The Cultivation and Prevalence of White Supremacy in American Law & Society

Hersheeta Kaur Suri

January 26, 2021

 The Cultivation and Prevalence of White Supremacy in American Law & Society

Political Theory: Humanity’s Self-Interested Nature and Inevitable Downfall

Aeschylus. 1984. The Oresteia: The Eumenides. Translated by Robert Fagles. Reprint. Penguin
Classics.
Aristophanes. 2009. Birds and Other Plays: Lysistrata. Translated by Stephen
Halliwal. 1st ed. Oxford University Press.
Aristophanes. 2009. Birds and Other Plays: The Assembly of Women. Translated by Stephen
Halliwal. 1st ed. Oxford University Press.
Golding, William. 1954. Lord of the Flies. Reissue. Penguin Books. 2003.

The Power of the White Protestant Male in American Law and Society
Friedman, Lawrence. 2004. Law In America. Reprint. Modern Library.
Haney López, Ian. 2006. White By Law. 2nd ed. NYU Press.
Hirsch, Jennifer, and Shamus Khan. 2020. Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power,
and Assault on Campus. 1st ed. W. W. Norton & Company.
Welke, Barbara Y. 1995. “When All the Women Were White, and All the Blacks Were Men:
Gender, Class, Race, and the Road to Plessy, 1855-1914.” Law and History Review 13
(2): 261–316. https://doi.org/10.2307/743861.

White Supremacy Fights Societal Progression in Our Modern Society

Belew, Kathleen. 2019. Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary
America. Reprint. Harvard University Press.
Gordon, Leah. 2016. From Power to Prejudice: The Rise of Racial Individualism in Midcentury
America. Reprint. University of Chicago Press.
Miranda, Lin-Manuel. 2020. Hamilton. Walt Disney Pictures.
Lee, Harper. 2002. To Kill A Mockingbird. Harper Perennial.
 List of Politics Courses Taken

1. Classical Political Theory POLI001A PO-01; Professor Susan McWilliams-Barndt (Fall

2017)
2. United States Foreign Policy POLI007 PO-01; Professor Carrie Reiling (Spring 2018)
3. Intro to American Politics POLI003 PO-01; Professor Sara Sadhwani (Fall 2018)
4. Constitutional Law: Civil Liberties GOVT112B CM-01; Professor Ralph Rossum
(Spring 2019)
5. American Constitutionalism I POLI033A PO-01; Professor Amanda Hollis-Brusky (Fall
2019)
6. Voting, Campaigning, & Elections POLI125 SC-01; Professor Thomas Kim (Fall 2020)
7. Policy Implementation and Evaluation POLI135 PO-01; Professor David Menefee-Libey
(Fall 2020)
8. Comparative Politics of Africa POLI162 PO-01; Professor Pierre Englebert (Fall 2020)
9. Politics: Independent Research Socio-Legal/Sexual Assault in US POLI199 IRPO-06;
Professor Amanda Hollis-Brusky (Fall 2020)
10. Politics Thesis POLI191 PO-20; Professor Amanda Hollis-Brusky (Spring 2021)
11. Politics Senior Seminar POLI190D PO-01; Professor Amanda Hollis-Brusky (Spring
2021)
12. Cities, Rights, and Development POLI172 PO-01; Professor Heidi Haddad (Spring 2021)
 Brief: The Cultivation and Prevalence of White Supremacy in American Law & Society 

My understanding of politics encapsulates humanity’s struggle to navigate and retain

power. Laws reflect the mindsets of the people of that particular society. Yet, as institutions

evolve and attempt to advocate for more progressive ideologies, they are stunted by the desires

of those humans who hold greater power in that current system. Specifically, in America, we see

the strides for progress blocked by white supremacy induced by the history of United States law

and society. 

