White pride

White pride is a slogan used primarily in the United States to promote the heritage of persons of white European racial identity. Organizations advocating white pride tend to be collectively referred to as the white pride movement.

Usage

The term "white pride" is widely used among groups who are also sometimes called "white separatist," "white nationalist," and/or "white supremacist." As sociologists Betty A. Dobratz and Stephanie L Shanks-Meile observe, the slogan "White Power! White Pride!" is "a much-used chant of white separatist movement supporters".^[1]

So, for instance, "White Pride, World Wide" appears in the logo of Stormfront. Stormfront is owned and operated by Don Black, who was formerly a Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.^[2] White pride has also been associated with David Lane's Fourteen Words, a shibboleth used as a greeting by white nationalists and white supremacists.^[3] Organizations advocating white pride exclude most white individuals who sympathize with, fraternize with, or marry non-whites.^{[citation needed]}

The North Georgia White Knights of the Klu Klux Klan have described themselves as a White Christian revival movement dedicated to preserving and the maintenance of white pride and the rights of the white race, claiming these rights were taken away by "crooked politicians".^[4]

According to Joseph T. Roy, white supremacists often put up websites that portrays the groups not as haters, but as simple white pride civic groups concerned with social ills.^[5]

History

Carol M. Swain and Russell Nieli note that the "white pride" movement is a relatively new phenomenon. They argue that over the course of the 1990s "a new white pride, white protest, and white consciousness movement has developed in America".^[6] They locate the reasons for this "new white racial assertiveness" in three factors: first, an immigrant influx during the 1980s and 1990s; second, resentment over affirmative action policies; and third, the growth of the Internet as a tool for the expression and mobilization of grievances.^[6]

A white minority?

White pride is often tied to the notion that white people can represent, or will someday represent, a minority group in historically white countries. Advocates of this notion point out that non-Hispanic whites now comprise less than half the population of California and Texas, and that white people are expected (according to some models) to become a numerical minority in the United Kingdom by 2100.^[7]^[8]^[9] This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as the minority-majority effect. However, simple numerical minority status is not how most sociologists or economists define a minority group. To avoid confusion, some writers prefer the terms "subordinate group" and "dominant group" rather than "minority" and "majority".^[10] In this context, sociologists argue that white people - specifically white men - would remain the culturally and politically dominant group in historically white countries, even if they came to represent a numerical minority.^[11]

Controversy

Advocates of white pride argue that white people should be recognized as a cohesive and legitimate cultural group, with the right to promote their sociopolitical interests. According to a University of Minnesota study, 77% of white Americans believe "their race has a distinct culture that should be preserved."^[12] There are claims that there exists a cultural double standard in which only certain ethnicity groups are permitted to openly have pride in their heritage, and that white pride is not inherently racist, being roughly analogous to positions such as black pride or gay pride.^[13]^[14]

Opponents of the white pride movement argue that movements such as black pride differ from white pride in that black pride is a defensive strategy aimed at rectifying a negative stereotype. They argue that racial categories - which they claim have an illegitimate origin - can serve a legitimate political purpose only when affirmed in a positive way by groups suffering from oppression. This does not apply to racial categories such as white people, whom they see as dominant, and so on this view it rather serves to mask white privilege.^[15]

Notes

^ Dobratz and Shanks-Meile, p. vii
^ Faulk, Kent. The Birmingham News, Sunday, October 19, 1997 "White Supremacist Spreads Views over the Internet"
^ Anti-Defamation League. "14 (words)", Law Enforcement Agency Resource Network. 2005. accessed September 10, 2006.
^ Hillard 1999, p. 63
^ Roy, Joseph T. (September 14, 1999). "This is the Statement of Joseph T. Roy, Sr. before the Senate Judiciary Committee". U.S. Senate Committee on The Judiciary. Retrieved 2008-04-02. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^ ^a ^b Swain and Nieli, p. 5
^ Browne, Anthony. "The last days of a White world". The Guardian Unlimited. 2000. accessed September 9, 2006.
^ "Texas White Anglos become minority". Fox News. 2005. accessed September 9, 2006.
^ Browne, Anthony. "UK Whites will become a minority by 2100" The Observer. 2000. accessed September 9, 2006.
^ Hameso, Seyeoum and Nebo, Tilahun Ayano. "Ethiopia: A New Start?". The Sidama Concern. 2000. accessed September 10, 2006.
^ Wise, Tim. "Membership Has Its Disadvantages: Whiteness and the Social Entropy of Privilege". LiP Magazine. 2002. accessed September 10, 2006.
^ Lee-St.John, Jeninne. Times. "The Meaning of White". 2006. accessed September 9, 2006.
^ Jackson, Thomas. "What is Racism?", American Renaissance. July 1991. accessed September 14, 2007.
^ Mortiz, Justin J. Feds Rule “White Pride” is “Offensive” and “Immoral”. 2005. accessed August 14, 2006.
^ Ingram, David (2004). Rights, Democracy, and Fulfillment in the Era of Identity Politics. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 55. ISBN 0742533484. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

References

Dobratz, Betty A. (2001). The White Separatist Movement in the United States: White Power, White Pride. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801865379. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
Hilliard, Robert L. (1999). Waves of Rancor: Tuning in the Radical Right. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 0765601311.
Swain, Carol M. (2003). "Introductory Essay: Forging a Common Identity". Contemporary Voices of White Nationalism in America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 3–83. ISBN 0521016932. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)