The Values of Classical Liberalism in the Charlottesville, Virginia Protests

Messages of Reconciliation and Extremism: Classical Liberalism in Charlottesville

Introducing the Racial Dynamic

This paper is an analysis of the white nationalist community—involved in the 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia statute removal protest—existing as a bigoted collective, espousing extremist messages. This can be viewed in contrast with mainstream American culture, particularly among the Millennial generation, which is increasingly integrative and sponsors messages of reconciliation. The recent increase in white nationalist activity is indicative of the minority culture’s perspective that it is being oppressed by classical liberalism—notably by its facet that “Each person, and each person alone, is seen as ultimately responsible for his or her own achievement of status” (Kim, 1999, p. 597).

Racially-charged perception of liberty and despotism has been a longstanding motif in American history (Kim, 1999, p. 592). Beginning with the forced importation and enslavement of Africans, to the era of segregation and Jim Crow laws against African Americans, to the Civil Rights movement, and so forth, race has been a prominent social dynamic. Kim (1999) relays the accurate assumption that “social ideology as it is practised in everyday life is inherently dilemmatic” (p. 593). In modern America, there is an extremist faction of the political right wing that believes that Whites are being oppressed due to the mainstream culture being progressive and accommodating of those systematically disadvantaged by historical conduct.

In reference to Figure One (Kim, 1999, p. 593), White Nationalists at Charlottesville engaged in the “Communicator” layer by holding torches and weapons when they gathered in Virginia. These weapons were a means of symbolically communicating the community’s anger, hatred, and desire for violence. Furthermore, marching in the streets of Charlottesville fulfills the “Situation” layer, as marching is the culture’s means of message salience. By marching through the city instead of staying centralized, the community was able to have its collective voice heard by all. Finally, the “Environment” layer is realized by noting the perpetual racial dynamic in the United States and how White Nationalists feel marginalized by popular efforts to achieve systemic racial equality.

Millennials as a Culture of Reconciliation

Kim (1999) characterizes ideological reconcilers by noting: “They reflect the struggle of mainstream Americans to seek moderation, tolerance, accommodation, integration, and balance, as well as ambivalence and even contradiction” (p. 601). This incorporates the dimension of classical liberalism called status equality: “a demand for equal results in the interest of emancipation'' oroppressed'' groups” (Kim, 1999, p. 599). This aspect of liberalism was the driving force in the progressive agenda to remove statues that glorify historic slaveholders and traitors to the United States from cultural spheres such as public parks. “I’m thrilled. Their protests convey strength and grace, and remind me that there is a more equal, more multicultural future worth fighting for, one that people are indeed fighting for and that I can too.” (Cauley, 2017, at large). Millennials seek the reconciliation of aspersions casted on racial minorities throughout American history, and are activist in nature, as were previous generations’ in their reconciliation efforts—like Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement (Kim, 1999, p. 601).

White Nationalists as Extremist Bigots

On the outskirts of American culture is the uproarious White Nationalist (or White Supremacist) community. Kim (1999) details extremists in noting that they “frequently express a preference for a maximum ingroup-outgroup separation” (p. 603), and provides the historic example of the Ku Klux Klan. The YouTube news show, Secular Talk, hosted by Millennial Kyle Kulinski, points out in his video Stunning Pics From White Supremacíst Gathering In Charlottesville that there were members of the KKK participating with the White Nationalists in Charlottesville (Kulinski, 2017, 6:08). This displays the White nationalist community at Charlottesville as being an archetype of racially-motivated extremists.

Furthermore, Kim (1999) states “Although not always explicit, separatist views can be easily inferred from the inflammatory rhetorical devices employed to condemn or scapegoat an outgroup or position the ingroup as ``victims''” (p. 603-604). Also seen and heard in Kyle Kulinski’s video is a crowd of White Nationalists in Charlottesville chanting derogatory remarks such as “White lives matter” and “Fuck you, faggots” (Kulinski, 2017, 0:14-0:45. Here, it is once more seen that White Nationalists conduct themselves in accordance with Kim’s description of ideological extremists.

Moreover, extremist bigots, such as White Nationalists, do not have high regards for liberal values, including individuality and systemic equity. Kim (1999) relays that “While recognizing the existence of infinite individual dierences, individualism stresses a universalistic view of human nature presupposing social categories such as ethnicity” (p. 592). In his video, Kulinski quotes the manifesto of Vanguard America, a White Nationalist organization which held members at the Charlottesville protest. The manifesto states that “A government based in natural law must not cater to the false notion of equality” (Kulinski, 2017, 4:58-5:02). Kim (1999) mentions that extremist groups are frequently faced with counter-ideologies. “It is not surprising, then, that separatist arguments do not resonate with the American public at large and, instead, are usually met with messages of rejection of one kind or another” (p. 604). Actually, a major development in the Charlottesville protest is the fact that there were many counter-protesters in support of racial equality and social justice. “As the alt-right crowd started to disperse, I followed them further down Market Street and saw the most significant organized group of counterprotestors I had seen all day. They were locked arm in arm, chanting, waving flags and signs. Some were shouting “Get out of our town!” at the alt-right as they marched” (Ciambotti, 2017, at large). This portrays the mainstream culture and its dominance over peripheral ideologies.

Takeaway

The history of American culture is distinguishably racial, and there is still much room for progress. However, it is the mainstream of the modern American culture that engages in communication that increases racial inclusion, and pursues systemic equality. While bigoted extremists must be taken seriously, their culture is not representative of American society at large, and liberal values will continue to prevail as a guidestone for American cultural progress.

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References

Cauley, K. (2017). Trump’s Racist Tweets. My Growing Patriotism. Opinion. The New York Times. December 3.

Ciambotti, I., Gobar, W., Frazier, A.A., Chia, L., Sines, E., Rostami, N., and Novak, B. (2017).
What U.Va. Students Saw in Charlottesville. Opinion. The New York Times. August 13.

Kim, Y.Y. (1999). Unun and Pluribus: Ideological Underpinnings of Interethnic Communication
in the United States. Int. J. Intercultural Rel. Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 591-611. Elsevier Science
Ltd. University of Oklahoma, USA. PII: S0147-1767(99)00011-5.

Kulinski, Kyle. (2017). Stunning Pics From White Supremacíst Gathering In Charlottesville.
Secular Talk. August 14.