By William J. Aceves

This Article explores the history of the term “people of color” and its current status in a country struggling to overcome its racist origins. The murders of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many other victims of state violence have generated profound anger, calls for action, and demands for dialogue. It is undoubtedly simplistic to assert that words matter. But accurate descriptions are essential for honest conversations, and words convey meanings beyond their syntax. In discussions about race and racial identity, the term “people of color” is routinely used as the antipode to the white community. Yet little thought is given to its etymology or meaning. Through the use of historical documents, including many from the colonial era, and recent data compiled from search engine queries and social media activity, this Article reveals that the term “people of color” has a rich yet complicated heritage. For centuries, “people of color” was a term with legal significance. While it no longer defines rights, its use still matters. Today, we should embrace this collective terminology because it reflects a shared history among diverse communities and generates power against hierarchy. Because the white community serves as the antipode to people of color, we must also interrogate this other example of collective terminology. To engage in honest conversations about race, power, and privilege, it is time to separate white(ness) from the white community.   

  17 Harv. L. & Pol'y Rev. 79 (2022). Available at:

By Stuart Wexler,  Jon Lewis,  Jessa Mellea,  M.B. Tyler

This report traces the evolution of the Christian Identity milieu in the United States. From its origins in 19th-century Great Britain through its subsequent transnational spread, the Christian Identity movement has long enjoyed a small but fanatical following within the American far right. A racist and antisemitic theology whose followers believe that white people are God’s chosen ones, the Christian Identity ideology has long influenced a wide range of white supremacist and anti-government extremist movements in the United States.[1] Christian Identity militants have engaged in terrorist violence since at least the late 1950s, working under the idea that God will endorse an end-times racial holy war against “demonic” Jews and the sub-human minority groups they have manipulated for centuries.[2] In contextualizing the Christian Identity movement within the broader domestic violent extremist landscape, this report finds that Christian Identity militants often sought to downplay their apocalyptic, genocidal goals to infiltrate, appropriate, and influence more “mainstream” religious extremists, enabling individuals like white Christian nationalists to engage in provocative acts of dangerous violence. In assessing this movement, this report examines the prevalence of two well-worn tactics used by Christian Identity extremists — propaganda of the deed and entryism — and offers a new strategy of necessity evidenced by the movement: co-optive extremism. Through this effort, this report argues that Christian Identity extremists are likely to attempt co-optive extremism to manipulate or provoke larger and more robust (but less outwardly violent) groups, such as militant, white Christian nationalists, into potential acts of mass violence. It also explores the modern strands of Christian Identity ideology that has emerged in a range of domestic extremist movements and ideologies as a result of the mainstreaming of antisemitism within this ecosystem.    

Washington DC:  Program on Extremism at George Washington University, 2024. 37p.