I am a first-generation Sikh American woman who grew up in a white suburban town in

San Diego, California. I was only one of two South Asians in my grade level and encountered

brutal bullying from white men in my year. I grew up witnessing how my father and brother,

with full beards and turbans, navigated a white world. My father would often return from work

depressed because yet another colleague refused to trust him with patients or would report him to

human resources (HR) for being ‘threatening.’ At the age of 13, I became a survivor of sexual

assault. While these were unfortunate experiences, they opened my eyes to the power of the

patriarchy and white supremacy. 

When approaching my booklist, I began to reflect on why I chose to become a politics

major and how my time at Pomona College has shaped my mindset within the realm of political

science. I immediately recalled a book I read in 7th grade, Lord of the Flies, which remained at

the forefront of my academic vision even as I entered college. I resonated with William

Golding’s novel due to topics that became clearer to me as I took Classical Political Theory

(CPT) during my first college semester. I determined that humans engage in politics to fight for

their self-interests. World peace, freedom, and equality are all utopian concepts that cannot exist

because human nature––and individuals’ need to reign supreme–––will not allow it. These
concepts were apparent in Aeschylus and Aristophanes’ Greek plays, which we first read in the

CPT. My education at Pomona College began to provide me with an intellectual foundation to

make sense of my past events.

Understanding the nature of humanity coupled with the history of American law shed

light on how current power structures favoring white Christian males came to exist. Thus, I

shaped my education to represent American law and society. Some examples of work that best

reflect my sociolegal understanding include Law in America by Lawrence Friedman, White by

Law by Ian López, Sexual Citizens by Jennifer Hirsch and Shamus Khan, and When All the

Women Were White and All the Blacks Were Men by Barbara Welke. Law in America gives an

overview of America’s history through a law and society lens. Each other text uses the same

perspective to focus on a specific subject area such as sexual violence, immigration, or the

intersectionality of race and gender. 

I used this framework of analyzing America’s past to explain the prominent and discrete

ways white supremacy fights back in our more progressive modern society. To Kill a

Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Hamilton by Lin Manuel Miranda are two strong examples of

how American society prioritizes certain white narratives and pushes back against progressive

strives for accurate reflections of diversity within our education and entertainment spaces. From

Power to Prejudice by Leah Gordon dissects why race issues continue in our society despite

progressive updates in legislation. Bring the War Home by Kathleen Belew presents the extreme

of our country’s prejudice by focusing on the rise of violent white power activists.

While my booklist at first glance seems unconventional, it remains an authentic reflection

of my experiences, which have sparked my interest in studying humanity’s relationship with

power, the development of American law, and the movement of white supremacy in our modern

society. 

Political Theory: Humanity’s Self-Interested Nature and Inevitable Downfall

No government system is permanent due to humanity’s tendency to act upon their desire

for power and immediate gratification. Selected works from both classical and modern political

theory––Aeschylus’s The Eumenides, Aristophanes’s Lysistrata, Aristophanes’s The Assembly

of Women, and Thomas Hobbes’s philosophy through William Golding’s Lord of the Flies–––

elaborate on how individuals’ self-interested nature lead to the demise or stark change in the

communal social order. 

The theatrical mediums by which these texts–––which each express the rise, fall, or

change in government––present their philosophies effectively hold a mirror up to society. The

Greek tragedy of The Eumenides, a part of Aeschylus’s three-part Oresteia, and both comedies

of Aristophanes’s The Assembly of Women and Lysistrata were first performed during the early

5th century in Athens during the famous Dionysia Festival. This three day-long celebration

honoring the God of Wine was attended by all Athenians regardless of gender and socio-

economic class. Each play held a diverse audience, which accurately encapsulated Athenian

society's mindset, encouraging commissioned playwrights to tailor their pieces to resonate with

that civilization. As theatre serves as a form of entertainment that strategically utilizes humanity's

empathy and humor, most audience goers are more likely to listen to lessons of societal

structures, political power, and humanity's nature than they would while having a serious

conversation about said topics. Audiences viewing a tale unfold also see their society's nuances

with more clarity because they are not personally engaging in the depicted confrontations.
 Readers of Golding's piece of fiction experience the story from the same theatrical

