A NUMBER of commentators have linked the killing of 20 people at a Walmart store in El Paso in the United States of America last Saturday to the rising tide of White Supremacism. White Supremacism is a belief that whites are superior to others and therefore have a right to dominate them. There were elements of such thinking in a “manifesto” posted online allegedly written by the suspected killer, a 21 year old white from a Dallas suburb. The suspect had justified his massacre as a response “to the Hispanic invasion of Texas” and had made references to the Christchurch shootings in March where a white gunman killed 51 mosque worshippers.
It has been suggested that the notion of white supremacy has become more virulent in the US in the last two years mainly because of president Trump’s rhetoric against Mexicans and other non-white minorities in general. This is the reason why when his daughter Ivanka condemned the El Paso massacre there was an immediate torrent of criticism against her.