YOUNG ADULTS ARE JOINING WHITE SUPREMACIST GROUPS
In our beautiful province, the citizens live in a society based on democracy and the new generations are the hope for the future. The young people are often judged as more tolerant and more open-minded than their elders. Nevertheless, in the recent events which occurred to Charlottesville, we observed young Quebecois in the side of white supremacists. This topic is not often approached on the media, often leaving the public not informed about the activities of these radical groups.
According to us, the manifestations of Charlottesville demonstrate that there are still supremacist groups containing young members. Despite the stereotypes which portrays the youth as being the most open-minded generation and most acceptant, there are still racist and islamophobic individuals. Contrary to what we thought, the extremist groups did not become fewer in time. Since 2000, their number increased by 50 %, which represents a disturbing increase. What slows the process of abolishment of these groups is that there are several countries which legalize these types of movements. For example, after the manifestations of Charlottesville, Donald Trump, the president of the United States, did not forbid the existence of these groups. It is only after the Congress of the United States forbade the white nationalism and the white ascendancy that Donald Trump finally signed because he wasn’t able to let these groups operate. Moreover, he commented on the events that occurred by saying that there are "very good people from both sides.". In our opinion, the fact that a figure of authority such as a president of a country defends this kind of behaviour encourage young people to join these movements. The citizens are going to be influenced by the established laws if there is none who forbids supremacist groups. It sends the message that it is acceptable to share their ideology.
Our current society makes a lot of awareness about the numerous social discriminations and we questioned ourselves to know the reasons why young people are joining the supremacist movements. We can wonder about the family environment and the circle of friends of these individuals. Often, they are recruited by their friends or their entourage.The education also plays a key role: if the parents or relatives express racist words or denigrate people of color or with a different religion, they encourage their children to adopt the same ideologies as them. However, there are members whose family does not share a supremacist vision and don’t have the same values as them and it is often what urges them to join these groups. The young people who join these movements are often rather solitary or lonely. They are going to join these groups because the members share the same values as them and they develop a feeling of membership to the group of individuals and feel inclusive.
We pushed our research further to understand the vision of these supremacist groups to have a more complete opinion. The members of these communities consider that people of colors and religions (Islam, etc.) are the problems in the society and that they penalize white people. According to their ideology, all the events which take place in the world are caused by their fault and they are a danger for the society. We are against this ideology which is completely based on prejudices and we defend equality and rights of every individual, whatever their cultural luggage is.
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