White separatism

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White separatism is a political movement that promotes a separate homeland for white people. Critics of the movement contend it is primarily a disguised restatement of historic white supremacy ideas [citation needed].

Contents

[edit] View of Proponents

Since separatism is predicated on separation of sovereign powers, there are people (specifically white separatists) who claim that white separatism is necessary to maintain self-determination, which is predicated on a single sovereignty. According to most standard dictionaries, racial segregation and apartheid speak of a society within which racial discrimination takes place, whereas separate sovereignties imply separate societies. White separatism is thus the most "extreme" form of the ideology, as it implies no inter-racial co-operation of any degree should be tolerated within a single society. In this sense, it is both against the multiculturalist and assimilationist dialectic most often debated in modern Western societies [citation needed].

Research indicates that the skin-whitening mutation occurred by chance in a single individual after the first human exodus from Africa, when all people were brown-skinned. That person's offspring apparently thrived as humans moved northward into what is now Europe, helping to give rise to the lightest of the world's races [1]. Relatively light-skinned people are found among many ethnic groups, like Asians who owe their relatively light skin to different mutations [2].

White separatists generally claim genetic affiliation with Anglo-Saxon cultures, Nordic cultures, or other European cultures. White separatists are often found among Christian Identity groups, some of whom refer to the United States as a "Zionist Occupation Government". As a result, many proposals have been submitted to create separate white homelands in various locals such as the northwestern corner of the United States [citation needed].

[edit] Origins

As European races colonized parts of Africa and North America, some white people desired to create new settlements of whites that could exist as nations just like the nations of Europe. Many nationalists held race to be a defining characteristic of national identity, and thus did not desire the co-mingling of races within a single community [citation needed].

Initially, the institution of slavery helped segregate races in a hierarchical fashion, justified by notions of white supremacy. However once slavery was abolished, and all races were granted equal status as citizens, a new challenge emerged. It was in the wake of such developments that white separatists began to argue with greater intensity for the need for explicitly white nations to be created.[citation needed]

White separatism was expressed as early as the age of Thomas Jefferson, who wrote,

"Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate, than that these people are to be free; nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government. Nature, habit, opinion have drawn indelible lines of distinction between them."[1]

This view was reiterated at the dawn of the civil rights era when Abraham Lincoln, addressing the African American community wrote:

There is much to encourage you. For the sake of your race you should sacrifice something of your present comfort for the purpose of being as grand in that respect as the white people...General Washington himself endured greater physical hardships than if he had remained a British subject, yet he was a happy man because he had engaged in benefiting his race, in doing something for the children of his neighbors, having none of his own. The colony of Liberia has been in existence a long time. In a certain sense it is a success. The old President of Liberia, Roberts, has just been with me--the first time I ever saw him. He says they have within the bounds of that colony between three and four hundred thousand people, or more than in some of our old States, such as Rhode Island or Delaware, or in some of our newer States, and less than in some of our larger ones. They are not all American colonists or their descendants. Something less than 12,000 have been sent thither from this country. Many of the original settlers have died; yet, like people else-where, their offspring outnumber those deceased. The question is, if the colored people are persuaded to go anywhere, why not there? Address On Colonization To A Deputation Of Colored Men. Washington, August 14, 1862. [2]

[edit] Contemporary White Separatism

Outside of some isolated and relatively minor examples, white separatism remains primarily a reaction in the United States to the American Civil Rights Movement. In formerly colonized regions of Africa, similar developments have occurred even outside of the Apartheid era. Regardless, the result has been de facto segregation, particularly in areas such as Orania, South Africa. It is difficult to distinguish passive white separatism from white supremacy. This is partially because those subscribing to the latter ideology tend to advertise themselves as the former in order to avoid stigmatic associations.[citation needed]

This represents a profound change from the 1800s during which racial separatism, as exemplified by Jefferson and Lincoln, was normative. While at present there are several self-proclaimed white separatist groups, it is unknown whether they are actually ideologues for the platform they advertise. There have been repeated overtures toward mutual recognition between black separatists and white separatists in various parts of the world.[citation needed]

[edit] Controversial groups and advocates

[edit] Protect Arizona Now

The difference between separatism and supremacy continues to be unclear. This was illustrated during the campaign for the Arizona Proposition 200 (2004), a law that restricts the access of illegal immigrants to government services. Dr. Virginia Abernethy, the national advisory board chair of the group Protect Arizona Now, responded to a journalist's questions about her allegedly supremacist views by stating that she considers herself a separatist, not a supremacist.

