The documentary *White with Fear* explores the long-standing strategy of the Republican Party to exploit white racial anxieties, starting from the era of Richard Nixon in 1968. It begins with a group of housewives in Dearborn, Michigan, who, influenced by Nixon's fear-inducing messages of crime linked to Black individuals in neighboring Detroit, turned to gun ownership as a means of protection. The film contrasts this historical moment with more recent events, such as the McCloskeys pointing a gun at Black Lives Matter protesters, showing that the invocation of white fear remains a potent political tool over decades, now amplified by modern media.
The political tradition of dog-whistling white fear remains strong, as seen in both 1968 and 2020, showing a continuity in racial rhetoric.
Nixon’s messaging in 1968 about crime instilled fear of Black people in white suburbia, encapsulating a racial issue without explicitly naming it.
The film White with Fear illustrates how the manipulation of white racial resentment has been a core strategy of the Republican Party since Nixon's era.
From the pistol-wielding housewives of Dearborn to the McCloskeys at the 2020 Republican convention, the hostile rhetoric towards Black individuals has evolved but persists.
Collection
[
|
...
]