Resisting White Supremacy | Kentuckians For The Commonwealth

Resisting White Supremacy

 

"We are working for a day ... when discrimination
is wiped out of our laws, habits and hearts"

– from KFTC's Vision Statement 

Kentuckians For The Commonwealth has a deep commitment to racial justice. We stand for refugees, immigrants, black lives and others who are oppressed and abused because of race, religion and other identities. At KFTC, we recognize that we are – all of us – bound together. We believe that we can build a bright future together and we are working for a day when "discrimination is wiped out of our laws, habits and heart."

Overcoming racism and halting the spiraling cycle of violence is an immense challenge we all face, a big one that is getting bigger in our current political climate. We are committed to not just react to hate, but to overcome it. At KFTC, we have put together this page of resources as a starting point for those looking for more information or ways to plug into the work of dismantling white supremacy. 

Information on white supremacy and white supremacist organizations

"The alternative-right, commonly known as white supremacy, is a set of far-right ideologies, groups and individuals whose core belief is that “white identity” is under attack by multicultural forces using “political correctness” and “social justice” to undermine white people and “their” civilization. Characterized by heavy use of social media and online memes, white supremacyers eschew “establishment” conservatism, skew young, and embrace white ethno-nationalism as a fundamental value."

SPLC categorizes the TWP as a hate group, describing them as, “...a white nationalist group that advocates for racially pure nations and communities and blames Jews for many of the world’s problems. Even as it claims to oppose racism, saying every race deserves its own lands and culture, the group is intimately allied with neo-Nazi and other hardline racist organizations that espouse unvarnished white supremacist views.” 

Luke O'brien, an investigative journalist, spent weeks with many on the “alt-right,” including the TWP and Matthew Heimbach. The article includes information about why the TWP is targeting Appalachia: “The Trump campaign has also unwittingly generated valuable intel. Heimbach and Parrott are using a map of Trump strongholds to target areas where white nationalism would play best. “If they’re ready to vote for Trump, they can’t be too far away from being ready to support a real nationalist party,” Heimbach reasoned. The TWP is focused on greater Appalachia and planning to conduct outreach in districts in West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee in anticipation of running local candidates in 2018.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center has put together a community response guide on ten ways to fight hate in your community.

After the events of Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017, many more rallies and events have been planned. "These events will provide an important barometer for the future of this movement, depending on how many people turn out, who those people are, and how they conduct themselves. For white supremacy, the coming weekend represents a critical test—which may reveal it gathering force, dissipating, or changing in significant ways."

A documentary crew from VICE News was embedded in with the organizers of the Charlottesville Unite the Right event. 

This database provides an overview of many of the symbols most frequently used by a variety of white supremacist groups and movements, as well as some other types of hate groups. 

The New York Times video decodes the symbols of hate that white supremacists, Nazis and white supremacy groups display at their marches, including the violent gathering in Charlottesville, Va.