on the rise" (18 March 2019)
* Since Donald Trump won the Presidential election, there has been a dramatic uptick in incidents of racist and xenophobic harassment across the country. The Southern Poverty Law Center has reported that there were four hundred and thirty-seven incidents of intimidation between the election, on November 8th, and November 14th, targeting blacks and other people of color, Muslims, immigrants, the L.G.B.T. community, and women. One woman in Colorado told the S.P.L.C. that her twelve-year-old daughter was approached by a boy who said, “Now that Trump is President, I’m going to shoot you and all the blacks I can find.” At a school in Washington State, students chanted “build a wall” in a cafeteria. In Texas, someone saw graffiti at work: “no more illegals 1-20-17,” a reference to Inauguration Day. Such harassment occurred throughout Trump’s campaign, but now appears to have taken on a new boldness, empowered by the election of a Ku Klux Klan-endorsed candidate who has denigrated women and racial and religious minorities.
** The New Yorker "Hate on the Rise After Trump’s Election", Alexis Okeowo (17 November 2016)
* White populists complain they are losing ground to minorities in terms of status and power. At the same time, they assert with increasing belligerence that their country is the greatest in the world. On its face, this pair of claims is puzzling: Why would your allegiance grow to a society you feel is treating your people poorly? According to a new study, it makes perfect sense from a psychological perspective. Researchers... [at] the University of Oxford and... the University of Auckland argue that the negative feelings arising from perceived group decline can be counteracted by the conviction that your country is strong and powerful. In other words, if one group you identify with (whites) no longer provides the same comforting sense that you are a part of a powerful "we," you can latch onto the strength of a different group you identify with... The new findings "provide an explanation for the rise of nationalism," the researchers write in the journal Political Psychology. "Endorsing beliefs about national superiority is one way a nation's dominant ethnic group can cope with the negative psychological consequences of perceiving that their group is deprived."
** Pacific Standard, "White Nationalism is Driven by a Perceived Loss of Status", Tom Jacobs (7 Feb 2019)
* Last Thursday night I happened to be on Twitter when news of the New Zealand massacre hit. Not realizing the magnitude of the horror... I quickly clicked away, but I'm afraid I won't ever be able to forget what I saw before I did. But the one thing I knew from the moment I saw the guns and heard the words, "Let's get this party started" was that this was a white supremacist terrorist. That macho, pseudo-warrior, "white power" swagger is all too familiar these days... The killer's manifesto, entitled "The Great Replacement," which he posted online... filled with white supremacist dogma and coy internet tropes designed to troll people who are unfamiliar with the jargon, while speaking to his mates in the racist online forums he frequented. There can be no doubt that there is a growing international white identity movement. And we can no longer ignore the fact that by failing even to admit that such a movement exists, the president of the United States is empowering and enabling it. In using the rhetoric of hate, he has aligned himself with it.
** Heather Digby Parton "Why won't Donald Trump talk about white nationalism? Because he enables and supports it", Salon (18 March 2019)
* I have a message to the neo-Nazis, to the white nationalists, and to the neo-Confederates: Your heroes are losers. You are supporting a lost cause. And believe me, I knew the original Nazis, because you see, I was born in Austria in 1947, shortly after the Second World War. And growing up, I was surrounded by broken men, men who came home from a war filled with shrapnel and guilt, men who were misled into a losing ideology. And I can tell you: that these ghosts you idolize spent the rest of their lives living in shame and right now, they’re resting in hell.
** Arnold Schwarzenegger, -,ATTN video (August 2017)
* Those who study human behavior attribute hate speech more to deep personality issues than a diagnosable mental illness. But they're also intrigued by how the white supremacy movement is rebranding itself for the 21st century. The well-known racist symbols of white robes and hoods or shaved heads and torches have given way to a clean-cut subtlety for the millennial generation... Young people with a troubled past are especially vulnerable, said psychologist Ervin Staub, of Holyoke, Massachusetts, a professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst who studies social processes that lead to violence... A 2015 report from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism found that former members of violent white supremacist groups showed almost half (45 percent) reporting being the victim of childhood physical abuse and about 20 percent reporting being the victim of childhood sexual abuse... humans are complex. In the deep South, it was once common for otherwise upstanding citizens – mayors, sheriffs and judges, among others – to also be members of the KKK.
** U.S. News & World Report: "What Makes People Join Hate Groups?", Sharon Jayson and Kaiser Health News (23 Aug. 2017)
* Two prominent Republicans, Sen. Mitt Romney and Rep. Liz Cheney, are calling out members of their own party for speaking at America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC), a white nationalist answer to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)."[Reps.] Marjorie Taylor Greene and [Paul] Gosar, I don’t know them,” Romney said on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday. “But I’m reminded of the old line from Butch Cassidy where one character says, ‘Morons, I have morons on my team.’ I think anybody who would sit down with white nationalists at their conference is missing a few IQ points.”
** ‘I Have Morons on My Team’: Romney Takes on Gosar, Marjorie Taylor Greene Over White Nationalist Ties (FEBRUARY 27, 2022 11:46AM ET)

## See also

* Alt-right
* American exceptionalism
* Nationalism
* White supremacy