White supremacy is the belief, and/or promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social, political, historical and/or industrial dominance by whites. White supremacy, as with racial supremacism in general, is rooted in ethnocentrism and a desire for hegemony and power, and has frequently resulted in violence against non-whites. Different forms of white supremacy have different conceptions of who is considered white, and not all white supremacist organizations agree on who is their greatest enemy.
White supremacist groups can be found in some countries and regions with a significant white population including Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, and South Africa. The militant approach taken by white supremacist groups has caused them to be watched closely by law enforcement officials. Some have even been labelled as terrorists. Some European countries have laws forbidding hate speech, as well as other laws that ban or restrict some white supremacist organizations.
Read more about White Supremacy: Systemic White Supremacy, Academic Use of The Term, Ideologies and Movements, Alliances With Black Supremacist Groups
Famous quotes containing the words white and/or supremacy:
“The birch stripped of its bark, or the charred stump where a tree has been burned down to be made into a canoe,these are the only traces of man, a fabulous wild man to us. On either side, the primeval forest stretches away uninterrupted to Canada, or to the South Sea; to the white man a drear and howling wilderness, but to the Indian a home, adapted to his nature, and cheerful as the smile of the Great Spirit.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“Her wrongs are ... indissolubly linked with all undefended woe, all helpless suffering, and the plenitude of her rights will mean the final triumph of all right over might, the supremacy of the moral forces of reason and justice and love in the government of the nation. God hasten the day.”
—Anna Julia Cooper (18591964)