I think what we are seeing is the result of the decline in status with regards to white males. What they had before, which was white privilege, instant dominance over everyone else, is being eroded away, and they are fighting tooth and nail to go backwards. That's what it appears to be.
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I can't see what is happening in the USA from here, but globally, it's not always about race, that's just a post-hoc way of grouping "the others that are not us and therefore no good"; it's about groups feeling threatened. In Europe, you can see the same thing happening, but it's more often about nationality or religion (of ancestors) than about race, eg. "the Poles are steeling jobs from Dutchmen by undercutting wages", "the Greeks cost us too much money", "Moroccan youths are all criminals", "Islam equals terrorism" etc., leading to "Poles suck", "Greeks are lazy bastards", "kick out all Moroccans, and all Muslims while we're at it". Real bigotry, no hypothesis of racial differences required. I think that even if you could convince everyone "race" does not exist, the bigotry would merrily continue. Meanwhile, I will continue using the term "race" to distinguish between groups of people, however ill-defined the term may be, mainly because I rather like the differences the term conveys.
There is a huge difference between religion being the basis of the community and race. When it's religion then people have the option to convert. When it's culture, people have the option to convert. When it's race there is no option for the excluded races to ever be accepted.
So basically, the faction of the alt-right which is racist is seeking to exclude all human beings who aren't born into the right race. There is no compromise, no surrender, you either are born into that identity or you're not. You get no choice to join, or integrate, or belong.
As far as religion goes, if the churches aren't segregated then maybe it's not racist. But I don't have enough information on that to determine. Of course racial bigotry isn't the only kind of bigotry that can exist but the racial kind of bigotry divides people of the same ethnicity, with in some cases the same ancestors, over a concept which doesn't really have any basis in science.
For example, Malcolm X was killed and he had white ancestors. But because America was obsessed with race, he was categorized as black, and took on a black identity. In other examples, you can have black and white Americans who share Native American ancestors. They might have more in common genetically with each other than African immigrants or European immigrants. Race divides them both against each other even if they are the same culture and ethnicity.
And then the concept of race also distorts medicine. Race based medicine vs personalized medicine, which is better? Personalized medicine is always going to be more accurate than race based medicine.
@stellabelle, I used to have lots of sympathy and respect for you in the early days when you joined Steem.
Now it's gone to zero.
You are very determined to create a rift between a group of people (in your case it's "white males") and the rest of society. People like you are ugly monsters hidden behind misconstrued (or fake) compassion.
@innuendo, in @stellabelle's defense I do not believe that was the intention. Well, I hope that wasn't the intention, considering the diction thus far. I hope that it was a meant as a statement to reintroduce how self-induced superiority has both perpetuated and created this so called racial divide.
I say "so called" because by admitting there is racial divide only proves the fact that you have implemented the same opinions that causes the rift in the first place. (And I use you in a general sense). Techincally speaking, the term "white male" is used to imply the sense of entitlement aroused by the mere idea that one is capable of manipulating a social construct into ones favor, and those affected are expected to adjust. In western history, this can seen through colonialism, slavery, genocide, and religious persecution. If you look at how society's were established in acient times, identity wasn't influenced by racial identity.....it's was by cultural identity. If you take away ones cultural identity, you take away their sense of self, and even though race and culture tend to be used synonymously today, it is cultural disregard and lack of empathy that are the roots to the social construct of race.
I guess my main point is that by arguing the social nuances of race, and we fail to contemplate the basis for why racial indenty plays a major part of perception , and the purpose for why racial ideologies were implemented in the first place.