"I'm in favor of separatism -- and that's different than supremacy. Groups tend to self-segregate. I know that I'm not a supremacist. I know that ethnic groups are more comfortable with their own kind." [3]

Dr. Abernethy has written elsewhere that European-Americans have made the greatest contributions to society, and so they must strive to maintain adequate fertility to continue the race. [4] Abernethy is a leader in white pride groups like the Council of Conservative Citizens, which denigrate other minorities.

[edit] Americans for Self Determination

The Americans for Self Determination (ASD) proposes that some territories of the United States be set aside as racialist states, to avert a race war. These racialist states are to include separate areas for blacks, whites, Hispanics, Amerindians and perhaps other racial groups. The establishment of black states would be via the payment of taxes by whites to black leaders of those states, to buy out white property owners. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists the ASD as a hate group.

[edit] National Alliance

The National Alliance proclaims itself to be a white separatist group. Upon its founding, it was closely associated with Francis Parker Yockey and the ideas of Imperium. However, it has often been accused of being white supremacist and neo-Nazi. The organization has denied these claims. However, it has resorted to racially-charged language in its refutation of such criticisms. The National Alliance has stated that such allegations are part of a "Jewish plot" to suppress the "racial defense mechanisms" of white people by accusing those who believe in "white separatist ideals" as being "white supremacists".[5].

The National Alliance's former leader, William Pierce, was one of the most recognized names in the White separatist movement. Pierce wrote The Turner Diaries and hosted a weekly radio program, American Dissident Voices. He promoted ideas of racial purity and eugenics. In 1997, Pierce stated that:

"Ultimately we must separate ourselves from the Blacks and other non-whites and keep ourselves separate, no matter what it takes to accomplish this. We must do this not because we hate Blacks, but because we cannot survive if we remain mixed with them. And we cannot survive if we permit the Jews and the traitors among us to remain among us and to repeat their treachery. Eventually we must hunt them down and get rid of them."[citation needed]


[edit] Criticism and counterpoint

Sociologists Betty A. Dobratz and Stephanie Shanks-Meile contend that terms such as white separatism and white nationalism are euphemisms that have been adopted by what they refer to as neo-Nazi and racist groups, as a tactical move in order to make their views seem less extreme.[citation needed] The Center for Democratic Renewal called the term white separatist a "media gloss."[citation needed] The anti-racist group Turn it Down, which campaigns against White Power music, issues similar sentiments.

Supporters of white separatism claim that identifying white separatists as white supremacist is a media smear.[6] Proponents claim that their desire to remove themselves from racially integrated society and to segregate based on race removes the possibility of subjugating other ethnicities, and thus has no relation to supremacy. They often say they have no desire to intermingle with other races at all, neither to harm them nor to force them into slavery or other oppressive conditions. Kevin Alfred Strom, on the National Alliance's white separatist radio program American Dissident Voices, defined the difference between white separatism and supremacy this way:

"A supremacist — of whatever race — is distinct from a 'separatist.' A separatist may believe that his race is superior to other races in some or all characteristics, but this is not his essential belief. The separatist is defined by his wish for freedom and independence for his people. He wishes them to have their own society, to be led by their own kind, to have a government which looks out for their interests alone. The separatist does not wish to live in a multiracial society at all, so he naturally has no desire to rule over other races—since such rule necessitates the multiracial society the separatist wants to avoid at all costs." [7]

[edit] Notable white separatists

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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