perspective. Written in the third person, as if the reader were witnessing the gripping and intense

tale unfold before their eyes, Lord of the Flies allows audiences to view the realities of their

shortcomings. The contents of the novel further encapsulate themes present in a theatrical

tragedy: pain, loss, death, and the fight for power. The story also features elements of song and

dance through the tribal-like chants of “Kill the beast,” theatrical tactics utilized in the earlier

mentioned Greek plays (Golding, 152)1. As the 20th-century Lord of the Flies and Aristophanes

and Aeschylus’s 5th-century texts both effectively exclaim the same sentiments of humanity

induced chaos, it is clear that humanity's failures––and subsequent destruction of permanent civil

society––rest in its nature. 

One of humanity’s greatest downfalls––presented in The Eumenides––is the refusal to

acknowledge the unknown, believing they have power over the consequences of their actions.

The Eumenides follows the murder of Queen Clytemnestra by her son Orestes. During her

lifetime, Clytemnestra gave offerings and libations to the Divine to increase her fortune in her

afterlife. Thus, when Apollo alleviates Orestes from his crime of matricide, she becomes enraged

yelling to the Furies, “how you lapped the honey, the sober offerings poured to soothe you….and

all those rites, I see them trampled down” (Aeschylus, 235). 2 While the ghost of Clytemnestra

expected vengeance for her death, her mortal actions cannot influence the Divine. Her infuriation

shows the audience she has no control over the consequences of her decision to kill her husband,

Agamemnon, or her justice. Orestes, the hero of this trilogy, showcases to the audience the pure

understanding of a human’s limitations when he throws himself at the feet of judge Athena

saying, “But were we just or not? Judge us now. My fate is in your hands” (Aeschylus, 252). 3

1
Golding, William. 1954. Lord of the Flies. Reissue. Penguin Books. 2003.
2
Aeschylus. 1984. The Oresteia: The Eumenides. Translated by Robert Fagles. Reprint. Penguin Classics.
3
Aeschylus. 1984. The Oresteia: The Eumenides. Translated by Robert Fagles. Reprint. Penguin Classics.
With the understanding that he has no control over his consequences, he submits to the unknown

by leaving his fate in the hands of the divine Athena. His ‘not guilty’ verdict in the trial

showcases that when humans accept they are powerless to the unknown, they end up being

happier.

Lord of the Flies continues to portray how deep fears of the unknown lead humans to

focus on their immediate pleasures and sacrifice the greater good. Thomas Hobbes explains in

Leviathan that humans, on their own with no society or guiding authority, would be left in,

“continual fear, and danger of violent death,” allowing the, “life of man (to be) solitary, poor,

nasty, brutish, and short.”4 Lord of the Flies recreates this scenario by illustrating what would

happen to a group of young boys stranded on an island. While the boys first attempt to establish

some sense of leadership, voting Ralph as chief, that system quickly unravels. With no rescuing

ship in sight, more boys begin to lose faith in keeping a fire going for their eventual rescue. Even

Ralph acknowledges that he does not care about keeping the fire going sometimes because pig

meat’s delicacy seemed more appealing than waiting for a ship that never seemed to arrive

(Golding, 139).5 Abandoning any faith they once placed on a possible rescue, the group of boys

shifted their loyalty toward lead hunter power-hungry Jack and turned into the vision of a savage

in 1954: painted faces, long spears, and orders to slaughter humans and pigs alike. The majority

of boys caved for their immediate desire of pig meat and feelings of strength and power. 

Aristophanes’s comedies present how momentary gratification holds power to manipulate

humankind or prevent them from existing in an equal society. Both plays of Lysistrata and The

Assembly of Women encompass women, those often silenced by the Athenian patriarchal

household, conniving plans to save their society from the natures of men. Due to the prevalence
4
Hobbes, Thomas. 1660. Leviathan.
5
Golding, William. 1954. Lord of the Flies. Reissue. Penguin Books. 2003.
of men in all important political positions in Ancient Greece, these comedies’ purpose was not to

present Athenians with an alternative form of rule where all women were in charge. Each play

continued to sexualize women and portray them as conniving and domestic. However, each

theatre piece highlighted how easy it was to manipulate the faults of mankind.

