An example of white supremacy in a newspaper article
White supremacy is the belief that white people are better than those of other races, making it a type of racism. It also includes actions that prevent other races from gaining power, which is known as white privilege, preserving that power for white people. The basis of white supremacy is the former erroneous belief that significant biological differences existed between people of different races. Although this belief focused heavily on the so-called Black inferiority in and around the slavery era, white supremacy historically and currently oppresses people of many races around the globe, especially indigenous peoples. Furthermore, definitions of who qualifies as white can vary.
This type of racism paved the way for racist hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), the attempt by the self-named Confederate States of America to secede from the Union, and various race riots or massacres, including that in Greenwood, Oklahoma. White supremacy has also been solidified in American legislature through laws such as those preventing Black people from owning property, voting, holding office, and marrying (either at all or those of other races). In the 20th century, Jim Crow laws, which forced racial segregation, upheld the ideology of white supremacy. While laws have changed, institutions and individuals can still promote white supremacy up to and including racist violence.
This idea is closely related to white nationalism, in which being white becomes an identity. Supporters of white nationalism may endorse overthrowing the government to uphold their power. Overlap also exists between white supremacy and racist skinheads who discriminate against Jewish people. Some Christian beliefs and doctrines also align with white supremacy. White (male) supremacy can play a role in domestic terrorism incidents such as shootings like the one in Buffalo, New York.
While Donald Trump was president, this movement gained popularity, with as many as 600 groups currently existing in the United States, members of which typically supported Trump.
Although there is disagreement about how we can dismantle white supremacy, some white supremacists eventually see the error of their ways.
All of our articles, exhibits, and events about white supremacy can be found in the archive below.
Posts Tagged ‘White Supremacy’
Nathanial Woods was Sentenced to Death For The Murder of Three Officers He Didn’t Shoot
On March 5, 2020, Nathanial Woods was executed in Alabama for the murder of three white Birmingham police officers. But, he was not the one behind the gun that murdered them…
Read More123 Years Later, A Funeral Is Held for a Black Man Killed in White Supremacist Massacre
Rev. William Barber II delivered the eulogy for Joshua Halsey, telling those who gathered at the cemetery that what killed Halsey is still alive today.
Read MoreBlack student reportedly tased by group of teens dressed in KKK robes
“Texas teen says he was attacked with a stun gun on Halloween by some Woodsboro High School classmates wearing Ku Klux Klan costumes.
Read MoreSpecial News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Judicial Inquiry Begins in Eric Garner Case, 7 Years After His Death
Former NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo has already been disciplined, but some think more public officials should be reprimanded for their role in Garner’s case.
Read MoreAmerica’s 50,000 monuments: More mermaids than congresswomen, more Confederates than abolitionists
By Gillian Brockell, The Washington Post Hundreds of public monuments have come down amid the racial reckoning sparked by the murder of George Floyd last year. Some were toppled by protesters armed with rope; others have been disassembled and carted away by professionals hired by local governments. These removals may seem, well, monumental. But according to a study of U.S.…
Read MoreHe Taught About White Privilege and Got Fired. Now He’s Fighting to Get His Job Back
In his Contemporary Issues class that day at a Tennessee school, social studies teacher Matthew Hawn led a discussion of the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha WI. Over the next several months, Hawn, 43, used the news cycle to show students, almost all of whom are white, how systemic racism is an indisputable element of American life. When he got fired, Hawn became one of the first casualties from the nation’s debate this year over “critical race theory” and whether or how teachers should acknowledge racism in class.
Read MoreSpecial News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Lawsuit Filed Over Century-Old Confederate Statue in the Majority-Black City of Tuskegee, Alabama
Macon County officials covered the base of a Confederate statue, Friday, June 12, 2020, in Tuskegee, Ala., after it was vandalized with spray-painted obscenities. The Alabama county is seeking to remove the statue that sits in a town square. Photo: Kim Chandler (AP)
Read More‘Waking up to racism’: New documentary tells truth about Confederacy, tracks root of ‘Lost Cause’ myth
Comedian CJ Hunt’s debut feature documentary, The Neutral Ground, not only exposes why Southerners cling to Confederate iconography but also challenges the “Lost Cause” mythology – a romanticized, and false, version of Southern history in which the Confederacy and its leaders were fighting for “states’ rights” and defending their region against Northern aggression.
“While the Confederacy was not successful at winning wars, it was incredibly successful when it came to creating a myth,” Hunt, 36, told the Southern Poverty Law Center. “When people want to say the Confederacy was not about slavery, those claims are not grounded in facts or supported by the Confederacy’s own founding documents.”
Read MoreNeo-Confederates worked with other far-right groups in failed efforts to preserve monuments
A coalition of neo-Confederate groups protesting the removal of Confederate monuments include a man with simultaneous membership in Sons of Confederate Veterans and League of the South (LOS), and at least one person who attended the rally at the Capitol in Washington DC on 6 January, which turned into an attack on the building.
Read MoreOpinion: The cold truth about Republicans’ hot air over critical race theory
Christopher Rufo, a clever propagandist who has done more than anyone else to whip up the national uproar over critical race theory, tweeted out in March an explanation of how he was redefining the term.
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