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'''Vietnam Veterans''' | '''Vietnam Veterans''' | ||
*Louis Beam returned home from Vietnam, accounting for the killings of twelve to fifty-one "communists" in 1968. | *Louis Beam returned home from Vietnam, accounting for the killings of twelve to fifty-one "communists" in 1968. | ||
**Weaponizing his story from the war allowed him to spark a white power revolution by militarizing the renewed Ku Klux Klan. | **Weaponizing his story from the war allowed him to spark a white power revolution by militarizing the renewed Ku Klux Klan. | ||
*The war served to polarize political groups on both ends of the spectrum as veterans entered critical roles in organizing politics and culture. | *The war served to polarize political groups on both ends of the spectrum as veterans entered critical roles in organizing politics and culture. | ||
**Veterans within the white power movement thus signify a larger narrative regarding their claims on society and the aftermath of war. | **Veterans within the white power movement thus signify a larger narrative regarding their claims on society and the aftermath of war. | ||
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*Resurgences for the Ku Klux Klan occur more in tandem with post-war effects than with poverty, anti-immigration sentiment, or populism. | *Resurgences for the Ku Klux Klan occur more in tandem with post-war effects than with poverty, anti-immigration sentiment, or populism. | ||
*The cooperation of veterans and civilian Klan members amounted to an overspill of state violence from the war into the threads of American culture, society, and politics. | *The cooperation of veterans and civilian Klan members amounted to an overspill of state violence from the war into the threads of American culture, society, and politics. | ||
*War narratives that pushed an understanding of betrayal by the government and suffering laid the foundations of activism for white power. | *War narratives that pushed an understanding of betrayal by the government and suffering laid the foundations of activism for white power. | ||
*People felt disenchanted from failures to achieve decisive victories after the extensive use of soldiers, bombs, and money. | *People felt disenchanted from failures to achieve decisive victories after the extensive use of soldiers, bombs, and money. | ||
*Vietnam differed from other wars in its normal and frequent engagement with civilian violence, mutilation, sexual violence, and other crimes. | *Vietnam differed from other wars in its normal and frequent engagement with civilian violence, mutilation, sexual violence, and other crimes. | ||
*Defeat served to challenge the image of the American soldier, questioned the global political order, and intensified anti-communist sentiment. | *Defeat served to challenge the image of the American soldier, questioned the global political order, and intensified anti-communist sentiment. | ||
'''Reactions on the Home Front''' | '''Reactions on the Home Front''' | ||
*Martha Rosler made the series "House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home," which combined war violence with suburban domestic spaces to highlight the dissonance between warfare and those calling for war from home. | *Martha Rosler made the series "House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home," which combined war violence with suburban domestic spaces to highlight the dissonance between warfare and those calling for war from home. | ||
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'''Impact on White Power''' | '''Impact on White Power''' | ||
*The war engendered a culture that became symbolically iconic for men to reference as a driving political narrative. | *The war engendered a culture that became symbolically iconic for men to reference as a driving political narrative. | ||
*Many activists who came out of it pivoted to racist activities and activism for white power following their perception of betrayals by the government and adherence to a potent political rhetoric. | *Many activists who came out of it pivoted to racist activities and activism for white power following their perception of betrayals by the government and adherence to a potent political rhetoric. | ||
*Over a thousand occurrences of racial violence were recorded by 1970 both abroad and in the United States. | *Over a thousand occurrences of racial violence were recorded by 1970 both abroad and in the United States. | ||
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*Beam consistently called for violent infliction on civilians at home as a response to the government's abandonment of soldiers in Vietnam. | *Beam consistently called for violent infliction on civilians at home as a response to the government's abandonment of soldiers in Vietnam. | ||
*His writing reflects a tension between a man wrestling with the violence of war and a leader of the white power revolution inciting further violence. | *His writing reflects a tension between a man wrestling with the violence of war and a leader of the white power revolution inciting further violence. | ||
*He claimed the war continued on long after its end, even as the rules and political landscape had evolved. He called for the violent murder of everyone that had sent soldiers to Vietnam, which appealed to greater audiences of the white power movement. | *He claimed the war continued on long after its end, even as the rules and political landscape had evolved. He called for the violent murder of everyone that had sent soldiers to Vietnam, which appealed to greater audiences of the white power movement. | ||
==Chapter 2: "Building the Underground"== | ==Chapter 2: "Building the Underground"== | ||
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==Chapter 7: "Race War and White Women"== | ==Chapter 7: "Race War and White Women"== | ||
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Women were central to the white power movement. White women played a crucial symbolic and practical role in the white power movement of the 1980s. This was exemplified during the 1988 Fort Smith sedition trial of movement leaders. | Women were central to the white power movement. White women played a crucial symbolic and practical role in the white power movement of the 1980s. This was exemplified during the 1988 Fort Smith sedition trial of movement leaders. | ||
'''Background''' | '''Background''' | ||
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*In the 1980s, the white power movement emphasized the symbolic importance of white women's reproduction and the creation of a white homeland in the Pacific Northwest. | *In the 1980s, the white power movement emphasized the symbolic importance of white women's reproduction and the creation of a white homeland in the Pacific Northwest. | ||
*Symbolically, the white power movement invoked the purity and vulnerability of white women to justify its ideology and violence. Leaders portrayed the movement as necessary for the defense of white women from the threats of interracial relationships, non-white birth rates, and government/Zionist betrayals. | *Symbolically, the white power movement invoked the purity and vulnerability of white women to justify its ideology and violence. Leaders portrayed the movement as necessary for the defense of white women from the threats of interracial relationships, non-white birth rates, and government/Zionist betrayals. | ||
*White women were instrumental to the movement's operation and growth. They created important social ties through marriage, supported paramilitary activities, and spread propaganda. | *White women were instrumental to the movement's operation and growth. They created important social ties through marriage, supported paramilitary activities, and spread propaganda. The framed their roles as wives and mothers of the white race. Mothers of future Aryan warriors. | ||
'''White Women as Symbols''' | '''White Women as Symbols''' | ||
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*The movement placed importance on white women as reproductive vessels for the race. | *The movement placed importance on white women as reproductive vessels for the race. | ||
*The white power movement strategically leveraged existing cultural ideas about protecting white female purity and fertility as a call to action and as a way to widen its appeal. The symbolic white woman helped to unify and motivate the movement. | *The white power movement strategically leveraged existing cultural ideas about protecting white female purity and fertility as a call to action and as a way to widen its appeal. The symbolic white woman helped to unify and motivate the movement. | ||
'''Women's Activism and Support Roles''' | '''Women's Activism and Support Roles''' | ||
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*Women attended and even co-owned paramilitary training camps. While the men focused on weapons and combat training, women learned survivalist skills like canning food, making supplies, and preparing for nuclear war. | *Women attended and even co-owned paramilitary training camps. While the men focused on weapons and combat training, women learned survivalist skills like canning food, making supplies, and preparing for nuclear war. | ||
*Women provided support | *Women provided support work to enable the men's violent activities. This included disguising male activists, driving getaway cars, destroying evidence, transporting people and weapons, designing group medallions, and proofreading major movement writings. | ||