In Lysistrata, to end the Athenian war with the Spartans, the women pursue a sex strike to

manipulate man’s need for sex, or momentary pleasure, to stop a needless war. By refusing to

sleep with their husbands voluntarily, Lysistrata convinces the women that in doing so, they will

make the men “suffer in every way” (Aristophanes, 101).6 Even if husbands were to force

themselves upon their wives, they would not receive the most pleasure, and thus men would be

tortured by the absence of what they desire. Not only are the women successful in their plan, but

the men are in so much pain from their incessant erections that they abide by Lysistrata’s new

form of government, which dismantles all structures of political parties and oligarchic regimes,

getting rid of, “the ones who club together and press themselves all tight in quest for power”

(Aristophanes, 117).7 The lust for sex appropriately manipulates the men in Athens to dismantle

unequal power systems and halt a war of no purpose, proving that man’s nature hinders societal

progress. 

The Assembly of Women further explores the weakness of man by presenting a

communist society that practices sexual communism. Under the female leader Praxagora, the

Athenians undergo a social order where everything is shared, thus abolishing the rich and poor

statuses and solving crime, “since none will suffer want” (Aristophanes, 179). 8 Through this

utopian form of communism, hypothetically, Praxagora removes all sources which would feed

6
Aristophanes. 2009. Birds and Other Plays: Lysistrata. Translated by Stephen Halliwal. 1st ed. Oxford University Press.
7
Aristophanes. 2009. Birds and Other Plays: Lysistrata. Translated by Stephen Halliwal. 1st ed. Oxford University Press.
8
Aristophanes. 2009. Birds and Other Plays: The Assembly of Women. Translated by Stephen Halliwal. 1st ed. Oxford
University Press.
men’s desire for power and other immediate pleasures. Thus, she makes sex free, abolishing the

household system and demanding that before anyone has sex with attractive individuals, they

must shag an ugly one (Aristophanes, 176).9 The play then depicts a male youth tortured under

this new system, forced to sleep with three hags before the woman he wants. It feels unnatural

for the man to abandon personal preference and reject his self-interests when pursuing sexual

intercourse. His harrowing experience showcases how men can never escape being strongly

impacted by their desires, even in a constructed society where everyone is equal. 

These downfalls of humanity present in each of these classical and modern political

theory texts encapsulate humans’ power-hungry nature and incapability from living in equal and

sustainable societies. Societal structures are created with rules and regulations to control

individuals from turning savage. However, no matter what form these government systems

assume, they will always present power dynamics that favor one group of individuals.

9
Aristophanes. 2009. Birds and Other Plays: The Assembly of Women. Translated by Stephen Halliwal. 1st ed. Oxford
University Press.
 The Power of the White Protestant Male in American Law and Society

The precedent set by the history of American law and society prioritizes the white

Protestant male (Friedman, 148).10 During most of the country’s existence, laws created by both

the courts and Congress reflected the necessity to uphold Christianity, white supremacy, and the

patriarchy. These statutes discredited the humanity of anyone who identified as a person of color,

a woman, or any Eastern religion and influenced their modern-day experiences. 

