Discourse and discrimination in Charlottesville: The rhetoric of white supremacists during the violent unrest in August 2017

Abstract

Abstract This paper explores the discourse of white supremacists in the context of the violent protests that took place in August 2017, in the American city of Charlottesville. During the demonstrations, one person was killed and many others were seriously injured after a car rammed into the anti-racist and anti-fascist counter-protestors. The research scrutinizes the utterances of the white supremacist protestors before, during, between, and after the demonstrations, as presented in the Vice News documentary, “Charlottesville: Race and Terror”. The systematic analysis emphasizes that the rhetoric of the white supremacists was blatantly discriminatory and racist, and the significance of this in the assessment of the violent demonstrations shall not be downplayed. The rhetoric of the white supremacists in Charlottesville targeted Black Americans, Jews, and political opponents. The speakers utilized a full-fledged rhetorical arsenal to discriminate against and attack the out-groups. This included (1) plural personal pronouns; (2) the possessive form “ouf”; (3) victim-victimizer reversals; (4) vulgar referencing; (5) dehumanizing metaphors; and (6) appeals to violence. Through introducing the role and relevance of these devices in the language of white supremacists in Charlottesville, the research also maps their interconnectedness in the analyzed discourses in particular and in discriminatory and racist rhetoric in general.

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