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A Quarterly Assessment Fall 2016

ANTI-IMMIGRANT AND ANTI-MUSLIM THREATS IN THE UNITED STATES

ANTI-IMMIGRANT AND ANTI-MUSLIM THREATS IN THE UNITED STATES

Table of Contents

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Introduction

As the presidential campaign opens up new space for xenophobic hate in mainstream politics, organized nativist and white nationalist movements have continued to expand into it. While Hillary Clinton’s campaign has failed to advocate for policies that resist nativist goals, such as an end to programs that profile Muslims, Donald Trump’s campaign and the GOP are increasingly providing a platform for leaders of the extremist movements that promote them. The Trump campaign’s decision to hire Stephen Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News, cements its support for extremist movements. Breitbart News has long served as the most notorious media platform for the organized anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim movements. Breitbart has similarly emerged as a prominent outlet for the white nationalist-driven “alt-right” movement that Trump has emboldened. Bannon’s hire represents a full embrace of the dangerous and virulent nativism on which Trump has predicated his campaign since day one. Meanwhile, Trump and the Republican National Convention have significantly boosted the visibility of the Remembrance Project, a rising group within the organized anti-immigrant movement. The Remembrance Project takes real, heartbreaking stories from victims of violence and their families and disingenuously uses them to spread fear of immigrants. The group has played a key role in promoting anti-immigrant legislation that has proliferated over the past year, since the tragic death of Kathryn Steinle.

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White nationalism

is a racist ideology in which whiteness is essential to national identity. White nationalists argue that their views promote racial self-preservation, yet the racism and white supremacism inherent in white nationalist groups is overt.

Nativism

is a racist, xenophobic ideology that supports attacking and excluding immigrants and those thought to be foreign to the dominant culture. Nativism is based on the deep-seated belief, drawn from white supremacy, that the targeted outsiders are racially, culturally, or religiously inferior.