Due to the history of sex laws in the United States, one of the largest structural causes for

the current high rates of sexual assault among adolescents is the conservative instruction––or

lack––of sex education they receive. During the 19th century, laws theoretically criminalized sex

of any kind outside of marriage to reinforce the religious notion that marriage was the only form

of proper intimate relation (Friedman, 115).11 Discussions of sex––let alone sex education––were

minimal if not nonexistent until the late 1960s.12 Thus, it is unsurprising that most young people

today are taught that “sex is a dirty rotten, nasty thing that you should only do to someone you

love after you are married” (Hirsch and Khan, xvii). 13 These harmful messages do not stop

individuals from engaging in sexual intercourse but instead perpetuate dangerous situations

where many adolescents do not have the tools to prevent committing or experiencing sexual

harm. The continued rise of sexual violence among college campuses occurs due to state and

federal elected officials who have refused to advocate for comprehensive sex education (Hirsch

10
Friedman, Lawrence. 2004. Law In America. Reprint. Modern Library.
11
Friedman, Lawrence. 2004. Law In America. Reprint. Modern Library.
12
“Sex Education in America.” 2012. Issue Brief. Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc.
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/3713/9611/7930/Sex_Ed_in_the_US.pdf.
13
Hirsch, Jennifer, and Shamus Khan. 2020. Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus. 1st ed.
W. W. Norton & Company.
and Khan, 266).14 However, the prevalence of sexual harm is just one example of how American

law and society prioritize the values and power of the ‘white Protestant male.’

This country has a deep legal and social history of slavery, segregation, and white

supremacy. Slaves brought to the colonies from Africa was America’s original sin, instituting

clear discrimination based on race. It was unthinkable for whites that blacks “would simply serve

a term of years and then start climbing the ladder of mobility,” unlike white indentured servants

of the same period (Friedman, 28).15 This deep consciousness of race bled into other statues

throughout the 18th, 19th, and 20th century whether it be the 3/5ths clause in the Constitution,

the Jim Crow laws after the Civil War, or the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine of Plessy v Ferguson.

Throughout the 20th century, white supremacy within our society pushed back as the country

gave more freedoms to black people. 

An example of this societal resistance to change took form in the rise of the petitionary

and mass incarceration of blacks. After independence, jails and urban police forces began to

develop to manage overpopulated cities. Soon, due to the deep roots of white supremacy instilled

by our nation’s history, black neighborhoods became over-policed, and many white judges and

juries contributed to the unfair, excessive incarceration of blacks in our country. Looking at

Georgia as a case study, in 1899, “only 3 of the 71 women in prison were white and of the men

1,885 were black, and only 245 were white” (Friedman, 89).16 Today, 58% of the prison

population in Georgia is black while 33% is white, even though white people make up 56% of

the population and black people encompass 31%.17 Despite over a century of progress, these

14
Hirsch, Jennifer, and Shamus Khan. 2020. Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus. 1st ed.
W. W. Norton & Company.
15
Friedman, Lawrence. 2004. Law In America. Reprint. Modern Library.
16
Friedman, Lawrence. 2004. Law In America. Reprint. Modern Library.
17
Wagner, Peter, and Joshua Aiken. n.d. “Racial Disparities in Georgia Prisons and Jails.” Compiled from 2010 Census.
Accessed January 26, 2021. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/graphs/disparities2010/GA_racial_disparities_2010.html .
statistics’ correlation shows that our country still encounters racism due to our tumultuous

history.

The black woman fell into a widely neglected category in American law and society due

to many unfavorable identification factors––a person of color and female. 19th and early 20th-

century American law, particularly in the South, prioritized the sanctity, purity, and domesticity

that came with the status of the ‘lady.’ Through the policies in transportation infrastructure,

many trains in the South would have “ladies’ carriages” and a “smoker” where everyone else sat.

However, the ladies’ carriage was often not available to black women as their presence was seen

as a threat to white womanhood (Welke, 311). 18 Their existence was the opposite of ‘sacred,’ as

evident in the 1870 Supreme Court case of Sallie Robinson v Memphis and Charleston Railroad.

