This might seem strange to any rational thinking person since no one is out there saying that it’s not okay to be white. But if you’re familiar with white supremacist movements, and the racist trolling campaigns of 4chan, then it probably comes as no surprise to anyone that Pauline would do such a thing.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) website, ““It’s okay to be white” has a long history in the white supremacist movement. The white power music band Aggressive Force used the phrase as the title of a song that dates back to 2001. Additionally, ADL has tracked white supremacist fliers featuring the phrase since 2005, and Klan groups have used #IOKTBW on Twitter since 2012″
It apparently regained popularity in 2017 after a 4chan campaign suggesting people print out the slogan and post it across university campuses in America. The idea of this, according to one 4chan user, was that, after posting the fliers, “The next morning, the media goes completely berserk.” People would see “that leftists & journalists hate white people, so they turn on them”, this would be a “massive victory for the right in the culture war” and “many more /ourguys/ [would be] spawned overnight.”
“It’s okay to be white” has a long history in the white supremacist movement.
So, rather than be surprised or angry that Pauline Hanson would move such a motion, I’m actually more surprised that the motion doesn’t include:
The real threat here is that which is intended by trolls and white supremacists alike, that it will attract and recruit more white people into white extremists beliefs and groups.
The faux-victimisation of whiteness; the idea that the ‘white race’ is under threat from immigration to the point where it might soon die out (hence, ‘white genocide’), was a campaign once only attractive to white supremacist movements. The basic idea was that openly saying you want to kill all the other races wasn’t the best recruitment strategy, so instead it was better to say that they were acting on the defensive, out of self-preservation.
The real threat here is that which is intended by trolls and white supremacists alike, that it will attract and recruit more white people into white extremists beliefs and groups.
As proving or even justifying this idea is pretty hard to do, as it’s racist nonsense, slogans like ‘It’s ok to be white’ are designed to validate it. ‘Leftists’ and People of Colour getting angry at what they see as an obvious racist campaign would be misunderstood by white people who would interpret the response as proof that people believe it’s not ok to be white – sowing the seeds for belief in ‘white genocide’ and the eventually conversion to full blown white supremacy.
Since the rise of the alt-right though, these ideas have begun to be normalised in media and political circles, much to the delight of white supremacists everywhere.
So, either Pauline Hanson is knowingly promoting a white supremacist slogan, or she has fallen victim to an online trolling campaign. Either way, it’s an embarrassment of which she, and all Australians, should feel ashamed.
This is what happens though when our media go to such great lengths to invite racists onto their shows. They get elected, and do dumb shit like this.
Can Counter-Storytelling Enact Black Justice? – (But why?)
This article is part of the Black Knowing series, a partnership with QUT’s Carumba Institute and IndigenousX. Jade Robertson explores, can telling our stories - truthfully, unapologetically - dismantle the systems that silence us?
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