When the horrific alt-right rallies and violence came down in Charlottesville, there were a lot of interviews with various alt-right leaders.
They were difficult to comprehend.
As anyone who has visited my about page knows, I am white. I am also an American. But I don’t understand terms that the alt-right uses, such as “white culture.”
I know that I belong to American civic culture, but that includes people of all races, ethnicities, faiths (or not, because atheists and agnostics are included, too), philosophies, etc. Everyone who embraces the rights and responsibilities outlined in our Constitution and laws. We all join together in working for the common good.
I don’t know what “white culture” is meant to mean. When my grandparents came from Italy and my great-grandparents came from Ireland, they were not seen as part of an American “white culture.” They were seen as “other”; their children and grandchildren were able to join in the American civic culture into which they were born. That still, though, does not define a “white culture” in the United States, as we participate in that culture with a diverse group of millions.
I also heard alt-right people speaking about “white genocide.” Genocide means the killing of large numbers of people because of the group that they belong to. Rwanda had a horrible genocide between the Hutu and Tutsi, with many men, women, and children slaughtered. Sadly, there are numerous other examples of genocide, but there is certainly no mass killing of white people in the United States for being white.
I did hear one alt-right leader explain “white genocide” as whites no longer being the majority of Americans, ostensibly due to immigration and interracial relationships. To be clear, this is not genocide. Genocide is about hate and death. Children being born is about love and life. My granddaughter is not part of any “genocide”; she is a beautiful expression of love.
Okay. Time to get this published before we have another power bump or internet outage. (So no one is concerned, we are just having some system problems locally. We are far away from the Hurricane Harvey area, to which we send our thoughts and prayers as they brace for up to 40 inches (1 meter) of rain over the next several days.)
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Linda’s prompt this week for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is to being with the word “When.” Join us! Find out how here: https://lindaghill.com/2017/08/25/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-aug-2617/
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I appreciate your balance and wisdom as well as your reminder about what genocide means. We are not all the same, we come from many cultures, but it’s time to find and embrace our common culture as a nation and as a world.
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Thanks for your comment, JoAnna. I hope that people here in the US do come together around our commonalities. We do certainly have different traditions and lifestyles depending on our regions, ethnic backgrounds, rural/urban settings, etc., but our differences should strengthen us, not set us against each other.
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Exactly!
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Powerful insight. I’m at a loss when I listen to those alt-right folks speak, so I loved reading this. We need more white voices willing to speak up and call out them for what they are.
I sat with my two biracial children in a small diner last night discussing the confederate soldier monument outside the window along with the multiple police cars parked in the area. It’s good for them to see that “those problems” aren’t just on tv, but it’s also scary when they hear about the groups who’ve come to light in our area.
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I hope, Laura, that you and your family stay safe in these troubled times. My family has heritage from Europe, Africa, and Asia; it pains me that I have to worry more about the safety and well-being of those who are of color than those who are white. I had hoped that we had made more progress than this…
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I am in complete agreement with you. I am puzzled by the term ‘white genocide’, as it seems that it is the white supremacists doing most of the killing of minorities. And I am puzzled by the likes of Richard Spencer who want to do what he calls “ethnic cleansing”. WHAT??? Some wish to “make America white again”. Might I remind them that this nation was not first inhabited by the European “whites”, but by Native Americans whom, I might add, the whites killed and enslaved, running them off their own land. I cannot see how those white supremacists calling themselves alt-right can feel any sense of superiority. I shall never understand it. This was an excellent post, by the way … thank you!
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Thanks, Jill! The way some people twist language is indeed mind-boggling. I appreciate your calling them out on it. The behavior of the United States toward the peoples of the First Nations has been egregious. And, yes, the United States has never been a “white nation.” Even in the early years of the republic, there was racial diversity, even though only some of the male population were afforded voting rights.
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I love your comparison of the hate of white supremacy and the joy of birth. 🙂
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Thanks, Ellen. Babies offer hope for the future and motivation to be our best selves to make their lives as peaceful and joyful as possible.
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