White Women and White Supremacy
For years, we’ve seen members of the Klan riding on horses, terrorizing Black people in the South, bombing churches, killing people, spread their racial hatred, and indoctrinating their young with the same hatred that rules their lives. When we think of Klan members, we think overwhelmingly of these people as men. However, why is it that we don’t see White women in the same way as their male counterparts?
Mostly, when we think of infamous figures associated with the Klan like George Lincoln Rockwell and David Duke, it’s hard to come up with the name of a woman. However, we know that these organizations have women working for their cause. Are they in the shadows?
Some believe that these women are in the background, doing bake sales, washing and ironing white sheets, cleaning, cooking, and taking care of the children. However, that idea is just as sexist. If you believe that these White women are in the background just organizing the next Tupperware parties and hooking their single girlfriends up with the most eligible Nazis, you’d be wrong.
Dead wrong.
White women are on the front lines of the racist White Nationalist movement. The ironic thing is that the individuals they choose to align themselves with are highly misogynistic and don’t really believe in feminism. Can one be a feminist and be a Nazi?
There are a few “superstars” in the Alt-Right movement that are women and they complain that the men want to “bully” them and silence them. These men believe that these women should be “put in their place” and told what to do. There are men in the Alt-Right that believe that these women should be having more White children and in the kitchen then espousing their beliefs on the Internet, even though if the movement wants to grow, this would be key to that growth that they seek.
It’s the dumbest catch-22 I’ve ever seen and why these movements never seem to catch onto the mainstream.
The problem I’m stating here is not that ‘there are trolls on the internet’ but that people who proclaim to be on our side are trying to tear down women in our in-group. If you can’t see why this is dysfunctional, I can’t help you. — Tara McCarthy 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 (@TaraMcCarthy444) December 3, 2017
Tara McCarthy is a Right wing “superstar” who supports White nationalism. She is a racist. She is a bigot. She is anti-Semitic. She’s a gutter rat. Laura Southern is another. Apparently, she is okay with her racist beliefs but she doesn’t want her fellow Right winged brethren to treat her differently because she has ovaries. She wrote an essay titled, “Why I’m Not Married” and it caused an uproar in her community by men who believe that she should be married and have children because that’s her “job”.
However extreme the Alt Right can be, most White people don’t fit in that category. They may not be racist and bigoted but some of their behavior can be problematic. Most people that supported Trump are not racist. However, we know that Trump is a racist and their willingness to overlook Trump’s racism is a serious problem. It is the problem of the ‘pocketbook’.
A lower middle class White woman with children may have ninety-nine problems, but racism ain’t one. So why would she care if the President is a racist? She wants to know if she can find a good paying job, find affordable day care, and get good health insurance for her family.
Black and Brown people problems are not on her radar. So she can afford to overlook racist comments. They don’t affect her. Politically naive people don’t seem to ever realize that when you marginalize one group, you marginalize others. It’s all fun and games when your president calls Haiti a “shithole”. It’s hilarious when he picks fights with rappers on social media. It’s comical when he calls black NFL players “sons of bitches”. It stops being funny when he wants to kick your kids and other family members off Medicare, SNAP, and Disability.
The Washington Post claimed that it was “surprising” that Trump was able to win over this key demographic of women.
Why is this so shocking? I’m not saying that every White woman that voted for Trump is a racist. I’m saying that there is a problem. There is a problem in America when the same women who have been victimized by serial sexual harassers, support the “Me Too” Movement and then vote for Donald Trump.
Why is it so surprising that White women voted for Trump? To believe that White women are just sitting back and not taking part in the political system is complete nonsense. Sure, they can march in all the women’s marches that they wish. The fact of the matter is that women are politically involved today and they are going to vote for the candidate who they feel is going to help them economically. That’s pretty much it.
In Boston, women were some of the most vociferous opponents against bussing. These mothers thought that it was fine to throw rocks and bricks at school children just wanting to go to school. Why do we play down the role that White women have played in racism in this country? Why do the men take all the blame?
The mothers in Boston were no different than the women who took their children out of school for the Little Rock Nine that desegregated the Arkansas school system.
The women who were against their children going to school with Black kids just removed their children from school. An entire school year was effectively lost due to this decision and not many people regret that decision. However, why do we think that things have somehow changed? That the face of White supremacy is just of White men?
That’s a farce. The face of White supremacy is White…period. That’s man, woman, and child. In fact, to perpetuate White supremacy, you need White women. They are an important cog in the wheel. They are the caretakers. They raise the children. They are the on the front lines of the home. They teach their children the values that they want and if White supremacy is on the front lines, then that’s what the lesson that the children are definitely getting.
White children learn from their White mothers about the social order of things. They learn that because of their skin color, they are somehow different and better than children who don’t look like them. They learn to perpetuate this sytem of White supremacy and to defend it at all costs. They learn to deny that racism is the problem. They learn this nuanced language from their mothers that it’s basically a“preference” or their shared“history” and not hatred that creates this need for separation of the races.
The role that White women have historically played is an important one. It helped to play into the sexual anxieties of White men that started the minute the slaves were free. Now that these roving gangs of Black men were no longer under the threat of the lash, they were free to go after White women. Black men had to be put in their place through the use of violence. Black men had to lower their eyes in the presence of White women and step off sidewalks as they passed. White women taught their young girls to stay away from these Black men but White boys were taught that young black girls were fair game…as long as you could get away with it and didn’t get caught raping them. White boys as young as twelve were called “sir” by men that were old enough to be their grandfathers.
And these children caught on quickly. They learned this system quickly and adapted accordingly.
Again, I’m not saying that if you’re a White woman and you voted for Trump that you’re a racist. However, I’m saying that there is a system in place that keeps women like that from voting in their best interest.
White women who do support White supremacy support their own oppression. White men who support White supremacy don’t support their female counterparts plea for equality. You can’t actively work for the suppression and oppression of other groups and then expect equality yourself. It’s complete nonsense to expect the same groups that thrive on oppression to suddenly see the need to help in your own liberation. Since its inception, this country has always tried to protect the power structure that White men yielded. That’s it. There was never room for anyone else to share in with that structure. White women that support White supremacy will never be seen as their equals.
The women that worked side by side with White supremacists are women’s whose names have mostly and largely been lost to history. There will be no monuments to women if the White supremacists win. They’ll continue to complain on social media outlets that they aren’t “being heard” and are being “trolled constantly” by those who believe that they should be barefoot and pregnant. Of course, this is counterproductive for any movement, but when your movement is based on hatred, this is the outcome.
The next time you watch a rally on television and you see racist Nazis marching with tiki torches up and down the street, remember that there are White women that actively support them. They are starting groups, lobbying others, raising money, renting spaces, spreading propaganda, knocking on doors, raising children, and still having Tupperware parties to spread their message. White supremacy was never an all male effort.
And it never will be.
