History of White Nationalist Groups

According to Google, 

White nationalism is a political ideology which advocates a racial definition of national identity for white people, as opposed to multiculturalism, and a separate all-white nation state. White separatism and white supremacism are subgroups within white nationalism.

As hard as I personally find it to encapsulate into words something such as an ideal or a belief, something not clearly written out, I don’t think Google did too bad of a job. However, in order to truly gain an understanding of the mind workings behind a white supremacist, you need to have at least scratch the surface toward understanding the history of the ideals themselves. White nationalism is a core belief of numerous subgroups such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Christian Identity Church, the Neo-Nazis, and many more, all of which share a lot of the same values however differing greatly in their histories. I’m going to further delve into the intermingling histories of these subgroups in particular because of their rise of popularity in the United States throughout history being much more prevalent and known.

I’ll begin with the infamous Ku Klux Klan. The Klan was founded in 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee and is notorious for being the most influential of white supremacist groups in the United States. It originally flourished through former veterans of the Confederate Army who were still in opposition to any progress or civil rights for among African Americans. Between 1869 and 1871, the Klan wreaked havoc on African Americans in the US, brutally murdering, torturing, harassing them, and much more. Upon the belief that the model future for whites was thought to be secured, the Klan began to dissolve back into society. Around the 20’s, a resurgence came out of the woodwork increasing  their number of members from five thousand to between four and five million. The new Klan intertwined new beliefs against anything other than those of European descent, incorporating more ethnic intolerance into their overall platform.  Throughout more downfalls and uprisings of the newly formed Klan, society began to realize that it tended to flourish and gain new members during economic downfalls. Today, the Klan is still very prevalent and active towards their ultimate goal of securing the future for whites that they want.

The Christian Identity Church is a branching group from the original Klan formed by Reverend Wesley Smith in the 1970’s. The ultimate goal of this church is to establish a white homeland in the northwest, and one common tactic that they use is religion. They warp and alter the bible itself into suiting their beliefs and use it as a key tool in gaining members and forwarding their movement. Recruiting new members to join as skin heads, their headquarters lies in Hayden Lake, Idaho, which hits a lot closer to home than some.

The Neo-Nazi party is also an extremely prevalent group in the United States. Stemming their overall beliefs back to the German Nazi party, the Neo-Nazi party was established in the US in 1958 by George Lincoln Rockwell. Skin heads have core principles that what Hitler did was completely justified and necessary in the security of the white man’s future. Throughout a history of changing names and the induction of a new leader, Matthew Koehl, the Neo-Nazis gained much recognition as being notoriously the most violent of white supremacist movements in the US. Targeting youth, typically through music, the group brings about a sense of brotherhood and security in often broken homes. 

Gangs, violence and crime has been prevalent in all three of the groups I have discussed, along with the innumerable other subgroups formed in the states today.And although this is, as I said, a small scratch on the surface of the history of such subgroups of white nationalism, I still hope it will help to gain a better grasp on where some ideologies and such may have come from looking back into their pasts.