The conductor refused to board Robinson because he said she was a chaste woman, his only

explanation as to why a mulatto woman would travel with a white man. Robinson lost the case

because most whites did not assume that women of color were as virtuous as white women

(Welke, 306).19 

This mentality, which preserves the chastity of white womanhood and sexualizes black

women, continues to prevail through media, a medium by which our society consumes most of

our political and social information (Friedman, 176-7).20 The most common stereotypes exhibited

by black actresses in Hollywood are the ‘hoe,’ the ‘stripper,’ and the Jezebel stereotype, which

present black women as often sexually active. 21 The media continues to feed our community’s

18
Welke, Barbara Y. 1995. “When All the Women Were White, and All the Blacks Were Men: Gender, Class, Race, and the
Road to Plessy, 1855-1914.” Law and History Review 13 (2): 261–316. https://doi.org/10.2307/743861.
19
Welke, Barbara Y. 1995. “When All the Women Were White, and All the Blacks Were Men: Gender, Class, Race, and the
Road to Plessy, 1855-1914.” Law and History Review 13 (2): 261–316. https://doi.org/10.2307/743861.
20
Friedman, Lawrence. 2004. Law In America. Reprint. Modern Library.
21
Wooten, Tyra. 2019. “Portrayals of Black Women on Television & The Shift in Their Representation: An Analysis of Scandal
and Insecure.” Southern Illinois University Carbondal, May.
understanding of black women and foster a culture in which it becomes okay to hypersexualize

and fetishize black women as well as other women of color.22 

Aside from blacks, America––especially in the early 20th century––continued to uphold

white supremacy through its definitions of citizenship, leading to lasting effects in stereotypes of

South Asians and their religions. American citizenship and naturalization law required

“whiteness” as a category to become a citizen up until 1952 if you immigrated to the United

States (López, 13).23 In Thind v United States, a Sikh man named Bhagat Singh Thind brought

forth evidence proving that his Aryan descendants were the same as the Scandinavian ancestry

‘Caucasians.’ In his case, the Court asked the fundamental question of, “is a high caste Hindu of

full Indian blood, born in Amritsar, Punjab, India, a white person?” (López, 62). 24 Even though

most Asian Indians existing in the United States in the early 20th century were Sikhs, the Court

did not distinguish between Thind’s religious identity and that of Hinduism. Instead, the Court

assumed that all Asian Indians were the same. The Court then stated that while Thind made a

strong argument and presented proper scientific evidence, it was common knowledge that his

skin color was not white. The Supreme Court’s decision served as evidence of creating

jurisdiction not based on fact but rather on society’s sentiments of white supremacy. 

While South Asians can acquire citizenship today, the effects of these decisions still

linger within our community. South Asians are often stereotyped as either Hindu or Muslim––

especially after the rise of 9/11. Although Sikhs were the first South Asians to enter the country

and have held an influential presence in the United States, a survey conducted in 2015 by NBC

showed that 60% of Americans had never heard about Sikhism before. 25 In a country that
22
Matthews, Annalycia. 2018. “Hyper-Sexualization of Black Women in the Media.” Sociology Student Work Collection, March.
https://digitalcommons.tacoma.uw.edu/gender_studies/22.
23
Haney López, Ian. 2006. White By Law. 2nd ed. NYU Press.
24
Haney López, Ian. 2006. White By Law. 2nd ed. NYU Press.
25
NBC News. 2013. “New Study Reveals Most Americans Don’t Understand Sikhism,” December 1, 2013.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/new-study-reveals-most-americans-dont-understand-sikhism-n293576.
prioritizes whiteness and Christianity, it is not a surprise that all South Asians––despite their vast

differences in culture, identity, and religion–––are viewed the same. 

This country holds a racist, misogynistic, and conservative legal history which has

lingering effects in how our society understands race, gender, and religion. While our laws may

now reflect more progressive views, our institutions continue to uphold the stereotypes and

inequalities of people of color, women, and members of other religions which stem from our

history.
 White Supremacy Fights Societal Progression in Our Modern Society

While our country experiences the effects of extensive legal and societal damage from

our history, white supremacy has fought our recent strides of societal progress through increased

systemic and violent approaches. Through our education system, entertainment industry, and the

acts of militant white power activists, it is clear many in our population view progressive

legislation as a threat. 

