Belew, Kathleen. Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2018). The White Power Movement, a decidedly racist amalgam of men, remains alive and well, according to this scholarly work, but its threat to the nation and to the average American is not entirely clear.
The author, a university professor, helps us understand some basic landmarks in the evolution of the WPM. First are the connections between the Klu Klux Klan and the WPM in the years around World War II and their hellish campaign against Blacks. Secondly, the reader learns of the traitorous identification and fascination of WPM rebels with Nazism and its associated anti-Semitism. Thirdly, and the most important lesson offered by the author, is the role that the Vietnam War played in the formation of disloyal veterans whose leaders declared “war” on the U.S. government, a traitorous act, hence the subtitle of the book, “bring the war home.” WPM leaders disavowed their government fearing it was taking the American people in the wrong direction.
These men organized paramilitary teams and thereby posed credible challenges for American law enforcement personnel. Along these lines, the author connects several events, including Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and the Branch Davidians of Waco, Texas, to the deadly Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. The author affirms a WPM connection, but she also maintains that the FBI and the ATF, primarily, kept the white rebels off balance and against the wall.
I have two main observations about this work. One is that while Professor Belew alleges the continuity of a serious racist threat, my reading didn’t find sufficient support for it. The conspiratorial connections are laid down, alright, but the organizational capability of the WPM raises questions, namely that the insurrectionist leaders, as presented in the book, strike me as unsophisticated, back-country rustics squaring off with the U.S. government somewhat blindly. Secondly, while I find the author’s information abundant and well researched, I also find it circuitous and repetitive, a surprise given her prestigious publisher. Nevertheless, Bring the War Home offers a worthwhile gathering of valuable information, including names, and events, for students of racism in America and issues of national, domestic security.