Pocatello Racism

So, a friend brought this to my attention and I'm quite disturbed.There has been a rise of White Power groups in Pocatello. I've been riding over a chalked website on the ISU campus everyday this week, but didn't think about it. It says Amren.com. It is a disgusting white power group believes "Race is an important aspect of individual and group identity. Of all the fault lines that divide society — language, religion, class, ideology — it is the most prominent and divisive. Race and racial conflict are at the heart of the most serious challenges the Western World faces in the 21st century. The problems of race cannot be solved without adequate understanding. Attempts to gloss over the significance of race or even to deny its reality only make problems worse. Progress requires the study of all aspects of race, whether historical, cultural, or biological. This approach is known as race realism."

On their page they have links to things like "The Unknown MLK" and "The Transition to Black Rule". Scary stuff. This is not the only example or the rise of these imitation academic websites. Two or three years ago we had the Intercollegiate Studies Institute came to ISU to try and recruit students. It was part of the "conservative revolution" they were touting at the time. For more information go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercollegiate_Studies_Institute. Even Right Wing Watch has been keeping an eye on the ISI. See http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/intercollegiate-studies.

Luckily ISU's apathy worked to its advantage and there was not enough interest in the group to maintain it at ISU. Of the several proposed groups for the "conservative revolution" only the ISU College Republicans is currently in existence (barely) and I'm surprised they haven't distanced themselves from the ISI more. Most the College Republicans I have met and know are fair minded people who just believe what their parents believe without question. On the ISU campus last week there have also been these "White Slut Training Academy" fliers being put up. It suggests going to ISU, you can graduate with this knowledge. I know three people who have, when they see them, just taken them down. I had an example, but I left it in my office to use in this story as documentation, and someone threw it away too. It is a picture of a white girl (skinny, blond, straight hair), holding a black baby somewhat uncaring and certainly not in a nurturing way, and it says, HIV positive on it. It is supposed to illustrate how the African students are coming to America and impregnating white women and giving them AIDS.

It also appeals to the outdated idea of masculinity and chivalry. Chivalry is a nice thing, but to the extreme that women become the helpless and only men can "save" them is part of the White Power model. Sexual reproduction is really the thing that White Power has to fear the most. Sure, immigration is changing the "look" of power in America, but really, physical reproduction of minorities is what will change this country the most. People from other countries (non-European mostly) have big families as part of their values. This picture is an example of catering to that fear. Luckily it is also extreme enough to turn most people off. I'm more interested who these confused and local people are.

In Pocatello recently there has been the showing up of these stickers around town that have an eagle on them and send people to a website where you can get free music from and this turns out to be White power music. Free CDs have also shown up at local business that cater to kids like at Main Street Coffee two blocks from Pocatello High School. These rise of this expression may be the individual actions of some disturbed individuals, but the rise of it is an expression of fear. Pocatello has generally been a positive example of diversity, especially Pocatello proper (the in-town, downtown). Part of this has happened because of the gentrification of Chubbuck, and indicative of the nation as a whole.

Also, it has found a new idea of freedom due to the "Tea party" movement (AKA "tea-baggers"). Their organizing/protesting has made a, while not truly united group, but their mass numbers allows for people to feel supported and anonymous. I'm glad they feel they can speak their minds, but they do it in subverted ways because to say outright that they don't like "diversity" is seen as hostile. It is not-mainstream and they lose credibility when they say it outright. It is also likely that this mistrust of changing demographics from the traditional power structures (European, male, Christian, corporate style management) is unsettling and scary.

I need to close this now, but I ask these questions and hope for some discussion (if not on my personal blog, on 43sb.com), what can we do to find these people and help them accept the change in a more positive way? I wasn't around in the past to see changes (like desegregation and Regan's revolution) to gauge these outbursts as important or not; are they something to worry about? Is there a way to make change without causing fear? How do you overcome fear? How have people reading this overcome fear with their children? This is just something to chew on.