Many scholars––particularly through Gunnar Myrdal––in the mid-20th century and

onwards agreed that the ‘race problem’ was due to longstanding prejudice. Swedish sociologist

and economist Gunnar Myrdal published a book entitled “The American Dilemma” in 1944,

which explained how the New Deal measures exposed our society’s systemic placement of

American white men over African Americans in the labor industry (Gordon, 26). 26 While the

New Deal pulled America out of the trenches of the Great Depression and set the foundation for

our economy today, in reality, the people who most benefited from FDR’s policies were white

Americans––following suit with our longstanding historic norms. However, when shown a

mirror to the reality in which black Americans face intense economic and social discrimination,

white Americans faced a moral dilemma even in a post-WWII and Civil Rights movement

society. 

Myrdal’s study of the race problem met strong opposition from white Americans who

refused to accept the societal system placed them at an advantage. In the minds of white

Americans, they understood that the “discrimination (of blacks) violated the (American) creed

26
Gordon, Leah. 2016. From Power to Prejudice: The Rise of Racial Individualism in Midcentury America. Reprint. University
of Chicago Press.
but to which they acquiesced and from which they benefited” (Gordon, 36). 27 The American

creed––the guarantee that all American individuals had access to liberty, equality, and

individualism––by which white Americans experienced it allowed them to grow in their success

that––in their opinion––they earned. The reality that our system disenfranchised black

Americans was not something that most white Americans could accept as it would require them

to reject simple structures that benefited them. Because this mindset exists as learned behavior

intertwined without economic, political, and social systems, “education simply obscures the

absence of more substantive change” (Gordon, 151). 28 Educating Americans on the institutions

of prejudice solves a fraction of the issue when we continue to live in a society that primarily

benefits whiteness. Even the methods by which we teach prejudice to adolescents disrupts proper

progress. 

Teaching adolescents historical accounts of racial prejudice, without simultaneously

dismantling white supremacist norms, ingrains narratives that further the American dilemma

within youths’ minds, perpetuating white supremacy. To Kill a Mockingbird serves as an

example of how the education system upholds white supremacy instead of actively dismantling

racial disparity. In a survey conducted by the Fordham Institute in 2012, more 9th and 10th-

grade teachers were taught To Kill a Mockingbird––35%––than any other fiction book listed.29

Although there are more recent stories of racial prejudice that teach adolescents the issues our

country faces, the modern popularity of this novel makes sense considering it glorifies the role of

the white man. This story’s hero is not the innocent black man Tom Robinson––who becomes

27
Gordon, Leah. 2016. From Power to Prejudice: The Rise of Racial Individualism in Midcentury America. Reprint. University
of Chicago Press.
28
Gordon, Leah. 2016. From Power to Prejudice: The Rise of Racial Individualism in Midcentury America. Reprint. University
of Chicago Press.
29
Munguia, Hayley. 2016. “Everyone Still Reads ‘To Kill A Mockingbird.’” FiveThirtyEight (blog). February 19, 2016.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-dies/.
convicted by an all-white jury and meets a grim end––but Atticus Finch, who pushed back

against his white society to stand up for what is ‘right’ through our modern lens. Calpurnia, the

other prominent black character in the novel, did not have much of a role or character

development. The black characters serve as pawns in a more extensive story that continued to

place ‘whiteness’ on a pedestal. There are much better writing pieces that discuss racial prejudice

and how it presents itself today; however, rejecting the white savior model presents itself as a

challenge for those consumed by conscious or subconscious white supremacist norms.30 Pushes

for more diversity within the entertainment industry have met similar pushback from white

Americans. 

While movies, plays, and television have been strong mediums for entertainment, they

also have been critical societal tools to influence, provoke, or reflect public opinion. Thus, calls

for more progressive legislation and more inclusive spaces targeted Hollywood and Broadway.

These professional arenas predominantly represented and catered to white Americans. As a

result, the entertainment industry, especially in the 21st century, has reflected a push for more

authentic stories that reflect the diverse set of struggles faced by all races, ethnicities, genders,

and sexes within the United States. 

