"We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice," spoke Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in a 1968 speech.
The U.S. past, and predictably the future, is characterized by a struggle over justice, perhaps to be understood as a pendulum swing between civil rights and white supremacy. This section details the experiences of white Americans on both pendulum extremes, ending with the suggestion of anti-racism and antidotes to white supremacy potentially ushering in a future of justice.
Abolition of Slavery vs. Confederacy
Many white Americans joined the abolition movement to resist against slavery and demand its end; thus, abolition was a reform movement to alter the entire society. Sisters Angelina and Sarah Grimke, who converted to the Quaker religion after growing up in a Southern slave-holding family, were amongst the first white women to join the cause, traveling on the anti-slavery lecture circuit. A founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society, Irish American journalist William Lloyd Garrison published the anti-slavery newspaper,The Liberator, beginning in 1831 and printed until the 13th Amendment was passed, abolishing slavery. Dissatisfied with mainstream pacifist abolition efforts, Kansan John Brown led radical, armed efforts to end slavery. Though he was hanged for his organizing of the liberation and rebellion of enslaved Blacks, his efforts ultimately inspired the Civil War.
Resisting the end of slavery, the confederate side of the Civil War was led by General Robert E. Lee who commanded the Virginia Army until it surrendered to the Union in 1865, ending the Civil War. Modern day displays of confederate flags, particularly in Southern states, began with segregationists such as South Carolinian politician Strom Thurmond who opposed the mainstream Civil Rights Movement. Many monuments memorializing the confederacy and ultimately supporting white supremacy have been removed following the nationwide protests against the killing of George Floyd in 2020.
Civil Rights Movement vs. Segregationists
Viola Liuzu. Andrew Goodman. Michael Schwerner. Reverend James Reeb. These are the names of white individuals who responded to Southern calls to join the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, another reform movement with the intent to desegregate the nation and afford all Americans the right to vote, particularly African Americans. Italian American housewife, Viola Liuzu, participated in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March led by Dr. Martin Luther King, jr.; while traveling in a carpool following the successful march, she was shot and killed by Ku Klux Klan members in a pursuing car. Participating in the 1964 Freedom Summer campaign to register African American voters in Mississipi, Jewish American activists Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were abducted with Black activist James Cheney as they traveled in their car. Their buried bodies were discovered a few months later, and the local police department and Ku Klux Klan were involved in the incident. A member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, of which Dr. Martin Luther King, jr. was a leader, Universalist Unitarian Reverend James Reeb joined the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965 only to be beaten to death. Countless African Americans were involved in the Civil Rights Movement--as we were many unknown white Americans. Their efforts combined culminated in the 1965 Voting Rights Act signed into law by President Lyndon Baines Johnson; this legislation outlawed discrimination in voting which was one of the major goals of the movement during the 1960s.
"Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." Alabama Governor George Wallace uttered these words at his inauguration speech in 1963. Clearly his words conveyed his resistance to a changing America. Similarly, the Commissioner of Public Safety in Birmingham, Alabama authorized unleashing police attack dogs and fire hoses on peaceful protestors; such scenes were projected on the nightly news and drew numbers of appalled northerners into the south to join the Civil Rights Movement. He also refused police protection of the Freedom Riders who were challenged racial segregation on interstate buses, and he allowed Ku Klux Klan members to beat and torment the Riders. Another segregationist, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus in 1957 ordered the national guard to prevent the desegregation of schools following the 1954 Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education decision which outlawed segregated schools. President Eisenhower reversed this decision and ordered the Guard to support integration efforts in allowing the Little Rock Nine African American students to attend the public school, though they experienced brutal physical and emotional abuse during that tense year.
White Nationalism
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, white nationalist groups espouse white supremacist or white separatist ideologies, often focusing on the alleged inferiority of nonwhites. In an effort to preserve white supremacy and white power, white nationalist groups seek to stop immigration of people of color in the U.S. In their pursuit of white dominance, racism is a common denominator of white nationalist groups as is anti-Semitism--(anti-Jewish).
