Part II: Who are White Supremacists?

White supremacy has its roots in scientific racism and often relies on pseudo-scientific arguments to advocate white superiority. It promotes the belief that white people are superior in certain characteristics, traits, and attributes to people of other racial backgrounds. Therefore, white people should politically, economically and socially rule the non-white.
The bible, provides evidence of religious, and ethnic supremacy. Whether it is the Egyptians enslaving the Jews or the Night Riders burning crosses and lynching Blacks, the subjugation of defined groups forms the bases of this behavior. The downtrodden may be Irish, Jewish, Hispanic, Polish, Oriental or Black. Much of this nation’s growth during the Industrial and agricultural age depended on such population suppression through cheap labor.
Usually, money and fear drive the needs for this oversight. Exploited labor and the control of uprisings are essential elements for the supremacist. This nation’s historic and continued ideological racism continues to have costly repercussions. The prior U.S. mistreatment of Orientals played a part in Japan’s alignment with the Nazis and the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The unbridled violence against Blacks emerged after the Civil War. As slaves, Blacks were considered assets and cheap labor. A plantation owner’s profits required healthy black slaves. Abuse existed but significantly increased violence against African Americans by both the North and South began after the Civil War. There were subtle differences for such institutional violence against Blacks but the supremacist’s behavior had a similar aim. Segregate the “negro,” keep him uneducated and poor, severely limit housing and job opportunities.
Institute harsh punishment against the Black-man for any infractions and legalize the right to such murder and exploitation. The White, Christian, Nordic or Anglo-Saxon birthright justified such behavior against Blacks and many other ethnic and religious groups. Control of these populations was seen as a “God-given” right. However, minority groups now rebel against such treatment. Also, Federal and State law has banned many racist practices.
The North supported freedom for slaves but had not anticipated the impact of mass migrations of Blacks to Northern states. The South enacted the Jim Crow Laws after the Civil War. These laws piggybacked the Black Codes curtailing the civil rights of African Americans by mandating the segregation of public schools, public places, and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains for whites and blacks. African Americans were housed in the most undesirable areas of the community.
The U.S. military was also segregated, as were federal workplaces, initiated in 1913 under President Woodrow Wilson. By requiring candidates to submit photos, his administration practiced racial discrimination in hiring.
Blacks seeking opportunities in the North were denied decent housing and decent jobs. Although, there were no Jim Crow laws, treatment was based on concerns about crime rates, lack of skills, and illiteracy creating universal discrimination against Blacks. The result was a self-fulfilling prophesy of crime, squalor, and unemployment. Intellectuals spun off books and papers attesting to the inferiority of the Black-man who could not be educated and represented a danger to the community.
Early papers and books pointing to poverty and lack of opportunity were debunked by racist thinking. Decades later efforts and services would address environmental and economic issues for Afro Americans.
The Civil Rights movement and accompanying laws to protect African Americans and immigrants challenged the successes of White Supremacy. The Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia invalidated laws that banned interracial marriage through anti-miscegenation laws until 1967.
White supremacy groups continue to remain active and have found new life in the current political climate.