© US News
Friends. Romans. Appalachian State University Mountaineers. I’m almost too angry to write this, so you’ll have to forgive me if this post sometimes lacks in wit or wordplay. Today (as I write it is Tuesday 04/14/15) members of the Appalachian State community discovered fliers posted by a white nationalist hate group. These fliers were posted just a day after our university held a campus-wide forum on privilege.
Today, white nationalists plastered our campus with papers denouncing “America’s Zionist-controlled government” and urging readers to “Defend Your People.” White nationalists even snuck into our residence halls and posted their literature there, in our homes.
Defend Your People. It’s a very chilling phrase, fearsome in its simplicity. In just three words, it poses people of different races as not just somehow fundamentally different, but locked in a race war. Imagine the cold, detached thought that goes into those three little words. Imagine how these angry men picture themselves, as proud white heroes on a battlefield fighting for their right to live righteously. Consider the twisted way in which they justify themselves somehow as victims, and how they justify responding “in kind.”
I struggled for a few hours over whether or not I should publish this post. I am uncomfortable with giving a group like this publicity, even the bad kind. I am uncomfortable with giving them the attention they craved and sought by a stunt like this. But at the same time I am somehow more uncomfortable with the idea of not speaking up when I feel that my home is threatened by the presence of people whose agenda is to cause pain and strife wherever they walk.
Today, white nationalists plastered our campus with papers denouncing “America’s Zionist-controlled government” and urging readers to “Defend Your People.” White nationalists even snuck into our residence halls and posted their literature there, in our homes.
Defend Your People. It’s a very chilling phrase, fearsome in its simplicity. In just three words, it poses people of different races as not just somehow fundamentally different, but locked in a race war. Imagine the cold, detached thought that goes into those three little words. Imagine how these angry men picture themselves, as proud white heroes on a battlefield fighting for their right to live righteously. Consider the twisted way in which they justify themselves somehow as victims, and how they justify responding “in kind.”
I struggled for a few hours over whether or not I should publish this post. I am uncomfortable with giving a group like this publicity, even the bad kind. I am uncomfortable with giving them the attention they craved and sought by a stunt like this. But at the same time I am somehow more uncomfortable with the idea of not speaking up when I feel that my home is threatened by the presence of people whose agenda is to cause pain and strife wherever they walk.
©Fox News
The organization that posted those fliers was the National Youth Front, a racist (hint: there is no other kind) white nationalist group. A representative for the organization declared today in a YouTube video that they posted the fliers in response to the current controversy on App’s campus about privilege. As many of you no doubt are aware, an RA in one of our residence halls posted a bulletin board about privilege (white privilege, straight privilege, you name it) in his hallway. This stirred controversy both locally and nationally about the role and validity of privilege in our lives. Some students felt attacked by the board, which outlined some of the privileges and advantages that they held in life, often at the expense of other groups of people.
I understand a knee-jerk reaction to defend yourself. I don’t agree, but I don’t hate you for it. I promise. But you have to realize that saying you have privilege does not make you a villain or a horrible person. It is acknowledging an advantage you had, often through no fault of your own, which put other people at a disadvantage. I’m a white man whose ancestors were among the first to colonize the Americas. That means I have privilege; unlike many classes of people, my ancestors were free to make a life for themselves, to make money and pursue education without fear of retribution by a ruling class. They were often poor and often struggled, but were for the most part unaffected by systematic oppressive forces like slavery and were afforded opportunities to thrive.
In turn, I was accepted as a normal person in modern-day society because of my skin color, class, and gender. Other people whose great-grandfathers had heard slave songs or hear racial slurs even today haven’t had it as easy as me. The job my grandfather held would not have been available to some of my classmates’ grandfathers, and thus we cannot be expected to have had the same opportunities in life. This doesn’t make me the bad guy. It means I should recognize my advantages in life, and help even the playing field by allowing for opportunities for minorities to gain a foothold in society. At the very least, I should not kick and scream when a poster about privilege is put up in a residence hall. I am not being attacked. I am not the enemy. They aren’t out to get me; they just want to be treated fairly.
I understand a knee-jerk reaction to defend yourself. I don’t agree, but I don’t hate you for it. I promise. But you have to realize that saying you have privilege does not make you a villain or a horrible person. It is acknowledging an advantage you had, often through no fault of your own, which put other people at a disadvantage. I’m a white man whose ancestors were among the first to colonize the Americas. That means I have privilege; unlike many classes of people, my ancestors were free to make a life for themselves, to make money and pursue education without fear of retribution by a ruling class. They were often poor and often struggled, but were for the most part unaffected by systematic oppressive forces like slavery and were afforded opportunities to thrive.
In turn, I was accepted as a normal person in modern-day society because of my skin color, class, and gender. Other people whose great-grandfathers had heard slave songs or hear racial slurs even today haven’t had it as easy as me. The job my grandfather held would not have been available to some of my classmates’ grandfathers, and thus we cannot be expected to have had the same opportunities in life. This doesn’t make me the bad guy. It means I should recognize my advantages in life, and help even the playing field by allowing for opportunities for minorities to gain a foothold in society. At the very least, I should not kick and scream when a poster about privilege is put up in a residence hall. I am not being attacked. I am not the enemy. They aren’t out to get me; they just want to be treated fairly.
©ExitWhitePower
After the forum had commenced and the fliers had been discovered, I went on YikYak to gauge community opinion. Let me offer you a piece of free advice: never do that. Delete that app. Go outside. Play with a dog. Hug a tree. Do literally anything but read anonymous forums where suddenly people are big and tough and more than a little racist. People were defending the placement of the fliers under the pretext of free speech. If an “extremely liberal” viewpoint like that of the privilege board was permitted on campus, why not allow “extremely conservative” fliers? This is ridiculous. Oppression is real and exists no matter what you think about it. You can disagree about what constitutes privilege. You can disagree about what should be done about it. But the fact of the matter is that some people have gotten ahead in life because of their race, class, gender, sexual orientation, able-bodiedness, other factors...and some people have been left behind or purposely pushed backwards because of those factors. It’s wrong, and it is not going to fix itself.
Back to the bigots. White nationalists, supremacists, skinheads: you’re not welcome here. Before you protest that you’re just representing a respectfully opposite viewpoint to “privilege,” let me explain something to you. Modern understanding of the privileges held by dominant groups in our society is based on facts and history and general common sense. Your weak false equivalency argument that you are somehow being discriminated upon because you are white is absurd, and based on paranoia that if you let another group share the world with you, you’re being oppressed. As for those of you who are playing an intense game of devil’s advocate, and support this group’s “right” to hate speech…I can’t stop you from going here. I can’t even make you keep your opinions to yourself. But prepare for an icy cold shoulder from those of us who want to talk about real problems.
Back to the bigots. White nationalists, supremacists, skinheads: you’re not welcome here. Before you protest that you’re just representing a respectfully opposite viewpoint to “privilege,” let me explain something to you. Modern understanding of the privileges held by dominant groups in our society is based on facts and history and general common sense. Your weak false equivalency argument that you are somehow being discriminated upon because you are white is absurd, and based on paranoia that if you let another group share the world with you, you’re being oppressed. As for those of you who are playing an intense game of devil’s advocate, and support this group’s “right” to hate speech…I can’t stop you from going here. I can’t even make you keep your opinions to yourself. But prepare for an icy cold shoulder from those of us who want to talk about real problems.
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