A white nationalist group named “Identity Evropa” posted fliers around campus last week. One displayed an image of a statue of Julius Caesar with the motto “Serve Your People” slapped across of it. The other showed a statue of Hercules — yes, the Greek mythological figure — and the slogan “Protect Your Heritage.”
The group aims to recruit white male college students into their racist organization which advocates for an all-white nation — that’s right, one devoid of multiculturalism. Identity Evropa has rebranded white supremacy into what they label as a “white identity” movement — one that allegedly aims to “save” their race from being ousted by diversification.
It’s important to disprove one of the central messages of their “movement.” Identity Evropa spreads perturbing claims that the nation belongs exclusively to white people and that diversity is damaging the country’s infrastructure. These white supremacists strive toward placing an end to immigration to the U.S. — that’s if the migrants are people of color — in order to maintain a white national identity.
The group was basically founded on fear: fear of cultural diversity and a collective concern that other white males will lean toward the political left and, essentially, be OK with diversity. But, there is no need to fear multiculturalism, specifically on-campus — it’s beautiful, it’s progressive and it profusely benefits college students’ academia and the nation in general.
According to an article by Katherine W. Phillips for Scientific American magazine, “By disrupting conformity [diversity] produces a public good. To step back from the goal of diverse classrooms would deprive all students, regardless of their racial or ethnic background, of the opportunity to benefit from the improved cognitive performance that diversity promotes.”
Phillips said it — being in a diverse environment makes people smarter. Furthermore, in an article for The Washington Post by Joann Weiner, “Academic papers written by diverse groups have a higher impact than papers written by people from the same ethnic group. Diversity in authors, whether by ethnicity, location, or references, leads to greater contributions to science, according to researchers at the National Bureau of Economic Research.”
So, why is Identity Evropa so against the effects of multiculturalism in our nation — the kind of positive effects which remake society to incorporate everyone,not just white people — in politics, business and culture?
It’s simple:they’re not “serving” the white race and they’re not embracing actual “European” culture — they’re simply a group of racists. They stroll around different California college campuses in hopes of finding white male college students who are fascist enough to join their heinous ranks.
Just to make it clear, these men truly are fascists — they exalt nation and race over the individual profusely while admiring Nazism through their association with the National Policy Institute aka the “alt-right” lobby. The so-called alt-right consistently uses Nazi symbolism, gestures and rhetoric — a sickening way to get their point across in the most anti-Semitic , racist manner.
Even the action report posted on the group’s website is a puzzling, discriminatory mess. According to the Identity Evropa site, “a left-leaning student who is concerned with universal health coverage, global warming and community cohesion can be educated about how diversity destroys social currency, and mass immigration into first world nations only increases our massive carbon output.”
This “intellectual” approach to racism specifically targets college students and is deeply misleading. The rhetoric the group uses in their online action reports, for example, is a wordy and turgid attempt to mislead students into thinking it’s some kind of European pride movement — rather than a racist one.
Don’t let this fraternity of fascists fool you — there is no “alternative” right. Identity Evropa’s rhetoric is fundamentally the same as what Klu Klux Klan members and neo-Nazis have been exalting for decades. The only difference between Identity Evropa and them is the apparel — members of Identity Evropa mostly wear business suits while on their racist endeavors.
Even so, the lord and savior of this fascist frat boy club — Richard Spencer, president of the National Policy Institute – won’t admit to any of that. In fact, Spencer refuses to admit he’s a white supremacist.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey, Spencer explicitly told Saloomey, “I object to being called a white supremacist because it’s simply not true. A white supremacist would want to lord over other races or control over the races and so on. I am not a white supremacist.”
Yet, the man’s aim has “neo-Nazism” plastered all over it. According to a New York Times article titled, “Alt-Right Gathering Exults in Trump Election With Nazi-Era Salute” by Joseph Goldstein, after he finished his rant advocating white supremacy at an alt-right annual conference in Nov. 2016 in Washington D.C., “several audience members had their arms outstretched in a Nazi salute. Mr. Spencer called out: “Hail Trump! Hail our people!” and then, “Hail victory!” — the English translation of the Nazi exhortation “Sieg Heil!” The room shouted back.”
This sort of rhetoric has no place at Cal State Long Beach or any college campus for that matter. Universities are hubs for progressive and tolerant ways of thinking and living — so let’s keep these racists out.
Denouncing Nazism is an American tradition, don’t let Identity Evropa’s white-collar supremacy fool you.