Another blog post about another mass shooting. Another white supremacist with easy access to weapons of war has committed atrocities in the name of “preserving” the white race.  This time in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Almost 50 people dead, their murders live streamed on facebook like a video game.  Horror upon horror visited upon people in a house of worship, communing with God.  These peaceful people engaged in reverent prayer were executed for posing a threat to “white homelands”.

The 14 words of white supremacists, “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”  This slogan, created by a racial terrorist from the 1980s has been used as a reason in multiple terrorist acts by white men.  It’s ubiquitous in the world of white supremacists. It’s the idea that nonwhite, non-Christians are trying to end the white race, either by shifting demographics or outright invasion.  When people talk about declining white birthrates…what they mean is that brown people are breeding faster and we will stop being the majority in our country.  The “National Emergency” at our border is all about keeping nonwhites out and keeping America pure. The only pure American…the only real American is a white American.

This ideology has spread to everywhere white people are a majority. As our racists here looked in the past to Nazi Germany for inspiration, many aspiring racists now look to us.  We have become the xenophobic torchbearers for white nationalism.  Our nation has gone from a beacon of openness and freedom to one of religious bans and walls.  In the long drawn out history of freedom and liberty, we have gone from hero to villain in the span of only a few years. Guys…I don’t know if you understand, but we’re the bad guys now.

I’m white. In fact, I’m about as white as a person can get. Not only that but my family has been in America since the 1600s, on both sides. I have ancestors who fought in the Revolution and the Civil War, as well as both World Wars. I’m also about as “American” as a person can get.  Me, and people like me, are what these people are killing others to “protect”. If you are white, they are killing in your name. If you are white, they are killing in your name…I  want you to understand that.  They are killing other human beings because they are of “less value” than we are.  Think about that.  Sit with that.

I am finding it very hard to see this changing. This is coming from an optimist, someone who always finds hope no matter how hard I have to look.  White America doesn’t seem outraged by this, in fact, we seem nonplussed.  I want to scream…”DON’T YOU SEE WHAT WE’RE BECOMING? WHAT WE’VE BECOME?”  All those things my forefathers fought and died for; truth, liberty, fairness, equality…just pissed away.  Thrown away, rendered meaningless by our fear of “other”.  My Grandfather fought Nazis in Europe and now we tolerate them. In fact, now we elect them. How do we, as white Americans come back from this??  How in God’s name do we fix this?? Can we?  Better question, do most of you even want to?