Posted on August 4, 2020

‘White’ or ‘white’ — What’s in a Word?

Gregory Hood, American Renaissance, August 4, 2020

“Whites exist objectively,” said Sam Francis, “but do not exist subjectively.” Our political adversaries know we are white. Government policies track and sometimes penalize whites. Major corporations and government institutions promote an ideology of “white privilege.” However, many whites themselves don’t think of themselves as white or want to be seen as white. Unfortunately for them, they don’t have a choice.

The Washington Post recently announced it would capitalize “black.” However, in contrast to the Associated Press and Columbia Journalism Review, the Post said it would also capitalize “white.” “Stories involving race show that White also represents a distinct cultural identity in the United States,” the Post said. It added that many white immigrants to the United States had separate ethnic identities, but “these diverse ethnicities were eventually assimilated into the collective group that has had its own cultural and historical impact on the nation.” Well, yes it has. Not to put too fine a point on it, we built the nation.

But both leftists and “conservatives” were angry.

Leftists:

Karen Attiah, last seen vaguely threatening white women on Twitter, explained that the Post would still use a lowercase W in “white power” or “white supremacy.” Of course, logically, you could argue that that is when it is most deserving of capitalization, if upper case recognizes a self-conscious, collective identity. However, the general objection to the Post’s new rule was that it treated white people as a distinct group. Miss Attiah seemed genuinely baffled:

Some “conservatives” also don’t want whites to have an identity.

The leftists have to square a logical circle. First, they tell us “whiteness” is a social construct that was used to justify oppression. The late Noel Ignatiev, who infamously called for abolishing “whiteness” and wrote How The Irish Became White, popularized the silly idea that “whiteness” initially didn’t include the Irish and other European groups. Thus, there is no whiteness. There are white ethnicities such as German-American or Irish-American, but no “whites,” because whiteness is an artificial but vicious system of oppression.

However, “white fragility” also tells us that all white people, without exception, are “racist,” and government policies that discriminate against whites require a biological standard of who is white and who is not; otherwise people with just a trace of black ancestry could sue for affirmative action. If “whiteness” is just a social construct, it follows that people of any race should be able to claim they are black, as Rachel Dolezal did. And if race is a social construct, how can Derek Chauvin be accused of “racism” in the death of George Floyd? How could he tell that Floyd was black?

Thus, critical race theory has contradictions built into it. On the one hand, “whites” don’t exist because they are a creation of nefarious elites who want to oppress blacks. (Who are these elites? Presumably they don’t include the overwhelming majority of the American institutions that are patronizing Black Lives Matter.) On the other hand, there has to be a way to identify whites. If groups can simply say they are not white, as MENA (Americans of Middle Eastern and African Descent) groups are trying to do, they can claim they are part of the oppressed class even when they are privileged.

Conservatives have different problems. They are trying to uphold a non-racial “American” identity and dismiss white identity as tribalism. At the same time, they also think that ethnic identities, particularly Jewish, are valid. However, why is Jewish, gay, or even “American” identity not mere “tribalism?” Why is race alone illegitimate? Furthermore, can we seriously argue that most people think Mark Krikorian is “Armenian” rather than “white?” Partly because of government-sponsored campaigns for assimilation during the late 19th century and during World War I, the ethnic boundaries between Irish, Italian, Polish, and other white ethnicities have melded into a larger “white” cultural identity.

More importantly, contra Ignatiev, the Founders clearly understood “whiteness.” They reserved American citizenship for “free white persons” in the United States Naturalization Law of March 26, 1790. The very first United States Congress passed this bill a year and a half before the Bill of Rights.

“Historically white Americans have sharply distinguished themselves from Indians, blacks, Asians, Asians, and Mexicans, and excluded them from the American community,” wrote Samuel Huntington in Who Are We? He further says that though blacks were 20 percent of the American population at the founding, they were not viewed by Americans as members of their community — not “constituent members of our society” in Attorney General Edmund Randolph’s words. Jefferson thought whites and blacks couldn’t live under the same government. “Jefferson, James Madison, Henry Clay, John Randolph, Abraham Lincoln, and other leading political figures supported the efforts of the American Colonization Society to promote emigration of free blacks to Africa.” In the 1857 Dred Scott case, Chief Justice Roger Taney bluntly said that blacks were not part of the “people of the United States.”

In contrast, supposedly “non-white” Italians, Irish, and other non-Anglo groups can be found in important positions throughout early American history. Italian-American Confederate General William Taliaferro is still honored (for now) at his alma mater, the College of William & Mary. Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard was also part Italian and Roman Catholic. Obviously, some Irish Catholics did not see their primary loyalty to the mostly Protestant United States. The infamous San Patricios defected to the enemy during the Mexican war and were duly hanged, their last sight the American flag flying over the position they had failed to defend. However, their treason was the product of religious and personal grievances, not race. Irish (not just Protestant Scotch-Irish) fought in the American Revolution and on both sides of the American Civil War. No one thought they weren’t white.

Any trans-racial American identity must confront the stark reality that America was created and sustained by whites. The American story is largely a story about whites defeating and conquering non-whites. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who despite her last name clearly finds it more useful to claim non-white identity, protests that America has traditionally honored white men. However, who else should it honor? America’s historic enemies?

America would thrive if Miss Ocasio-Cortez, her “Squad,” and her non-white constituents left the county and Puerto Rico were no longer part of America. Without whites, America becomes nothing more than a name on a map.

Conservatives must know this if they read what the Founders and most American heroes said about race until very recently. Perhaps they really are ignorant. Or do they just pretend Martin Luther King Jr. was a patriot and a conservative and read Dinesh D’Souza books that blame “Democrats” for America’s problems. Liberals and non-whites know American history. They know the American flag represents the historic white American nation, which is why the far-left burns it in Portland.

Both Left and Right are ignoring the critical truth that race is the defining issue in American politics. It always has been, since the time the Jamestown colonists met Powhatan, to the Civil War, and now America’s ongoing deconstruction. American whites are a people with shared interests, culture, and heritage. It is distinct from that of non-whites. More than that, we are part of a larger Western Civilization that transcends civic nationalism. I have more in common with a white Frenchman, German, Hungarian, or Italian than I do with supposed conservative leaders such as Nikki Haley.

Our foes see this. The controlled “conservative” opposition refuses to see this. “Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair,” in George Washington’s words. Eventually, even the most deluded whites will be forced to accept an identity. They will have to choose between self-hatred and self-assertion. We need to prepare the way for those who choose the latter and join us in seizing control of our destiny, which is to champion Western Civilization on this continent.

About Gregory Hood

View all posts by Gregory Hood
Mr. Hood is a staff writer for American Renaissance. He has been active in conservative groups in the US. You can follow him on Gab.