The Apartheid Conscience: Gender, Race, and Re-imagining the White Nation in Cyberspace

Amer i can eq u a l i ty began as an oxymoron . A l though Amer ican n at ion a l i sm i s ded i cated to t h e propos i t ion o f freedom, l i berty, eq u a l i ty, a n d t h e pu rsu i t of h a p p i ness, th i s p ropos i t ion or ig i n a l l y extended exc l u s i ve ly to a c i rcumscr i bed comm u n ity determi ned by race. Wh i l e c i t izens h i p i s now defi ned by more e qu i ta b l e means, rac i a l i neq u a l i ty rema ins t h e norm. Th i s i s c l e a r i n a var iety of ways but is espec i a l l y v i s i b l e spa ti a l l y in that race cont i nues to prov ide the organ izat ion of U.S . urban geogra phy. Forty yea rs after the str i k ing down of the J im Crow l aws that lega l i zed segregat ion, se l f-segregat i on i s ensur ing that c i t ies in the Un i ted States rema i n the "most rac i a l l y segregated urban a reas in the wor ld ." Des p i te mass i ve rac i a l c hanges fo l l ow ing the c i v i l r ights movement and the contem po rary w ides pread acceptance of mu l t i cu l tura l i sm, m ass ive segregat ion pers i sts. As Jess ie Dan ie l s wr i tes, whereas stat ist i c a l l y wh i tes a re contem porar i l y more l i ke l y to be to l e rant of rac i a l d i vers i ty, "wh i te peop le vote w ith the i r mov i ng vans" whenever peop l e of co lor rep resent more than seven percent of the pop u l at ion