Violence and hate in the names of safety, goodness, and freedom: the death culture of white nationalism
In the name of safety and goodness, an attack on the sovereignty of the body
Since I started this article in January, aggressive efforts by extreme right wing Republicans to attack fundamental human rights have continued to take place, including the Supreme Court’s majority effort to overturn Roe vs. Wade, revealed through a leak published by Politico in early May.
At the same time, white nationalist-driven violence has continued to shatter lives — the mass killing of people in a historically Black community in Buffalo NY by a 19-year-old white man driven by anti-Black conspiracy theories to murder Black people, which took place on Saturday, May 14. I learned of this atrocity just after returning home from a rally protesting anti-abortion laws.
In the name of freedom, guns prioritized over children’s safety
And now the mass shooting of young children at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, by a perpetrator who had purchased two AR-15 style guns recently, two days after his 18th birthday, able to do so because of exceedingly permissive gun laws in Texas. 19 children and two teachers will be buried because of this atrocity. The first burials are happening this week, starting 5/31/22. Police are being severely criticized for their lethal mistakes in responding to the shooter; lax gun laws are beside the point, though, in Texas.
We are witnessing recurring, intensifying, and lethal harm through racism, misogyny, and homophobia that expresses itself in anti-trans attitudes and actions, and harm fueled by right-wing media centering antisemitic conspiracy theories of the so-called “Great Replacement” of white people. We are experiencing a reverence for the “God given” right to bear arms, a gross misunderstanding and de-contextualization of the 2nd amendment, especially for the benefit of NRA profits fueling domestic terrorism, and the politicians who enjoy financial support from the NRA.
All of these assaults, ideological and physical, are attacks on our fundamental humanity, and to our sovereignty over our own bodies, and to the right of our born children to live, to strive for a meaningful future.
For all of the right-wing politicians’ nauseating declarations about cherishing the unborn, the children who are here in this world are at grave risk because of the inhumanity of a political creed that prioritizes individual political power over human rights. That values the NRA’s political support over reasonable gun laws, including restrictions on the use of assault rifles meant for warfare, not domestic use. That centers whiteness — evangelical christianity and white , straight, cis-men — as the definition of “true” American identity. As the “true” definition of safety and goodness. A perverse claim made by people who do not in fact care about the common good, including community safety.
In the name of morality and unity, systemic bullying in the schools and legislature
I turn my focus back to my original subject, selected back in January of this year, which concerns racist and anti-trans targeting of children in the schools.
Black, Indigenous, and other children of color, and transgender children, and all children, need to be seen, recognized, valued, respected in the schools, first and foremost by the adults — the teachers and administrators and assistants, whose responsibility is to uphold the value of inclusiveness and respect by their own actions, by the examples they set.
For adults in the schools simply to show indifference to children’s acts of bullying is to essentially encourage and perpetuate the bullying. Indifference is not neutral; it is an expression of tacit support. It does not interrupt; it does not teach what is good; it demonstrates and supports harmful behavior.
The systemic issues of racism exposed at Newberg High School in our state of Oregon is a local example of such harm. Last August, a majority of Newberg High School board members voted to “ban” Black Lives Matter and Pride signs on the grounds that they are allegedly divisive messages in a situation they claim is safe for “all” students. The inaccuracy of the claim was evident in the discovery in September that white students from Newberg High School were involved in a snap-chat “slave trade” activity, involving students from a number of states, targeting students of color. That same month, a Newberg High School employee showed up at the school in Blackface.
The Newberg School Board’s vote to ban “divisive” signs of solidarity with students of color and LGBTQ+ students showed that their definition of “all” only recognizes identities — straight, white — validated by a dominant and oppressive culture. Harm done to those whose identities are different clearly did not matter to these board members. Literally, the board members did not see these students. They did not care to see them. Their action was one of erasure, a form of gaslighting that facilitates and emboldens the targeting of vulnerable students.
Texas provides a clear example of systemic bullying that takes the form of legislation targeting transgender kids and their families, as stated in the article “Analysis: Texas officials bully transgender kids for political points” [Texas Tribune, March 11, 2022, ]:
“Check out the definition of illegal bullying in the Texas Education Code: ‘Bullying means a single significant act or a pattern of acts by one or more students directed at another student that exploits an imbalance of power and involves engaging in written or verbal expression, expression through electronic means, or physical conduct …
Substitute ‘elected officials’ for the first instance of ‘students,’ and it’s evident what’s going on here ….” (italics by author of this story)
About the Texas governor and attorney general’s decision to consider gender-affirming medical care as child abuse, a mother of a transgender child asks:
“How is that considered child abuse to accept them and love them?”
“How can they overstep their power and try to come and tell me how I should love my child?”
The priorities of Texas governor Greg Abbott and attorney general Ken Paxton are clear — they believe they have a winning issue that will allow them to keep their power after the next election. That’s their priority — keeping their power.
That Texas families were starting to be investigated at the time of the above article’s publication as a consequence of these politicians’ focus on a “hot issue” that will get them Republican votes shows abuse of power and dehumanization in its most insidious form — the effort to encode abuse as law.
Meanwhile, in Texas classrooms themselves are the teachers, assistants, and administrators, who do not defend those targeted because of their identities, who behave as if nothing is happening, who act against signs of inclusion.
Those teachers who do have the courage to stand up for inclusivity are driven out, as reported in the following article from NBC News, “Texas school plans to oust a teacher who fought for LGBTQ rainbow stickers” [April 7, 2022 ]:
Several students said that either they or their classmates have been called homophobic slurs and bullied, and school staff members have failed to intervene. Some said they’re discouraged by the Irving Independent School District’s response to the concerns they’ve raised through the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) and school board meetings, and they feel less safe at school than they did a year ago. Two students said human resources officers with the district questioned them about their involvement with the GSA.
“It feels like a target was put on us,” said Adaiah Knight, a junior who identifies as gender-fluid and who said students have harassed them. (Knight uses they/them pronouns.)
Shelley Luther, currently running for the GOP nomination for Texas House of Representatives, states: “It’s not fair kids can’t bully trans students.” [dallas voice, February 9, 2022]. Her statement, and the rationale behind it, would be simply bizarre and pathetic — evidence of blatant, uninformed bias — were she not actually a GOP candidate, with people supporting her.
What is happening with particular visibility in Texas is state sanctioned bullying, reflected in classrooms, impacting and harming children and their families. Terrifying families who love their kids because they love their kids.
And now, even after the worst mass shooting in the history of Texas, it appears that Governor Abbott will continue to defend lax gun laws. His priorities are devastatingly clear.
Recognizing and acting on the truth: interrupting and putting an end to white nationalism’s ongoing assault on our humanity and democracy
Where is our political will for humanity and justice?
The corruption of white supremacy and patriarchy is tightening its grip. We must not let this become the norm where we live, in this country. We must not relent — we are all impacted by this harm. We must be involved and speak up and vote for true equity, for reasonable gun laws; we must fight dehumanization, dismantle racism within ourselves and in our systems, and defend democracy. We must defend our children against the death culture of white nationalism.
-Carter, SURJ Springfield-Eugene Messaging Committee
SOURCES:
Texas Tribune, March 11, 2022: https://www.texastribune.org/2022/03/11/texas-transgender-politics/?utm_source=articleshare&utm_medium=social
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lgbtq-students-texas-school-rainbow-stickers-rcna23208
Dallas Voice, February 9, 2022: https://dallasvoice.com/shelley-luther-its-not-fair-kids-cant-bully-trans-students/