The Broadway musical “Hamilton,” which holds the record for the most Tony Award

nominations, sparked largely unprecedented discontent within the white entertainment

community. Written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, this production recalls the tale of founding father

Alexander Hamilton. However, in casting, every single character-–except for King George––was

a person of color. Having a high grossing musical essentially exclude white actors from playing

the lead parts caused a stir in the larger theatre community. A New York City lawyer accused the

30
Gay, Roxane. 2018. “Lots of People Love ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ Roxane Gay Isn’t One of Them.” The New York Times,
June 18, 2018, sec. Books.
show of being discriminatory for its casting call for ‘non-white’ actors. 31 Placing the argument of

‘reverse racism’ into the theatre world, many white actors followed suit with their sentiment that

there are fewer roles for them now that producers would cast for ‘diversity’ rather than talent.

This notion falsely claims that there are fewer roles for white people within the entertainment

industry or that people of color do not deserve their parts. In reality, there is no shortage of roles

for white actors––as still only 2 out of 10 lead actors in films are played by people of color 32–––

but white America feels slightly threatened. While these arguments within the theatre industry

exemplify the resistance when something pushes against white supremacy, there are many

extremist examples of white power that view diversity as a war.

As public opinion continued to push the narrative for equality for all citizens following

the end of the Vietnam War, the 1980s gave rise to white power activists whose desire was to

take back white America through force. As the government relieved immigration restrictions in

the 60s and 70s and the event of Watergate occurred, many individuals "lost faith in the state

they had trusted to take care of them" (Belew, 2). 33 Through both law and social norms, the

country, which protected the high status of whiteness, was now opening its doors to individuals

belonging to various races and ethnicities. Simultaneously, Watergate instilled feelings of

betrayal and generated thoughts of government corruption. Therefore, "white power activists

increasingly saw the state as their enemy," swearing to wreak havoc by murdering people of

color, instigating terror at large public events, or burning down buildings (Belew, 2). 34 Through

31
Kornhaber, Spencer. 2016. “What the ‘Hamilton’ Casting Controversy Is Really About.” The Atlantic, March 31, 2016, sec.
Culture. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/03/hamilton-casting/476247/.
32
Hunt, Darnell, Ana-Christina Rámon, and Michael Tran. 2019. “UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report.” UCLA College of
Social Sciences. https://socialsciences.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/UCLA-Hollywood-Diversity-Report-2019-2-21-
2019.pdf.
33
Belew, Kathleen. 2019. Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. Reprint. Harvard
University Press.
34
Belew, Kathleen. 2019. Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. Reprint. Harvard
University Press.
these actions–––which most notably included but were not limited to the 1995 Oklahoma City

bombing and the 2015 Charleston shooting of nine black worshippers at a bible study–––white

power activists were convinced that they could sway the white public to join their mission

(Belew, 112).35 

Donald Trump's election, aggressive rhetoric, and image as an outsider continued to fuel

the white power movement. With campaign goals including ‘draining the swamp’ and ‘building

a wall,’ Trump made clear to white power activists that he was going to rid Washington of

corruption while turning America into the homeland they craved by keeping ‘illegal Mexican

aliens’ out. However, Donald Trump's presidency occurred because state and federal opinion

allowed for this kind of extremism (Belew, 238).36 Two weeks ago, the capital's insurrection

showed us a clear example of the correlation between far-right power extremism and the white

power activist movement, to the point where individuals literally attempted to overthrow the

government instead of accept no election fraud occurred.

White supremacy continues to permeate within various spaces of American society in

both subtle and aggressive ways. Due to humanity’s crave for power, and unwillingness to give

up on their own self-interests, it is unlikely that white supremacy will ever dissipate within

United States law and society.

35
Belew, Kathleen. 2019. Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. Reprint. Harvard
University Press.
36
Belew, Kathleen. 2019. Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. Reprint. Harvard
University Press.