“We’re here tonight because we’ve got immigration problems spiralling out of control”, decried Derek Vinyard to an audience of white supremacists in the 1998 Hollywood drama American History X. “They treat us like criminals while they reward them with jobs and welfare checks. And it’s only getting worse. Look at our country. It’s a haven for criminals and every problem in this country is ‘race’ related, not just crime. Minorities don’t care about this country! They’re here to exploit; not embrace.”
American History X is an important film in light of the rise in racial tensions and police brutality in modern day America. The film looks at racism from the perspective of a white supremacist that is desperate to put his past behind him and prevent his younger brother from the dangers that led him down the same destructive path. Empire Film Magazine describes American History X as “a terrifying look at the humanity implicit in hatred” and it’s easy to see why. In the following monologue the protagonist’s younger brother summarises contemporary white supremacy ideology:
“I hate everyone that isn’t white Protestant because they’re a burden to the advancement of the white race. I hate this hip hop influence on white suburbia. I hate Hilary Clinton and all of her Zionist MTV pigs telling us we should get along. Save the rhetorical bullshit honey, it ain’t gonna happen.”
White supremacy culture has long lurked in the dark corridors of American history in one guise or another. The Alt Right Movement is the latest instalment of extreme white nationalist ideology. That Hilary Clinton was the candidate that the Alt Right portrayed as the corrupt establishment figure that needed overthrowing in the recent US Presidential Election is prescient. And such oratory about immigration and the perceived failure of multiculturalism in the twenty first century would not seem out of place at a Trump rally where divisive identity politics defined Trump’s success.
Trump’s election was essentially a backlash against the demographic and cultural shift that made it possible for Americans to elect the first black president. The politics of “Yes We Can!”, with all the hope and optimism it oozed, quickly rescinded into spiteful angst and bitter regret embedded in the slogan “Make America Great Again”. It was a slogan that resonated so well with much of the white-working class electorate but what exactly does it mean? And when did America stop being great?
Richard Spencer, Director of The National Policy Institute, believes America stopped being great in 1965 when the Immigration and Nationality Act 1965 shifted America’s immigration policy towards multiculturalism. Prior to 1965, net migration was kept at neutral levels which, Spencer argues, was designed to maintain the racial and cultural balance of country. The years of 1924 – 1965 were also seen as a period of great economic prosperity for America (hence the “Make America Great Again“).
Spencer, also the founder of the Alt Right movement, calls for the restoration of homogeneous societies instead of the heterogeneous societies we are accustomed to in the twenty first century. The Alt Right movement advocates an immigration policy that prefers white Europeans because, Spencer claims, they are closer to the core of US identity.
Trump’s election has energised the white supremacist movement well documented in Tony Kaye’s ‘American History X’. Trump’s appointment of Steve Bannon as chief strategist has legitimised the Alt Right Movement. Bannon was the former Chairman of Breitbart News and has described the right wing news website as the “platform for the Alt Right”. On the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, a poster referred to Bannon as “our man in the White House.” According to Breitbart’s own “guide to the alt-right,” they’re “unapologetically embracing a new identity politics that prioritizes the interests of their own demographic.”
It was previously a fringe movement, but given Trump’s victory in the election, the Alt Right is fast establishing itself as the mainstream of the political right. Trump is the rebranding of white nationalism. Trump’s supporters consisted of overwhelmingly white working class males. 63 per cent of white men voted for Trump. Compare this to the 80 per cent of black men and 93 per cent of black women who did not. Trump went hard for the white vote and won. America is a wounded, divided nation. Trump abandoned large sections of ethnic minorities with his divisive rhetoric about building walls and banning Muslims and it worked. Is “Make America Great Again” just another way of saying “Make America White Again”?
Beyond the building of walls and the banning of Muslims, the Alt Right movement so crucial to Trump’s success see legal immigration as the root problem, let alone illegal immigration. The Alt Right Movement perceive multiculturalism and diversity as conspiracies designed to undermine the white race. They portray themselves as the vanguard in this battle to restore white privilege.
It is this same perceived danger to the White-European race that motivated Anders Brevik to kill 77 people in the deadliest attack in Norway since World War II. And it was this same ideology that motivated Thomas Mair to murder Jo Cox in cold blood. White supremacy is fast becoming a major problem for Western nations and it can no longer be ignored. The election of Donald Trump is part of the same movement but with much wider consequences.
‘American History X’ addresses America’s white supremacy movement with brutal honesty and sinister foresight. In its grisly exploration of the dark underbelly of American society, it has all the ingredients of a genuine horror film. Despite its candour and 118 minutes of squeamish tension, comfort was sought in the fact that it was, after all, a piece of fiction. Fast forward eighteen years however and the bogeyman may well have crept out of our screens and into the White House.
Syed Aun Mohammed 