No, I won’t stop saying “white supremacy”

Greene and Bowman are US Congress members. Green is White, Bowman Black.

Greene is a Donald Trump admirer. Rolling Stone describes her as “well known” for “her bigotry” and “association with white supremacists".

white supremacist v N-word

George M Fredrickson defines white supremacy as, “the attitudes, ideologies, and policies associated with the rise of blatant forms of white or European dominance over “nonwhite” population.” (Fredrickson, 1983)

White supremacy “is central to much of what happens in society; to vast areas of legislation, to the economic hierarchy, to practices and perceptions”, (Abbey, 2023).

A white supremacist is a person who believes the white “race” is superior to non-white “races” and should control them.

The phrase white supremacist is a descriptor at the core of antiracist language. Antiracists use it to identify racists.

“White supremacy captures the all-encompassing centrality and assumed superiority of people defined and perceived as white.” (DiAangelo,2017)

Historically, the N-word is “racist language” “white supremacist” use to insult Black people.

By equating the N-word with “white supremacist” Greene is saying “you too” Bowman uses “racist language”. “You too” are racist.

“You too” is a poisonous revenge slur against anti-racists. It tars them with the same brush as white supremacists. Bob Whitaker did the same when he invented the white supremacists' slogan: “Anti-Racist is a Code Word for Anti-White”. (ADL)

Reverse Racism

Greene was playing the “reverse racism card”.

“The ‘reverse racism card’ is often pulled by white people when people of color call out racism and discrimination” (Blay, 2015).

She is not the first to play the reverse racism card as revenge against a Black person. Luckily Bowman is not a social housing tenant in Britain.

If he was, and Greene his landlord’s employee, she could evict or imprisoned him for causing her offense. I will explain how later.

Anti-racist language

10 years before Greene played her reverse racism card, Midland Heart Ltd played theirs. Midland Heart is a Birmingham housing association.

For years in blogs on his website, a Black tenant had called out Midland Heart’s failure to employ nonwhite executives and senior managers. “Call outs and calls in are both methods of calling attention to problematic, harmful and oppressive behaviour with the ultimate aim being changed behavior and the making of amends”. (Saad, 2020)

The landlord’s tenancy agreement forbids tenants from causing “nuisance” and “racial and other harassment” of the landlord’s employees and others. (Link to copy of tenancy agreement)

In 2013, the tenant wrote in two separate emails to his landlord’s operation manager, who is White: “It is my sincerely [sic] opinion and belief, which the Human Rights Act 1998 permits me to hold and express, that you, David Cockcroft, are ‘a pitiful little racist’ and “a duplicitous white supremacist”.

The manager said describing him as “a racists” and “a white duplicitous supremacist” was “defamatory and offensive language”.

He also said: “Your comments regarding me have caused me both offence and annoyance”.

“Those offensive comments constitute a breach of your tenancy agreement”, the landlord alleged.

At about mid-day on Christmas Eve 2013, the tenant received by email attachment a letter from his landlord. It invited him to sign an Acceptable Behaviour Contract (ABC). If he did not sign, the landlord would apply to the Court for an injunction or possession order. He would have to pay the landlord’s Court costs.

The tenant refused to sign the ABC.

Banning offensive belief

6 February 2014, a landlord employee visited the tenant’s home. He gave him the landlord’s court application for an injunction, and a draft injunction.

The Court hearing was set for 21 February 2014, 15 days from the date of service.

The draft injunction would stop the tenant from: “using offensive or racist language, capable of causing nuisance, annoyance and/or distress” to the landlord’s employees and others.

In other words, the injunction would ban the tenant from expressing his “opinion and belief” that a Midland Heart employee is a white supremacist.

Like Greene, Midland Heart appears to equate the “N-word” with white supremacist. Each is “racist language”, apparently.

“Legal tool”

However, unlike Greene the Housing Act 1996 (“the Act”) gave Midland Heart “the legal tool” to stop Black tenants using the white supremacist phrase. The tool includes demotion, injunction, and possession.

Section 153 (“s153”) of the Act allows Midland Heart to apply to a court for an anti-social behaviour injunction (ASBI).

ASBI means “an injunction that prohibits the person in respect of whom it is granted from engaging in housing-related anti-social conduct of a kind specified in the injunction”.

The Act says: “‘anti-social conduct’ means conduct capable of causing nuisance or annoyance to some person (who need not be a particular identified person)”.

Anti-social conduct is “criminal conduct” punished using section s153 (Jackson, 2013).

The “criminal conduct” specified in Midland Heart’s draft injunction was what it said was the tenant’s use of “racist language”. In other words, the white supremacist phrase.

If the tenant defied the ASBI, s153 permits Midland Heart to have the tenant sent to prison for breaching the injunction.

Racism never victimless

On Trustpilot reviews, tenants have expressed fears some Midland Heart staffs are “racist”. “there [they’re] racist against a certain race” (Jane, 2022). “[Some]of the current staff do not show that they are able to perform their role without bias or prejudice, (Amri, 2023)”

Landlords’ disregard for tenants’ complaints was a factor in Awaab Ishak’s and Grenfell victims’ deaths. Like Awaab Ishak, most Grenfell tenants who died were nonwhite. “Grenfell is inextricably linked with race. It is the elephant in the room” (Thomas, 2020).

Out s153, in s2

s153 is replaced by s2 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 (“2014 Act”).

s2 gives Midland Heart the same powers as s153 to treat Black tenants’ discrimination complaint as anti-social “criminal conduct”. s5 of the 2014 Act empowers Midland Heart to apply to a court for an injunction against further “criminal conduct”. If the tenant defies the injunction, under s10 Midland Heart can apply to the court for an arrest warrant.

Review s2

s2 like s153 enables Midland Heart to equate an anti-racist phrase, white supremacist, as “racist language”, such as the N-word, in order to control Black people’s freedom of expression regarding institutional racism. In particular, when some Midland Heart’s “staff do not show that they are able to perform their role without bias or prejudice,” (Amri, 2023).

Such control allows social landlord to ignore with impunity complaints of Grenfell victims and Awaab Ishak’s parents.

The way Midland Heart has used s153, and would use s2, is not consistent with a society that detest ideas of white supremacy.

This website works for a parliamentary review of s2 to stop Midland Heart using it to ban Black tenants expressing “opinion and belief” about its staff racist conduct.