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Many
segments of social media were whipped into a frenzy in 2017 when The
New York Times (NYT) published a controversial profile of Tony
Hovater titled:
A
Voice of Hate in America’s Heartland.
That’s
because the young millennial family man from the heartland is a
self-avowed White nationalist and neo-Nazi. The newspaper of record
wrote the following about the far right-wing extremist from New
Carlise, Ohio:
“ On
Facebook, Mr. Hovater posted a picture purporting to show what life
would have looked like if Germany had won World War II: a
streetscape full of happy white people, a bustling American-style
diner and swastikas everywhere.”
“His
fascist ideal, he said, would resemble the early days in the United
States, when power was reserved for landowners.”
Many
readers of the widely recognized vanguard of journalism (including
me) were surprised, and in some instances outraged, by the NYT
portrayal of Hovater as just another regular American among an
increasingly accepted movement of White nationalists.
Some
thought the article appeared disturbingly sympathetic to a blatantly
unapologetic racist. Others viewed the profile as problematically
ambivalent towards Hovater’s ardent and unabashed White supremacist
views.
The
article prompted a tidal wave of reaction from the political,
cultural and religious spectrum. Many readers lambasted the NYT
reporter, Richard Fausset, as well as the newspaper’s editorial
staff for publishing such an uncritical assessment.
That’s
mainly because Hovater is not racially discreet — far from it.
To
the contrary, he harbors deep racial and religious hatred, despite
his empty denials. He strongly advocates for a nation where people
are segregated based on racial pigmentation.
The
New York Times editors believed Fausset’s article fell short of
the esteemed newspaper’s centuries-old journalistic standards,
to which the besieged reporter ultimately conceded.
Readers Accuse Us of Normalizing a Nazi Sympathizer; We Respond
We have asked our national editor, Marc Lacey, to respond to feedback
on our recent profile of a white nationalist.Readers Accuse Us of
Normalizing a Nazi Sympathizer; We Respond
We have asked our national editor, Marc Lacey, to respond to feedback on our recent profile of a white nationalist.
Winds
of Intolerance
As
a society, we have evolved to a level where views that would have
been seen as socially acceptable as late as the 1950s, or even early
to mid-1960s, are no longer embraced by most people — at least
in the public sphere.
That
being said, we have witnessed ugly changes on this front as the Trump
presidency has continued to trample on the morals, values and norms
of liberal and progressive America.
Indeed,
the winds of intolerance have been blowing dangerously hard.
However,
the unfortunate truth about Whites for many people of color is
obvious, especially for Black Americans like me:
We
know all too well that hidden racism and biases of Whites are always
bubbling just beneath the surface.
In
our dealings with many White people, even those with generally good
intentions, the forces of White denial, White fragility and, yes,
White supremacy tend to surface unrelentingly.
The
fact is that more than a few Whites, including some who identify as
liberal or progressive, harbor negative or ambivalent attitudes about
Blacks and other non-Whites.
What
is more troubling is that many liberals — particularly those of
the supposedly racially progressive persuasion — too often
overlook, excuse or normalize White supremacy while, at the same
time, passionately denying that they possess such racist attitudes.
The
racial hypocrisy of Whites remains extremely troubling.
Admissions field still coming to terms with Varsity Blues scandal.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- More than six months after the Varsity Blues scandal broke, those who work in college admissions are…
www.insidehighered.com
Sobering
Reality
It’s
sadly ironic that some of the same Whites who don’t hesitate to
utilize all the advantages inherent with being White — as
evidenced, for example, by the “Varsity Blues Scandal”
(article above) — are reluctant to call out or acknowledge
deeply embedded systemic racism.
The
article, by Inside Higher Education, describes, “An admissions
system that many outside of the academy’s ivory towers have
come to believe locks in inequities and denies underprivileged
students the opportunities that are lavished upon the wealthy and
powerful.”
This
systematic racism has deeply pernicious effects on the lives of many
people of color and often results in forced gentrification, police
brutality, subprime lending, failing educational systems, deplorably
inadequate health care, shorter life expectancy, and other social
maladies.
These
are often the same supposedly enlightened White people who usually
remain silent when a relative, neighbor or co-worker makes a
disparaging remark about a certain ethnic or religious group.
These
are the same White men and women who read the New York Times article
cited above, then revel in shock and disgust while simultaneously
failing to realize that they share similar attitudes.
The
sobering reality is that it’s crucial, in fact imperative, to
acknowledge the fact that White supremacy can be varied and
multifaceted.
White
supremacy can be subtle, sly, seductive, reductive and unsuspecting
to those possessed with it.
White
supremacists represent all walks of life, including:
Your
neighbor,
Your
co-workers,
The
law firm partner,
The
tenured college professor,
The
person at the local gym or hot yoga studio,
Your
minister or other religious leader,
The
barista at the coffee shop,
The
k-12 teacher (public and private schools alike),
Your
fellow church member,
The
owner or manager of the book store and restaurant,
Your
in-laws and certain relatives,
Your
college students,
The
businessman or businesswoman,
The
medical doctor, and so on…
Yes,
White supremacists are visible in every aspect of society, regardless
of whether they openly display and advertise their bigotry or conceal
it in the safe confines of like-minded humans.
White-Supremacist Violence Is Terrorism
For much of the past 50 years, white-supremacist groups were largely relegated to the fringes of American society…
www.theatlantic.com
Final
Thoughts
In
the parlance of Keepin' It Real: Essays on Race in Contemporary America
(my
latest book), too many White people — in particular,
progressive and liberals — are living under false assumptions
regarding racism.
White
folks think they are immune from any semblance of racism,
anti-Semitism, xenophobia and other related prejudices simply
because:
They
don’t keep a KKK white sheet and hood in their closet, or a
swastika in their drawer,
They
don’t openly espouse racial or ethnic slurs in public, and
They
would never consciously consider overtly mistreating a person of
color (or other similar examples).
Such
a congratulatory, self-righteous mindset can be dangerously
misguided. This is especially true from the viewpoint of Blacks and
other people of color who are subjected to a multitude of
microaggressions from Whites every day — whether implicit or
explicit, intentional or unintentional, conscious or unconscious.
It
would behoove some Whites who express outrage by what they see as
periodic racial , religious and xenophobic injustices to do some deep
ruminating and serious soul searching about their own thoughts and
actions.
As
Josh R. Allen, president of the Brookings Institution, wrote last
week in The Atlantic (article above):
“ For
much of the past 50 years, white-supremacist groups were largely
relegated to the fringes of American society, where they continued
to survive, if not thrive, as a shameful artifact of history.”
“Yet
today they are finding a geopolitical landscape that has grown
permissive, or even supportive, of their rhetoric and activities —
and we need to do more to combat them.”
Thus
Whites should take the time to ask themselves this question:
Many
White Americans might not like the answer.
But
the hard truth is that Whites must ultimately come to grips with
where they stand regarding their system of morals and values related
to racial issues.
And
those Whites who genuinely consider themselves to be anti-racist must
increasingly walk the
talk, not the other
way around.
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