A long-standing issue in America is racism with Caucasians historically being the dominant race. Although racism is not as severe of an issue as it was in the past, even today there is still a population of people, known as White Supremacists, that believe Christian Caucasians are supreme over all other collective groups. There are many White Supremacist groups, which have nuances among them. For example, some are politically focused trying to only have certain officials elected, while others are religiously focused trying to further their religious ideals. Some are even radical as well going so far as to harass and even murder those who are not like them. One of the groups focusing specifically on religion is the Aryan Nations. Aryan Nations, a religiously driven, American white supremacist group, perverts biblical text to rationalize their beliefs for themselves and recruitment of more members. Members of the Aryan Nations believe in racism, segregation, and have acted on their beliefs.
The Aryan Nations use biblical references to rationalize and justify racism. The Aryan Nations was founded in 1977 by Richard Butler. Butler’s beliefs were inspired by Wesley Swift, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ Christian. In Wesley Swift’s “The Children of the Beast”, he gives general, dubious biblical references and uncantonized books of the Bible to use as evidence for explaining his racist beliefs. Explained by catholicbible101.com, “uncantonized” books of the Bible are the 7 books of the Old Testament that are excluded from protestant versions of the Bible. In “Children of the Beasts”, Swift explains that when God referred to,” all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the gr...
... middle of paper ...
...p-1/encoded/Oi8vd3d3LmFyeWFuLW5hdGlvbi5vcmcvZHJfc3dpZnQuaW5kZXguaHRtbA%3D%3D
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/celtsmyth/tp/010209celticgods.htm http://norse-mythology.org/ http://archive.adl.org/learn/ext_us/aryan_nations.html http://www.spokesman.com/topics/aryan-nations/ http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/aryan-nations http://www.kxly.com/news/Aryan-Nations-attempting-return-to-North-Idaho/-/101270/696056/-/12vxayx/-/index.html http://vault.fbi.gov/Aryan%20Nation http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=us_domestic_terrorism_tmln&haitian_elite_2021_organizations=us_domestic_terrorism_tmln_aryan_nations http://hurt2healingmag.com/hate-crime-charges-against-members-of-the-aryan-nation/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/29/kkk-aryan-nations-idaho_n_3670686.html http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/terrorism/wrjp255a.html
Steven Dietz’s play “God’s Country,” presents a full range of racial hatred. The play follows the true story of a white supremacist group similar to Nazi’s that operated in the United States in the 1980s.
They hated anyone who was not a white Christian, and would go as far as to kill anyone who was not. This group is the Ku Klux Klan. This group of people were known primarily for their very Nazi-based ideologies, which in turn, they ended up murdering many who were not white, or even burning down the homes and business’ of those who weren’t. They were strongly against the progressive movement of the American Government toward the African American people. Although today this group has lost many in numbers, there are still a surprisingly large amount of people who are part of
Hooded Americanism: The First Century of the Ku Klux Klan: 1865 to the Present by David Chalmers records the history of the Ku Klux Klan quite bluntly, all the way from its creation following the civil war, to the early 1960’s. The author starts the book quite strongly by discussing in detail many acts of violence and displays of hatred throughout the United States. He makes a point to show that the Klan rode robustly throughout all of the country, not just in the southern states. The first several chapters of the book focus on the Klan’s creation in 1865. He goes on to discuss the attitude of many Americans following the United State’s Civil War and how the war shaped a new nation. The bulk of the book is used to go through many of the states, and express the Klan’s political influence on both the local and state governments. The author starts with Texas and Oklahoma, and goes through the history of the Klan geographically, finishing with New Jersey and Washington. The author stresses that the KKK did not just commit acts of violence towards minorities, but also carried political power. He continues to discuss the impact of the Klan on Civil Rights movements in the 1960’s, and various other important political controversies between the 1920’s and 1970’s. Towards the middle of the book, David M. Chalmers focuses on portraying the feelings of governments and state legislatures, as well as normal citizens towards the Klan. To do this more effectively, the author uses excerpts and quotes from editorials and newspapers, along with several dozen pictures. The conclusion of the book was used mainly as an overview of all of the major incidents and deaths involving the Klan, and how their persistence has allowed them to still exist today despite a lack of resources and support.
