In August 2017, white supremacists protested against the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee in a park in Charlottesville, Virginia. The protest spanned 2 days, and a counter-protestor was killed. As is to be expected, the media flocked to the site of this incident to cover it in real time, and afterwards, President Trump was heavily criticized for his remarks about the event. In this podcast, I argue that in a system and society that has been built to oppress racialized groups of people, where whiteness reaches into every aspect of the foundations of American society to do the work of that oppression, ideas espoused by white supremacists, the alt-right, and neo-Nazis can thrive. That same system supports the president’s stance and statements on white supremacist activities and reinforces oppressive and racist rhetoric.

This podcast was produced by Vanessa Reich-Shackelford for CMNS 452 at Simon Fraser University.

Music: http://www.purple-planet.com and http://www.bensound.com

References:
- American Association of University Women https://bit.ly/2zqmnGd
- American Public Media https://bit.ly/2eyfaKM
- CNN https://bit.ly/1gjz3Ux
- David Duke (Twitter) https://bit.ly/2MQ1nPf & https://bit.ly/2uGSO46
- Fox 11 Los Angeles https://bit.ly/2MN2aAd
- George Lipsitz, "The Possessive Investment in Whiteness" https://amzn.to/2PbgQuM
- NAACP https://bit.ly/2L4nHYm
- National Geographic, "See the Sparks That Set Off Violence in Charlottesville" https://bit.ly/2P9llG0
- Raka Shome, "Outing Whiteness." https://bit.ly/2Pa0SB2
- Richard Dyer and Maxime Cervulle in "White: Essays on Race and Culture" https://amzn.to/2BbEh47
- Stuart Hall in "Gender, Race and Class in the Media: A Critical Reader" https://bit.ly/2w79C1T
- Thomas K. Nakayama and Robert L. Krizek in "Whiteness: The Communication of Social Identity" https://bit.ly/2PaDKST
- US Census https://bit.ly/2p8zoQY & https://bit.ly/2PaDR0L
- VICE, "Charlottesville: Race and Terror" https://bit.ly/2vKtJUf