Whiteness, Nationalism, and the U.S. Constitution: Constructing the White Nation through Legal Discourse

Abstract

Overt expressions of White nationalism and White supremacy are once again mainstream in U.S. politics. Social movements advancing racist and nativist policies often do so through the language of constitutional rights, appealing to the Founding Fathers to advance exclusionary politics. Studying the legal discourse of conservative activists reveals the ideological work of law in buttressing White proprietary claims to the nation. This article investigates the Constitution as a key text and symbol in the current struggle over the hegemony of White supremacy in the United States. Examining the interpretive work of constitutional educators and online commenters, this study performs a discursive analysis of the racial ideology embedded within a conservative constitutional discourse. Tracing this constitutional discourse across multiple platforms and political projects, I find that this constitutional discourse maintains a commitment to White supremacy while disavowing its explicit logic of racial superiority. To conclude, I suggest that rights claims function as territorial claims and can serve as vehicles for restricting, rather than expanding, state membership. As such, geographers interested in populism and nationalism should attend to the way in which rights claims are enrolled in nationalist politics.

公开地表述白人民族主义和白人至上, 再次成为美国政治的主流。推动种族主义和本土主义政策的社会运动, 往往以宪法权利的名义来实现, 呼吁开国元勋们推动排外政治。研究保守派活动家的法律陈述, 可以揭示法律在支持白人主张国家所有权的意识形态作用。宪法是当前美国白人霸权斗争中的重要文献和标志。本文对宪法进行了研究。探讨了宪法教学者和网络评论者的诠释工作。采用表述分析方法, 研究了保守宪法表述中的种族意识形态。通过追踪多个平台和政治项目的宪法表述, 本文发现, 该表述保留了白人至上的承诺, 同时也否认了种族优越性的显性逻辑。本文最后认为, 权利主张是通过领土主张来实现的, 权利主张是限制而不是扩大国家成员资格的工具。因此, 对民粹主义和民族主义感兴趣的地理学家, 应该关注权利主张在民族主义政治中的体现方式。

Las expresiones abiertasde nacionalismo blanco y supremacía blanca nuevamente hacen parte actualizada de la política norteamericana. Los movimientos sociales que promueven políticas racistas y nativistas a menudo lo hacen echando manos a un lenguaje de derechos constitucionales, apelando a la invocación de los Padres Fundadores para atizar políticas excluyentes. Al estudiar el discurso legalista de los activistas conservadores se revela el manejo ideológico de la ley para apuntalar a su favor los reclamos blancos que formulan a la nación. Este artículo investiga la Constitución como texto clave y símbolo en la contienda actual sobre pretensiones hegemónicas de la supremacía blanca en los Estados Unidos. Examinando el trabajo interpretativo de los educadores constitucionales y comentaristas en red, este estudio realiza un análisis discursivo de la ideología racial incrustada dentro de un discurso constitucional de tinte conservador. Siguiéndole la pista a este discurso constitucional a través de múltiples plataformas y proyectos políticos, encuentro que aquél mantiene un compromiso en favor de la supremacía blanca al tiempo que desecha su lógica explícita de superioridad racial. Para concluir, sugiero que los reclamos por derechos funcionan como los reclamos territoriales, y pueden servir como vehículos para restringir, más que para expandir, la pertenencia estatal. En tales términos, los geógrafos interesados en populismo y nacionalismo deben poner cuidado al modo como los reclamos por derechos se inscriben en las políticas nacionalistas.

Key Words:

• law
• race
• social media
• social movement
• White supremacy

关键词:

• 法律
• 种族
• 社交媒体
• 社会运动
• 白人至上。

Palabras clave:

• ley
• medios sociales
• movimiento social
• raza
• supremacía blanca

Notes

1 KrisAnne Hall. 2018, February 15. If society is honest & accurate. Twitter post.

2 Patriot Prayer. 2019, February 19. PSA: Loving the Constitution does not make you a racist. Facebook post [Patriot Prayer page].

3 Commenter 2. 2019, February 19. Re: PSA: Loving the Constitution does not make you a racist. Facebook post [Patriot Prayer page].

4 Patriot Prayer. 2019, February 12. Let it be known. Facebook [Patriot Prayer page].

5 Commenter 3. 2019, February 23. I was there and listened to his words. Facebook [Patriot Prayer page].

6 Patriot Prayer. 2019, July 20. The mass hysteria over “everything is racist” will be studied by historians for centuries. Facebook [Patriot Prayer page].

7 Commenter 4, Commenter 5. 2019, July 20. The mass hysteria over “everything is racist” will be studied by historians for centuries. Facebook [Patriot Prayer page].

8 Patriot Prayer. 2019, May 9. THIS is actual hate, and it sickens me! I thank God there are so few of these truly hateful people. Facebook [Patriot Prayer page].

9 Commenter 7. 2019, May 9. THIS is actual hate, and it sickens me! I thank God there are so few of these truly hateful people. Facebook [Patriot Prayer page].

10 Commenter 8, Commenter 9. 2019, May 9. THIS is actual hate, and it sickens me! I thank God there are so few of these truly hateful people. Facebook [Patriot Prayer page].

11 Commenter 18. 2019, February 4. Re: Democrat candidate calls for 100 billion in reparations for slavery. Facebook [Constitutional Grassroots Movement Group page].

12 Commenter 19. 2019, February 4. Re: Democrat candidate calls for 100 billion in reparations for slavery. Facebook [Constitutional Grassroots Movement Group page].

13 Commenter 20. 2019, February 4. Re: Democrat candidate calls for 100 billion in reparations for slavery. Facebook [Constitutional Grassroots Movement Group page].

14 Commenter 21. 2019, February 4. Re: Democrat candidate calls for 100 billion in reparations for slavery. Facebook [Constitutional Grassroots Movement Group page].

15 American Patriot the 111% National. 2019, February 20. There’s no skin color in patriotism. Facebook [American Patriot the 111% National page].

16 Oath Keepers. 2019, January 27. America is not a racist country. Facebook [Oath Keepers page].

17 Commenter 12, Commenter 13. 2019, January 27. America is not a racist country. Facebook [Oath Keepers page].

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Robin Wright

ROBIN WRIGHT is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Society at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research includes the spatial politics of Whiteness, race and settler law, and regional responses to climate change mitigation policies.