Race and religion are two concepts in American culture that can really tie people together, or clearly separate them apart. A group forged by strong common roots in both race and religion can be a powerful societal force, if it wants to be. The Nation of Islam is a small but growing religion in America that has become somewhat of a social movement because of its strong and radical ideas on race. In this paper, I will try to explore the beliefs of the Nation of Islam, and the ramifications it could and has had on racial relations in America. The Nation of Islam, or NOI, is a relatively new religion. The first temple of Islam was established in Detroit by Master Fard Muhammed in 1930. Much of the theology was based on the simple facts that: "Allah is god, the white man is the devil, and the so-called Negroes are the Asiatic black people, the cream of the earth."(1) And, in accordance with their bizarre view of creation, involving a mad scientist creating the white race from the black race, the twentieth century represents the time for black people to regain their rightful position as god¹s chosen people. (1) The Nation of Islam was spawned from Orthodox Islam, an age-old religion. However, Orthodox Islam has openly denounced the NOI as a heretic sect for three main reasons: the NOI¹s rejection of the belief in an afterlife, its tendency to view human leaders as deified figures, and its strong racist attitudes. (2) For a brief time, during the seventies, Wallace Deen Muhammed became the leader of the NOI and tried to take it in a new direction, more conforming to "true Islamic beliefs." This group is now called the American Muslim Mission and still exists in small numbers today. (1) ...
The American civil war was fought between 1861 and 1865. A civil war is a war fought between different regions within a country. The American Civil War was fought between the North and the South. Shortly after President Abraham Lincon was elected, eleven states in the south seceded from the union. After only being president for six weeks, Abraham Lincon declared these southern acts of succession as illegal. Lincon then requested that congress would allow him to use 500,000 soldiers to help crush the very threatening rebellion in the south. Massive sections in the south were destroyed in the process of the north attempting to regulate the south. Lands were destroyed along with social structure and economics. In 1862, Lincon began to liberate the slaves in the south. On January 1st, 1863, Abraham Lincon issued the emancipation proclamation. When the proclamation was issued it was clear that the war was now about slavery. The emancipation proclamation freed many slaves, but not all of them. It wasn’t until December in 1865 that the thirteenth Amendment was ratified. The thirteenth amendment states "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, nor any place subject to their jurisdiction."(US Constitution). When the slaves were freed, the southerners were frenzied because the slaves were their main way of achieving money. The hate towards the North caused a small group to transition into one of the largest hate groups in American history. The Ku Klux Klan was first formed in the town of Pulaski, Tennessee in the year 1865. The Ku Klux Klan first started as a fraternity group including six confederate veterans and lat...
Cries ring out in the dead of night from the black people of the southern states in Tennessee, as mysterious figures in white robes with hoods ride on their horses. To most they were thought of as the Confederate soldier’s ghosts riding and terrorizing the blacks. People wanted to know who these mysterious riders are and why they are terrorizing the black people of the south. Since they were wearing all white robes they could not tell their identity leading to more confusion. They became known as the Invisible Empire due to the fact that there were hundreds of them but nobody knew who they really were. Later in the Invisible Empires history we find out that these mysterious ghost riders are a part of the Ku Klux Klan. The Ku Klux Klan was an organization meant to preserve the southern way of life. They use forms of intimidation to scare the black people such as riding through the night on horses. It was first started as something for ex-confederate soldiers to do since they were not fighting the war anymore but soon these small threats and intimidation turned into a violent hate group. Through the Ku Klux Klan’s history we see its practices and beliefs evolve from a fun, social organization to a worldwide feared hate group.
Hitler not only assumes that Aryans are superior to all other races but that the German people believe this as well. He assumes that that the question of race superiority has already been answered. According to Annette T. Rottenberg’s The Structure of Argument, “if [a] writer makes a statement that assumes that the very question being argued has already been proved, [that] writer is guilty of begging the question” (291). Hitler proudly states, “All the human culture, all the results of art, science, and technology that we see before us today, are almost exclusively the creative product of the Aryan” (300). This statement, which he presents as if it is fact, is most certainly not true. He uses this fallacy to promote his agenda. He wants to take out the competition, most specifically the Jews, so that the Aryan race can dominate Germany and eventually the world. Hitler makes another statement which begs the question: “Nature subject[s] the weaker part to such severe living conditions that by them alone the number is limit...
Their beliefs can cause them to attack other groups verbally or in silence and even reaching to the point of violence. All of this occurs because we can’t be seen as a “people”, but rather like “species” that need to be classified. An example of racism due to race and ethnicity as categories of identity is seen in the article written by Daphne Eviatar entitled “Report Finds Widespread Discrimination against Latino Immigrants in the South.” In this particular case white supremacy groups discriminate Hispanics that are both legal and illegal in the southern states of America, portraying several theoretical concepts.
