Al Jazeera People & Power

White Power USA (2010x2)

: 30, 2010

Two years ago the election of Barack Obama, the US president, was hailed as a turning point in US race relations. The country was said to be entering a new era of post-racial politics, on the path to a future of greater diversity and tolerance. But while crowds flocked to Washington to witness their new leader's inauguration, others were refusing to join the party. Racially motivated threats against Obama rose to new heights in the first months of his presidency, with the US seeing nine high-profile race killings in 2009. Meanwhile white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups claim their membership is growing and that visits to their websites are increasing. With important Congressional elections in a few weeks time, People & Power looks back at this earlier report which set out to investigate whether the racial undercurrent that has long structured US politics was reasserting itself. Filmmakers Rick Rowley and Jacquie Soohen went inside the white nationalist movement to investigate. In the process we uncovered links between white nationalists and a conservative movement that has since become a force within more mainstream politics.