By the 1920s and 1930s, anti-Semitism had become quite prominent among U.S. prejudices and was being preached by the Ku Klux Klan and other extreme racist groups. Also, because many of the political radicals and labor leaders of the time were Jewish immigrants, anti-Semitism became fused with a fear of Communism and other anti-capitalist doctrines. Some prominent Americans espoused anti-Semitic views, among them Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company; Charles Lindbergh, the aviator who was the first to fly solo across the Atlantic; and Father Charles Coughlin, a Catholic priest with a popular radio show (Selzer, 1972). Anti-Semitism reached a peak before World War II and tapered off in the decades following the war, but it remains part of U.S. society (Anti-Defamation League, 2000). Anti-Semitism also has a prominent place in the ideologies of a variety of extremist groups that have emerged in recent years, including “skinheads” and various contemporary incarnations of the Ku Klux Klan.
The white nationalist rhetoric in the U.S. is on the increase in 2020, and white nationalist groups range from the Ku Klux Klan to neo-Nazis to neo-Confederate to racist skinheads to Christian Identity. These groups use college campuses and the Internet as recruitment grounds. Two of the largest white supremacist organizations in 2020 have been the American Identity Movement and Patriot Front, though the former disbanded in November 2020 after it had just rebranded itself the previous year from the white nationalist group, Identity Evropa. Some white nationalist groups fear the "genocide" of the white race and pursue instead a white ethno-state and a return to a United States that pre-dated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Immigration Act of 1965 (Southern Poverty Law Center). Led by the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol (Washington, D.C.) represented the most dramatic display of white nationalism and domestic terrorism seen in modern times.
Anti-Racism, Allyship & Antidotes to White Supremacy
As Ibram Kendi (2020) writes, the opposite of a racist is not a non-racist but rather an anti-racist, an individual who supports policies and ideas that produce racial equity between race-ethnic groups. Thus, acknowledging racist policies, practices, and ideas one may be knowingly or unknowingly supporting or participating in is an important first step in becoming an anti-racist. The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) posits that being anti-racist is different for white people than it is for people of color because for white people, being anti-racist evolves with their racial identity development. They must recognize and understand their privilege, work to change their internalized racism, and interrupt racism in their everyday life.
Wise, Ignatiev, and other anti-racists generally agree on the following three ingredients of anti-racism: race is a social construct which means it can be deconstructed; whiteness is a socio-political project which has no redemptive value, and whites must disrupt racial oppression by challenging racism in their everyday lives (Cabrera, 2012). These anti-racists promote the idea of white individuals become active, anti-racist white allies, called racial justice allies in other writings. In refusing whiteness, the opportunity for praxis arises, which Paolo Freire presented in The Pedagogy of the Oppressed. To achieve praxis, lest they reproduce the exact oppression of white supremacy, it is paramount for white allies to work together with people of color to challenge racial oppression, likely following the lead of people of color who have had direct experience with oppression. With the Black Lives Matter protests which have erupted in this country following George Floyd's killing in 2020, the large numbers of young, white Americans joining the cause to disrupt systemic racism in our criminal justice system reflects praxis and anti-racism. These participants have developed praxis (Freire, 2000), seeing themselves as potential agents of social change, joining forces with people of color against racial oppression.
Becoming an Ally
"An ally is any person that actively promotes and aspires to advance the culture of inclusion through intentional, positive and conscious efforts that benefit people as a whole" (Atcheson, 2018). Becoming an actionable ally is different than being a performative ally. The latter is for show, and the former is putting your words into action. Sheree Atcheson (2018) explains the following reflect an actionable ally:
Lift others up by advocating
Share growth opportunities with others
Not view venting as a personal attack
Recognize systematic inequalities and realize impact of microaggressions
Believe underrepresented people’s experiences
Most importantly – listen, support, self-reflect & change
In the Winter 2020 Black Minds Matter webinar, the speakers suggested that to become a true ally is akin to committing social or professional suicide, as allyship means one is willing to put the interests of others above one's self-interests. Pause and reflect on that.
Thinking Sociologically
Layla F. Saad penned the Me & White Supremacy Workbook (2018) to provide a 28-day self-reflection for individuals holding white privilege to consider their involvement and complicity with white supremacy. Saad writes, "I often ask myself, 'What would the world look like without white supremacy?' We may not live long enough to know. However, if the rise and fall of empires is any clue, white supremacy doesn’t have much time left" (2018, p. 2). The book is intended to make the reader uncomfortable as they discover and dismantle their "inner white supremacy and internalised racism" (Saad, 2018, p. 22).
Saad suggests the premise for this reflection is to ultimately become a better ancestor for those who come after us. Do you agree or disagree with Saad that this type of self-reflection can potentially improve our future?