The Nation of Islam emerged as a very powerful organization during the 1960s. One of the Nation?s key goals was to create an independent Black America. It further preached about the White man as the devil, thus instilling faith within its followers that White society will be decimated, and Black society will prevail. Through these powerful messages, the Nation of Islam gave African-Americans a claim to divinity and created the notion of Black supremacy. However, in attempting to cement these ideas, the Nation of Islam?s message became extreme to the point of absurdity. While James Baldwin expounds on this irrationality in ?Down at the Cross?, he also understands and agrees with the underlying motivation behind the Nation?s absurd claims.
During the 1930’s the greatest form of racism took place against the Jew’s. A quote from Adolf Hitler, “I have in the course of my political struggle won much love from my people, but when I crossed the former frontier (into Austria) there met me such a stream of love as I have never experienced. Not as tyrants, but as liberators.” (qtd. Wiestenthal.org). This quote shows how people have different views on racism. Adolf Hitler describes how he was welcomed into a country while other struggled to end the genocide that he had started. Racists have the view, if people don’t belong, or are different then they are, they should not be allowed to participate or live in the same areas or even to live at all. Herman Goering was quoted in 1938 saying, “Kick out the Jews from the economy and turn them into debtors.” (qtd. Wiestenthal.org). Hitler’s followers began to do this before the Jews were sent to the concentration camps.
The article, “RACE AND ETHNICITY- CHANGING SYMBOL IS OF DOMINANCE AND HIERARCHY IN THE UNITED STATES” by Karen I. Blu is an exceptional work that clearly expounds on the racial and ethnic groups especially in America. Racial and ethnic groupings are gradually becoming popular in the public arena, in which people are shifting their focus on classifying other people on the basis of racial groupings to rather classifying them on the basis of ethnicity. Moreover, race grouping is slowly submerging into ethnic grouping with Black activism being the role player in this (Blu, 1979). The following is a summary of the aforementioned article in how it relates to racial and ethnic groups and response regarding its views.
This is not to say that neo-Nazis or skinheads do not partake in criminal hate activities. By far the largest determinant of hate crimes is racial bias, with African Americans the group at greatest risk. In 1996, 60%, were promulgated because of race, with close to two-thirds (62%) targeting African Americans. Furthermore, the type of crime committed against this group has not changed much since the 19th century; it still includes bombing and vandalizing churches, burning crosses on home lawns, and murder. Ethnic minorities often become targets of hate crimes because they are perceived to be new to the country even if their families have been here for generations, or simply because they are seen as different from the mainstream population.
Hitler begins this chapter by citing various illustrations of the situation in North America, Central and South America to prove how historically when the "Aryan blood has become mixed with that of inferior peoples
The major White Supremacy Groups: the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and the Aryan Nation, both claim the Bible, thus God, gives them the permission to hate. The Klan and Aryan Nation’s members proclaim themselves Christians, and followers of the teachings of the Bible, they declare, "Do not practice homosexuality; it is a detestable sin…Whoever does any of these detestable things will be cut off from the community of Israel.” (The New Living Translation, Leviticus 18:22,29) or "The penalty for homosexual acts is death to both parties. They have committed a detestable act and are guilty of a capital offense.”(The New Living Translation, Leviticus 20:13). They claim God justifies their actions against homosexuals in the previous passages. Yet, they overlook the other laws entailed in the same chapters of Leviticus, claiming they are outdated. Examples of these laws include, “do not eat meat not drained of its blood.” (NLT, Leviticus 19:26), “you must not defile yourself by eating any animal or bird or creeping creature that I have forbidden (i.e. pork).”(Leviticus 20:25) or “Never cut your bodies…or mark your skin with tattoos.”(Leviticus19:28). However, even if the KKK and Aryan Nation did follow all the laws of the Bible, they still would have no right to condemn homosexuals, because as written in the gospel of John, “They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, ‘All right, stone her. But let those who have never sinned throw the first stones!’” (John 8:7) No one, no matter how holy, is without sin. Furthermore, when the KKK refers to non-whites, they assume they are “an unholy coalition of anti-white, anti-Christian, liberal socialists” and imply that they are “savage…killers and rapists” (The Church of the American Knights, para. 1, 3) they break the cardinal rule, “Never seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:18). Finally and most importantly, they have forgotten kindness and forgiveness mandated in the words of the Bible, “Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
Recent happenings in history; For instance, the apartheid that was about the racial oppression that a contest of supremacy of races is traced to the religion of Christianity. Christian teachings of the gospel are totally opposed to domination or being subdued of one race by another. “The biblical understanding of racial differences has been taken out of context resulting to racism an issue Christianity is seeking to address to combat racism true to the Scripture”. Christianity itself places a duty on its faithful to object and protest against racism.