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Race and White Privilege
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Give a succinct explanation of the rise of white nationalism and the increase in the visibility of hate groups in the United States, after the election of Donald Trump
Donald Trump personified prejudice against particular racial and ethnic groups in his political campaign which led to a rise in white nationalistic rhetoric of the American public. After his election to the highest office in the country, he took policy decisions that targeted specific groups of people like the ‘Muslim’ travel ban. This prejudice against an entire community of 1.7 billion people based purely on a misplaced notion with no evidence led to a general anti-Muslim rhetoric among his supporters. This has inevitably led to an increase in number of hate groups and their activity, leading to stereotyping of all individuals of the group.
During the Charlottesville clashes, Trump’s failure to condemn racist groups and their activities could have been perceived by members of hate groups and white nationalistic groups as a tacit approval of their actions. Since stereotyping is usually associated with minority groups, it gives white nationalists a strong message that they can continue their hate-based activities with impunity. This also emboldens their belief that white people are inherently better than people of other races, a concept known as racism in Sociology. When the President of the United States refuses to condemn people and groups who are racist and prejudiced, it leads to an increase in implicit bias of white people: they unconsciously assume that some groups of people are less intelligent or more violent.
Due to this, white nationalist groups have grown in number since the election of Donald Trump and black nationalist groups have surged as a reaction. It is important to note the rising immigration in USA which has been perceived by Americans as a threat. Some people believe that their way of life and their employment opportunities have become scarce as a result – the Frustration-aggression theory – and this false belief pushed them towards white nationalism, leading to an increase in the number of hate based groups.
REFERENCES
Racial/Ethnic Prejudice & Discrimination: Crash Course Sociology #35. (2019). YouTube. Retrieved 10 April 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSddUPkVD24
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