White Supremacy Before & After the Web Jessie Daniels, PhD Netroots Nation – July 16, 2016
White Supremacy Before & After the Web
Jessie Daniels, PhD Netroots Nation – July 16, 2016
Twitter: @JessieNYC
<my research>
Before & After the Internet
<1997>
qualitative content analysis
369 pub’s from 5 WS
organizations*
*(COTC, KKK, NAAWP, NSRP, Christian Identity
+ WAR)
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)
Two main arguments, first:
WS is gendered…
race & masculinity
Second argument:
WS is similar to mainstream rhetoric around race.
Access to Analog Documents Arduous
Started using technology in classes about ‘race’ in
1990s.
First student: typed in KKK.com into a search
engine.
Second student: typed in Martin Luther King into a
search engine.
Both searches led to white supremacist sites on
first page of results.
were my students being “recruited”?
no, but something was going on
my question: how to study this?
<2009>
qualitative content analysis
Registered users: 129,000**(November, 2008)
Registered users: 313,503**(July, 2016)
qualitative content analysis
and
qualitative content analysis
andquasi-
experimental with in-depth interviews
cloaked websites: intentionally disguising authorship in orderto conceal a political agenda
consistently appears on first page of results
evaluate pairs of websites
evaluate pairs of websites
Graphic Design
“This site looks like someone, you know, just
an individual created it. It doesn’t look very
professional.” (study participant, age 17)
“I mean, I don’t think I would disagree with it. I’m sure there are some slaves that were treated
well. So, I can understand their point of view.
There’s always two sides to everything.” (study participant, age 17)
Several arguments,
first: racism is changing
because of digital
technologies
WS rhetoric is easier to access,
global and more
participatory
The key issue is not
“recruitment” but rather
making hard-won moral & legal victories once again up
for debate.
what about the First Amendment?
we largely misunderstand what it protects
As a result, the U.S. is “haven for hate speech.”
In fact, there is“no constitutional protection for a burning cross” (SCOTUS, Virginia v. Black, 2003).
what is a burning cross in the digital era?
<2016>
White Supremacy Still Mainstream
Donald J. Trump, 2016White Aryan Resistance, 1997
Now, Easier to Share
Donald J. Trump, 2016White Aryan Resistance, 1997
Twitter: @JessieNYC
Thank You!