Protecting Whiteness

Insights into the racialized fear of change in US society

The standoff at Cliven Bundy’s ranch, the rise of white identity activists on college campuses, and the viral growth of white nationalist videos on YouTube vividly illustrate the resurgence of white supremacy and overt racism in the United States. White resistance to racial equality can be subtle as well—like art museums that enforce their boundaries as elite white spaces, “right on crime” policies that impose new modes of surveillance and punishment for people of color, and environmental groups whose work reinforces settler colonial norms.

In this incisive volume, twenty-four leading sociologists assess contemporary shifts in white attitudes about racial justice in the US. Using case studies, they investigate the entrenchment of white privilege in institutions, new twists in anti-equality ideologies, and “whitelash” in the actions of social movements. Their examinations of new manifestations of racist aggression help make sense of the larger forces that underpin enduring racial inequalities and how they reinvent themselves for each new generation.

Cameron D. Lippard is professor and chair of sociology at Appalachian State University and coauthor with J. Scott Carter of The Death of Affirmative Action: Racialized Tactics and the Fight for College Admissions. J. Scott Carter is associate professor of sociology at the University of Central Florida. David G. Embrick is associate professor of sociology and Africana studies at the University of Connecticut and coeditor of Challenging the Status Quo: Diversity, Democracy, and Equality in the 21st Century.

Foreword by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva

Introduction. The Resurgence of Whitelash: White Supremacy, Resistance, and the Racialized Social System in Trumptopia

David G. Embrick, J. Scott Carter, and Cameron D. Lippard

Part I. The Ideological Reinforcement of White Supremacy

1. Post-Color Blindness? Trump and the Rise of the New White Nationalism

Ashley "Woody" Doane

2. The Unblackening: "White" License and the "Nice Racism" Trope

Johnny E. Williams

3. Polical Correctness: A Genuine Concern for Discussion or Slippery Language Rooted in Racial Animosity

J. Scott Carter and J. Micah Roos

4. Diversity Regimes: How University Diversity Initiatives Shape White Race Consciousness

James M. Thomas

Part II. The Reentrenchment of White Superiority in American Institutions

5. Institutional Racism Revisted: How Institutions Perpetuate and Promote Racism through Color Blindness

Charles A. Gallagher

6. Prison in the Street: What Market-Based Bipartisan Reform Means for Racial Stratification

Kasey Henricks and Bethany Nelson

7. Settler Culture and White Property: From the Bundy Ranch Standoff to the West Virginia Coalfields

Rebecca R. Scott

8. Local Immigration Enforcement: Shaping and Maintaining Policies through White Saviors and Economic Motivations

Felicia Arriaga

9. Recruiting White "Victims": White Supremacist Flyers on College Campuses

David Dietrich

10. The Whitening of South Asian Women

Bhoomi K. Thakore

11. Colorful Art, White Spaces: How an Art Museum Maintains White Spaces

Simon E. Weffer, David G. Embrick, and Silvia Dominguez

Part III. White Emotions, Expressions, and Movements

12. White Noise: How White Nationalist Content Creators Reproduce Narratives of White Power and Victimhood on YouTube

C. Doug Charles

13. Blue Lives Matter: Police Protection or Countermovement

Marette McDonald

14. Echoing Derrick A. Bell: Black Women's Resistance to White Supremacy in the Age of Trump

Marlese Durr

15. Solidarity and Struggle: White Antiracist Activism in the Time of Trump

Mary K. Ryan and David L. Brunsma

Conclusions. Where Do We Go from Here? Structural and Social Implications of Whitelash

J. Scott Carter, David G. Embrick, and Cameron D. Lippard

List of Contributors

Index