Kathleen Belew is an international authority on the White-Power Movement and Assistant Professor of History at the university of Chicago.

Her 2018 book, BRING THE WAR HOME: THE WHITE POWER MOVEMENT AND PARAMILITARY AMERICA, published by The Harvard University Press, was a hugely important work toward our understanding of the international white supremacy movement.

She now has a compilation of essays, A FIELD GUIDE TO WHITE SUPREMACY, which she co-edited with her colleague at the University of Chicago, History Professor, Ramón A. Gutiérrez. It contains the writings of a diverse group of writers, among them Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Jamelle Bouie, Judith Butler, Rebecca Solnit, just to name a few.

In September of 2019, Professor Belew was a witness at a congressional hearing on confronting white nationalism. In her witness statement, she described the white power movement as a threat to our democracy and that that is was transnational. Her research and writings decry the notion that attacks such as the massacres at the Christchurch Mosque, the Tree of Life Synagogue, or the El Paso walmart are the work of lone wolves. We spoke with Kathleen Belew on October 28, 2021.

Articles referred or pertinent to this interview can be found here:

A historian of white power reacts to the Rittenhouse verdict: ‘a bonanza for the far-right’ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/24/historian-white-power-reacts-kyle-rittenhouse-verdict-far-right

Three Trials in America – The conversations playing out in courtrooms in Kenosha, Charlottesville, and Georgia are revealing https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/10/kenosha-charlottesville-georgia-trials-justice-system-race.html

Neo-Nazi duo handed nine-year US prison terms over apparent attack plot https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/28/neo-nazi-the-base-far-right-us-prison-terms

Victims of Charlottesville Rally Argue the Violence Was Planned https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/24/us/charlottesville-rally-trial.html

U.S. Border Agency Settles With 2 Americans Detained for Speaking Spanish https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/26/us/montana-spanish-border-patrol.html?searchResultPosition=1

A 19th-Century Law Dismantled The KKK. Now It Could Bring Down A New Generation Of Extremists https://www.huffpost.com/entry/charlotesville-spencer-kessler-trial-spitalnik_n_61730a2ee4b09314320ae288

How higher education can win the war against neoliberalism and white supremacy https://www.salon.com/2021/10/24/how-higher-education-can-win-the-against-neoliberalism-and-supremacy/

2020 Had The Most Reported Hate Crimes Since 2001: FBI Data https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fbi-2020-hate-crimes-asian-americans_n_6176fd81e4b010d933148e55

“Diversity,” “White Supremacist” Among Terms WI GOP Seeks to Ban in Schools https://truthout.org/articles/diversity-white-supremacist-among-terms-wi-gop-seeks-to-ban-in-schools/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=1e0e4c93-75bb-4f98-941f-8f5c9ca0dbce

California synagogue killer not allowed to speak as he gets life without parole https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/01/california-synagogue-killer-not-allowed-speak-life-without-parole

Abortion Has Just Never Been About Abortion https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/opinion/abortion-evangelicals-conservatives.html

White supremacists declare war on democracy and walk away unscathedhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/10/white-supremacists-war-on-democracy-unscathed