Everything you were afraid to ask about white nationalisms new place in American politics
These hate groups’ names are becoming household terms.
http://www.vox.com/identities/2016/12/7/13802640/white-nationalists-alt-right-racism-bannon-spencer-trump
Merriam-Webster’s
2016 word of the year might be fascism. For betting types making early 2017 predictions, “white nationalism” would not be a bad guess. Along with “white supremacy” and the newer phrase “alternative right,” or alt-right, it’s been a post-election fixture of news and accompanying battles over politics, racism, and language.
It started in earnest when it was announced that former Breitbart News editor Steve Bannon would serve as President-elect Donald Trump’s administrative adviser. White nationalists like neo-Nazi writer and
publisher Andrew Anglin rejoiced. Ken Reed, the national director of the neo-Nazi group
Aryan Renaissance Society, celebrated in a Facebook post that read, “Can you say WINNING boys and girls???” using the hashtags #WhiteLivesMatter and #AltRight.
The self-proclaimed alt-right made even more headlines when the white supremacist National Policy Institute held an alt-right conference in Washington, DC, the weekend after the election. There, the group’s leader,
Richard Spencer, delivered remarks calling America “a white country designed for ourselves and our posterity.”
In a video shared by the Atlantic, Trump’s victory and Spencer’s statements were cheered by the crowd with Nazi salutes and chants of, “Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!”
Yes, actual Nazi salutes. In a DC hotel. By people who felt Trump’s election and appointments were their victory.
Along with the horror over this came complaints that alt-right activists were being referred to in many headlines with their chosen, innocuous-sounding title, rather than something that made their racist agenda plain. Before long, the Associated Press and the New York Times
issued strong guidance to their writers regarding the term. In both cases, they said uses of the alt-right’s preferred label must be accompanied by an explanation to readers about what defines the group: the racism, misogyny, and white supremacy that characterize it.
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MUCH more at link
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