Keywords: racism, fascist, white nationalism

Title: The New White Nationalism In America

Author/Artist: Carol M. Swain

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Media: Book

Reviewer: Pan
Despite the title, this is not a book primarily about the sects that populate the extreme Right in America, although there is certainly some coverage of these groups. The book delivers more than that, it is an intelligent and challenging look at racial politics in the United States (and by extension in the rest of the developed world). It is a brutally honest book that many liberals will violently object to, particularly as Carol Swain seriously challenges the dogma that has become the liberal consensus on race.

It's important to acknowledge that Swain's background informs much of what she writes about. Poor, black and a single-mother, she has followed an unorthodox trajectory into academia. This unusual journey through education means that she writers from a perspective that is markedly different to many of those write about race and class. Given this background, it is all the more laudable that she dares to stand up and state opinions that many fear to express in case they are labelled as racist. When she states that it is time for an honest dialogue in race she means it, in stark contrast to many commentators who are paralysed by fear of causing offence or terrified of being labelled as fascists or racists.

The starting position of the book is that there is a new generation of activists and thinkers emerging on the far-Right. Correctly she understands that it is not the explicitly neo-Nazi sects which are dangerous, but those on the far-Right who have swapped the boot for the suit. To this end Swain looks at a number of groups and individuals in an effort to understand the issues that motivate them, how they operate, who they appeal to and so on. It is this section of the book that gives it its title. Specifically she looks at a range of groups, from the outright neo-Nazis such as the World Church of the Creator and the National Alliance at one end of the spectrum, to the National Association for the Advancement of White People to anti-black Jews such as Michael Levin and Michael H. Hart.

This is all interesting enough, but there is little here that is new (or which can't be gleaned from a bit of web surfing), and for anybody already interested in the politics of the far-Right it is all familiar stuff. What is different is that Swain does not suffer the usual liberal reaction to the ugly face of fascist politics - there is no wringing of hands, knee-jerk reactions or a resort to vitriolic name-calling. What makes the book interesting is that she is willing to listen to what these racists have to say. She wants to understand what it is that drives people into the welcoming arms of the far-Right. In doing so she differs significantly from most liberal academics or commentators, but there is more than a simple willingness to listen.

Taking seriously the concern that motivate people to support racist parties or policies, Swain homes in on a number of issues that are primary: crime, affirmative action and immigration. It is on these issues - all of them controversial and notable for not being openly discussed in the media - that Swain takes a stand.

Her discussion of crime is notable in that she doesn't duck the race angle. For example she addresses the US statistics on crime and admits that black-on-white crime is at epidemic levels. If these were white-on-black crime statistics there would be no doubt that the media would be discussing racial violence, however as things stand it's only the far-Right who point out the racial nature of much of this black-on-white crime. It is not just the bourgeois media who shy away from the issue, the liberal Left is just as guilty, perhaps even more so in that they are the first to accuse others of being racist. Can it really be racist to discuss these issues? Citing racial disadvantage as a way of explaining away the issues just isn't good enough. Aside from some sections of the Anarchist movement, Red Action and the Independent Working Class Association (IWCA), crime and anti-social behaviour are simply not issues that the Left is interested in, despite the fact that it is high on the list of issues that concern large sections of the population. It should not need pointing out that crime is a hot-topic with the Le Pen's Front National and the BNP in this country.

Carol Swain does more than just take a dispassionate look at the statistics, she quotes particularly horrific crimes where there was a clear racial element, but where the police and media did not even acknowledge it because the victims were white and the perpetrators were black. Again it is only the far-Right who are willing to discuss these crimes, therefore it is they who appear to be standing up for 'their' community. To her credit, Swain does more than state the facts, she also attacks those in her own community who turn a blind-eye to anti-white or anti-Semitic violence. We should all be clear on this matter - there is no excuse for racist violence, no matter who the perpetrators are.

Another major cause of racial dissension, particularly in the States, is the issue of positive discrimination/affirmative action. College admission procedures, in particular are highly controversial and represent an important issue that the Right is capitalising on. While this is less of an issue in the UK, the distribution of scarce resources along racial lines remains a key issue that the BNP has used to garner support.

Swain examines the issue in considerable detail, looking at it from the perspective both of the 'winners' and the 'losers'. She concludes, ultimately that the key beneficiaries of affirmative action are middle class ethnic minorities and those white professionals in the 'anti-racist' bureaucracy. It also, she notes, has a negative impact on black students - who perceive that they do not need to try as hard to get into college, and who are perceived in turn as gaining admission entirely because of their colour regardless of their abilities. Interestingly, in a series of questions around a set of college admission scenarios featuring black and white students of differing grades, the majority of people that were polled - both black and white - supported admission procedures that were based on economic background, not race. While the book does not frame this response in explicitly class terms, that is precisely what it is.

As an issue, Swain's ultimate feeling about affirmative action is simple:

Whatever benefits affirmative action may have conferred in the past - and it can be argued that they are sizable - it now seems undeniable that, on balance, current policies of racial preferences are a negative force in American society, and that they threaten to undermine public support for racial justice…
Swain also takes to task the current generation of black American 'leaders'. Again she does not make the issue explicit in class terms, but instead she quotes Dinesh D'Souza's comment that:

even if racism were to disappear overnight, the worst problems facing black America would persist.
These problems are crime, poverty and social disintegration - problems that do not afflict the middle classes of whatever race. Instead of concentrating on these, she points out that:

… the more prominent black leaders have concentrated their limited resources on fighting symbolic issues such as the removal of the Confederate flag or racial reparations for slavery, thereby losing allies by infuriating many moderate whites.
While there is much that is good in this book, there are also many points to disagree with. Swain's faith in the power of religion to heal discord and bind communities is either incredibly naïve or wilfully blind to the role of religion as a sower of discord and division. And her comments on September 11 place her squarely in the mainstream of patriotic middle America.

However these disagreements aside, this is a book that challenges the dominant liberal consensus, It dares to suggest that people turn to fascism not because they are inherently bad, but because they are denied a voice or because they find nobody else willing to speak out on their behalf. At the moment there are too few people on the Left willing to say the things that have to be said. It is a disaster to allow people like the Anti-Nazi League to speak on our behalf. What we need is the kind of debate that the likes of the IWCA have started. If this books adds another voice to that debate than so much the better.

Hit the 'back' key in your browser to return to subject index page

Return to home page