"I'm Not A Racist, But..." Examining the White Nationalist Efforts to Normalize Hate Derek Black Graduate Student in History and Medieval History Former White Nationalist Activist Khalil Muhammad Professor of History, Race, and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School Elle Reeve Correspondent, VICE News Tonight Former Senior Editor, The New Republic

Pluralism Project Summary:

On October 18, 2017, Harvard Kennedy School hosted a panel examining white nationalism, featuring the following speakers: Professor Khalil Muhammad, a professor of history, race and public policy at Harvard Kennedy School; R. Dereck Black, a former white nationalist activist; and Elle Reeve, the correspondent for Vice News Tonight whose coverage of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville went viral. The respondents addressed the white nationalist agenda to make America a white country and unpacked the rationalization of that agenda through FBI crime statistics and revisionist history. Black explained that white nationalism’s terrifying aims are not as far-fetched as they may initially appear. Many white Americans already spend their time in majority white settings, and enjoy doing so. The goal of white nationalists is to get people who are already comfortable being in all white spaces to intentionally adopt the position: “I love America and America is a country for white people like me.”

This summary was written by a Pluralism Project staff member who attended the event.