Kathleen Belew, Associate Professor of History, has been featured many times over in the news lately to comment on the rise of white nationalist extremism, and, specifically, Trump’s meeting with white supremacist leader Nick Fuentes.
Belew, author of Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America, has studied how white power activists created a social movement through a common story about betrayal by the government, war, and its weapons, uniforms, and technologies. In the book, Belew explains that by uniting Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazi, skinhead, and other groups, the movement mobilized and carried out escalating acts of violence that reached a crescendo in the 1995 bombing of Oklahoma City.
“We now live in a world where these [white supremacist] activists are emboldened,” Belew said.
In recent weeks, Belew has appeared on MSNBC, WBEZ’s Reset, and been cited by The Washington Post and The New York Times to share her expert opinion on increasing political threats and violence, and Donald Trump hosting infamous white supremacist Nick Fuentes.
Belew warned of the danger of Trump and other political leaders giving white supremacists a platform and increased political power.
“The point is the seizure of power.” Belew said. “All of that violence against populations that are targeted by this movement and that is unleashed right now in a sort of ad hoc fashion would be unleashed in a much more systematic way if and when these people [white supremacists] begin to amass political power.”
Belew has also stressed the importance of facing white supremacy in this country, and what is at stake if it is left unchecked.
“This is going to take a full-scale social response that is not just about politics,” Belew said. “Do we care about harm to one another, or do we acc
ept it?”