Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

White Bound

Stanford University Press

Contents

Acknowledgments................................................................................viiChapter 1 Racists versus Antiracists?.........................................................1Chapter 2 Navigating White Nationalists: National Equality for All............................19Chapter 3 Everyday Activities with Antiracists: Whites for Racial Justice.....................45Chapter 4 White Panic.........................................................................62Chapter 5 The Ironic Value of Dishonor........................................................79Chapter 6 Saviors and Segregation.............................................................113Chapter 7 Color Capital and White Debt........................................................148Chapter 8 Hailing Whiteness...................................................................170Chapter 9 Beyond Good and Evil................................................................184Appendix A A Primer on Nationalism and Antiracism.............................................197Appendix B Research Methodology...............................................................209Appendix C Notes on Decisions, Difficulty, Development, and Dangers...........................223Notes..........................................................................................239Works Cited....................................................................................259Index..........................................................................................279

Chapter One

White antiracists? Misguided folks, but I get them, I mean, [long pause] they want to have equality and multiculturalism, and so do we ... In many ways, we are not all that different. In fact, I consider myself one of them [laughing]. I don't use your language, but yeah, I'm a white antiracist! —Robert, National Equality for All

The white nationalist movement today, they are using our rhetoric, our ideas ... because they feel threatened. I guess on some level they want to be respected as individual human beings, just like we want all people to be respected as human beings. That's similar ... in a strange sort of way. —Philip, Whites for Racial Justice

A LARGE OAK TABLE WITH PAPERS, books, and several coffee cups strewn about occupies the middle of the room. Numerous people sit in bulky, inflexible chairs. Some type on laptops, several busy themselves with reading, and others jot down notes on yellow legal pads. A few people scurry about the room, dive in and out of file cabinets, briefly speak with colleagues, and wait for a turn at one of the few computers to send an email or look up needed information. The phone has been ringing incessantly for the past hour. Call after call is fielded, schedules double-checked, and appointments made. People are a bit on edge. Still, most manage to smile and remain courteous to one another. In less than a week, it will be the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday—a U.S. federal holiday since 1986. People are readying their commemoration of the day by preparing press packets about the life and legacy of Dr. King to disseminate to radio, tv, and blogs. Derek, a thirty-four-year-old advertising and marketing agent, sits down beside me. Seemingly exhausted, he slumps into the chair with a deep sigh. He removes his glasses with his left hand, holding them unfolded in his outstretched arm. With his right hand he loosens his tie and undoes the top button of his shirt. For more than a few moments he slowly rubs his forehead as if trying to massage away a deadening headache. After some time he slowly replaces his glasses, looks down at the floor, and says in a low tone: "It's hard to fight all the disinformation out there ..." his voice trailing off as he speaks. "But!" he asserts emphatically as he turns to look at me, placing his hand on my shoulder. "We've got to get the truth out there to people. This is one of the few times each year when people will really listen." Derek smiles and rises from his seat to greet a colleague who has entered the room. "I think the big selling point we have," says Derek, looking back at me as his colleague walks up to greet him with a handshake, "is that King was against affirmative action, we're not saying anything different.... We as white people must protect our racial heritage and separate. That is the key to our self-determination." This is "The Office," the unofficial moniker for the national headquarters of "National Equality for All," a white nationalist organization located in a metropolitan area on the East Coast of the United States.

"Whites for Racial Justice" is also located on the outskirts of a city on the East Coast of the United States. It is the headquarters of a nationwide white antiracist organization and is no more than a few hours' drive from the headquarters of National Equality for All. The group meets in the basement of a member's house, but it is not the stereotypical dark and dimly lit space. A few years ago, the members pitched in and finished it with drywall, wall-to-wall carpeting, and modern wood furnishings. Bookshelves are everywhere in the room. Many volumes end up in large piles several feet tall, stacked next to the walls. There are history books on the civil rights era, the speeches of Frederick Douglass, John Howard Griffin's Black Like Me, and the heavily used and dog-eared pages of Whites Confront Racism by sociologist Eileen O'Brien. On this day, like many others before it, members slowly trickle in for the biweekly gathering. The theme for today's meeting is "Everyday Insurrections," or what white people can do on a daily basis to fight racism. Malcolm, one of the official "coordinators" of the organization, enters the room, greeting every person individually. After enjoining everyone to take his or her seat and begin, Malcolm introduces a supplement to the day's agenda: "I think what we need to do, as conscious, thinking, aware human beings who have decided to take a stand against racism, is what we can, or rather, need [emphasizing the word] to do to stop racism in our own lives as well as take a stand against it structurally, is ... well ... to constantly ask ourselves, 'How can I become less "white"?'" His fingers make the motion of air quotes around the word white as he speaks. Smiling nods and looks of sincere appreciation greet his commentary. This is a typical meeting of Whites for Racial Justice.

For a little over one year—from May 2006 through June 2007—I spent at least one day a week with members of the white nationalist organization National Equality for All (NEA) and the white antiracist organization Whites for Racial Justice (WRJ). I attended their meetings, analyzed their literature, interviewed their members, and informally spent time with those members in a variety of settings: from long stays in organizations' offices and members' homes to quick trips to the post office and supermarket. I hung out with their friends and listened to their life stories. I shared meals with them in their homes. I met the elder members of their families, and I played with many of their children.

I came to NEA and WRJ with the interest of comparing how these two groups make...