Far-Right groups have used White Supremacy as a means to recruit vulnerable people and in many cases, incite them into acts of terror.
Understanding how this happens is crucial, and takes more empathy and patience than many might be capable of.
It can also be dangerous to approach White Supremacists, as many are radicalized enough to perpetuate violence against those that they disagree with.
How It Works
Many white supremacists may start off sympathetic to the struggles of POCs and immigrants. However, they often fall into information bubbles that warp their views on race, religion, and politics.
There are many different White Supremacist groups that vary in size, intensity, culture, and rhetoric. Most, however, follow a similar pattern of radicalization and recruitment, mirroring the way cult ideology spreads.
Leaders of White Supremacy groups target and indoctrinate people, especially men, who are suffering financially and emotionally. Not only do they provide them with community and purpose, they even conduct pseudo-religious ceremonies to invoke a sense of higher purpose and lend religious fervor to their mission.
Many White Supremacists initially identify as “Christian” or “American” with some European lineage. However, they are encouraged to proudly embrace an all-encompassing “white” identity that they believe progressive movements seek to undermine through terms like DEI, white privilege, and colonizer.
They are made to believe that there is a organized, long term effort to wipe out the “white” race, the first step of which involves racial integration and multiculturalism.
Once they are convinced that their “race” is under attack, they can be manipulated into holding increasingly extremist views.
The primary fear is that other “races” will eventually take power and subjugate “whites.” They are told that if they do not act immediately, it will soon be too late to take action. This urgency is often a factor in perpetrator decisions to engage in mass shootings and domestic terrorism.
Part of this process involves attributing modern success of society to “whiteness” and non-white cultures as inferior, undeveloped, dangerous, and even subhuman. They also utilize a perceived threat to “white women” to further radicalize their base.
Over the years, White Supremacists have used countless channels like newspapers, pamphlets, books, and social media platforms to to propagate their ideas.
These channels often perpetuate false narratives and glorify violence against blacks, women, Muslims, Jews, and queer people.
Why Is White Supremacy So Prevalent?
The promotion of White Supremacy is used as a political tool to distract voters in white-majority countries from unpopular policies. White Supremacy unites a sizable portion of the population politically against minorities who are used as scape goats for social and economic problems they all experience.
White Supremacy can also be used as a means to justify destructive/exploitative foreign policies that help the ruling class acquire more wealth and power.
White Supremacy addresses the needs of those society shuns. They congregate in toxic environments, bonding over perceived similarities in race, gender, beliefs, and interests like guns, video games, and humor.
In these unmoderated, toxic spaces, young people are casually desensitized to violence and social taboos. They begin to believe they are more enlightened than others since they freely discuss what society forbids.
White Supremacy, Nazism, and Eugenics are all topics that people begin to discuss and believe in. Aspects of their identity are reinforced and they feel as if they are a part of a bigger underground movement that will soon take the world by storm.
Deprogramming
Many White Supremacists have reformed and renounced their previous lifestyles.
One of the main steps is to recognize that the fear that fuels the movement -the fear that “non-whites” want to eliminate the “white” race- is false, and that it severely limits the kind of life they can lead.
Their Fears Are False
Many White Supremacists were taught using examples and statistics, (as well as conspiracy theories) that seemingly support the idea of “white erasure.”
Providing them with facts, statistics is not always an effective way to change their mind, as they will often deflect with counter examples. In any case, many will believe that the facts you provide are unreliable pieces of propoganda.
To get at the core of the issue, we must address why White Supremacists were radicalized in the first place. Many have never interacted with racial/religious minorities – most of their beliefs are based on things they’ve read or were told.
Although they may act in ways that seem unforgivable, we must understand that it is because they have no reason to believe that other groups of people do not have malicious intent.
Unfortunately, when we react with anger, or even call for violence against them, we reaffirm their beliefs. They were told to expect it after all.
They often need to see, with their own eyes, that the information they receive is not accurate, that there is no hidden agenda. They need to see that humans are naturally kind, intelligent, and compassionate; that race is not a factor.
This process is not instant. Even if they are wrong, we should not immediately disparage or humiliate them. If you choose to engage, demonstrate patience and ask questions that get at the core of their beliefs.
Other Considerations
White Supremacists are also often isolated before they come into the movement, so many of the people they know and spend time with are also a part of the movement. By leaving the movement, they have to leave a community that had provided them with the social support they had long lacked.
Unfortunately, some White Supremacists are not capable of good faith arguments, and may use online/in-person interactions as a means to troll and spread their ideology. You should always take precaution whenever you deal with strangers online, especially when dealing with far-right trolls.