In light of the riots and violence that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, I thought I would address the issue of white supremacy. I do not believe that white people across the United States are a majority white supremacists or nationalists, but there is a small but real political force of white supremacist and Neo-Nazi groups in the US that have been vocal both on the web and now in the national media.
Just yesterday, James Fields, a white man from Ohio, drove his car into a crowd of people at the Charlottesville rally, killing one individual and injuring 19. This kind of atrocity can happen when pent up anger swells within one individual who finds a protest to be the grounds to release it. This kind of event demonstrates that although a large group of people could go to a rally with no intent to start violence, the very fact that there is a protest will invite bad actors who will act out.
Watch the video below of a large crowd of white nationalists chanting as they protest what they see as a growing anti-white agenda in the United States.
There are many apparent problems with holding the opinion that white people are superior or that they should have their own nation separate from nonwhites. Not only is there the more historically obvious issues, like the fact that white supremacy was a motivating ideology for Nazi's and the KKK. But additionally, what those who identify as white supremacists or white nationalists fail to appreciate is how becoming an individual who who identifies with a single race severely limits the possibility for individual development. To identify so strongly by race, whether its white, black, or brown, is to handicap ones own growth as an individual. An individual subsumed in racial identity may not value his or her individual achievements or qualities but is likely to extend their narcissism to a greater mass psychology, thereby following the typical pattern so often seen within race specific groups.
President Trump made a statement in response to the heinous crimes at Charlottesville: "We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides." While many have criticized the President for not being more aggressive in his displeasure with white racism, his statement brings to a level of consciousness that there have been hateful acts committed by all racial groups throughout history. It's up to us as individuals to realize our full potential and not fall into the sludge of racial or national identity.
Related articles
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/13/trump-charlottesville-extremist-groups-241590
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/12/virginia-unite-the-right-rally-protest-violence