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The video is an in-depth interview with a 22 year-old man named

Matt Heimbach. Matt Heimbach is an advocator of separatism in which


he believes in a pure white power, and that all the other races should
be segregated and displaced away. Throughout the 14 minutes video,
it quickly documents the journey of this young individual, spreading his
views of racial separatism and creating awareness amongst the
masses, hoping to garner support for his campaign. He would stop at
nothing to achieve his intended end goal of separatism. In his quest to
gain as much influence, Matt Heimbach is willing to try anything
including seeking an alliance with Dawah Yisrael and Reverend Mmoja
Ajabu, both of whom are black nationalists. The video also illustrates
the sacrifices that Matt Heimbach made in his quest as a white
nationalist especially so in his personal life.
In the perspectives of Emile Durkheim, the ideas of Matt
Heimbach would be considered backward and instead of society
progression, his ideas of the future would lead society back into
regression. Durkheim emphasizes on the significance of social order.
Social order is necessary to hold a society together and is dependable
on a complex system of many different dependable aspects working
together to provide stability. As of now, the current modern society is
ever evolving as it constantly reshapes itself to cater to the demands
of its people. Changes are gradual and predictable as a society
attempts to be in constant dynamic equilibrium, an effort to maintain
social order and equality. Being in a society with social order requires a
set of shared social norms for a society to function. Arguably we might
be far from complete social equality, but the state of anomie is
something to be avoided at all costs.
According to the Durkheim, anomie is when a society loses its
direction because its control of its individuals has become ineffective.
Quoting the example from the textbook, Durkheim argued, an
increase in the division of labor, a defining characteristic of modern

societies, meant that individuals shared fewer common experiences,


ideas and values (14). That means that the society is not as closely
bind as they used to due to the action of diversifying. Heimbachs idea
of whites contravenes and at the same time observes Durkheims
views as a functionalist.
Heimbach wishes to separate the whites from the rest of the
other races, as he strongly believes in his love for his people and his
country. He believes that the United States is his country and because
he is white, therefore only whites should inhibit the country. In the
views of Durkheim, theoretically speaking, this could work as, people
performing similar tasks held societies together including, sharing
similar views, language and symbols. An all white society in
Heimbachs eyes could surely work out. But that is considered
primitive. In modern societies today, race and color should not have an
influence in performing similar tasks and sharing similar views and
language. Heimbach is focused on the individuals when he should be
looking at social facts. Social facts are what that brings a society
together such as, religious beliefs, morals, values, customs and more.
Although Heimbach could find like-minded individuals who share his
vision, at the same time he received a lot of backlash on his
unorthodox mindset.
Marxs views can be related to Dawah Yisrael and Reverend
Mmoja Ajabu in the video. Marx looks at crime and economical factors
as evidence of inequality in the system. The video quoted that at his
alma mater, Towson University, Heimbach organized safety patrols
claiming that there was a high amount of black on white crime. But
according to the police, Towson University was the safest campus in
the Maryland university system. Heimbach wanted to capitalize on that
notion to aid his campaign. Both Yisrael and Ajabu view the societys
inequality as a correlation to race. Dawah Yisrael was frustrated with
the society as an African American man. Very much like Heimbach,

Dawah and Ajabu are basically the same idealists fighting for the same
rights for their people. The phrase, The enemy of my enemy is my
friend comes into play as Heimbach seeks alliances with like-minded
individuals. Although they seem to be fighting for different things, the
concepts that they believe in are similar. The conflict perspective is
evidently shown here with the potential of laying up an alliance
between these hate groups.
Ajabu was seen saying that he was agitated by the justice
system when his son was convicted of murder, a crime he insisted that
his son did not commit and he attributes it to his race. The evidence of
conflict can be reflected when Ajabu said, that goes on every day. Go
into a courtroom. If theyre white, it seems like there is respect, but if
the defendant is black, its sit down, shut up, you aint got nothing to
say. Its a whole different world. There is evidence of white privilege in
this aspect due to the given power and influence in society. With the
inequality in terms of treatment and respect, there is therefore tension
between the races.
There is also evidence of an implied chaotic social order. When
asked if Heimbach knew his intended path would eventually lead to
violence, he answered, some things are worth fighting for. He is
willing to involve violence in his campaign as a white nationalist.
Comte divided sociology into social statics and social dynamics.
Social statics focuses on how order is maintained, holding a society
together. Language, religion and division of labor are the three main
factors that hold a society together. Interpreting the video with
Comtes theory, Heimbach is trying to create a society in which he
thinks is perfect with an all white community, his reason being that his
ancestors were the ones who fought for the land and therefore deserve
the country. Heimbach believes that his racism beliefs would lead
America towards the good society, achieving social order with positive
social change.

Social dynamics depends on historical perceptions to study the


progress of the social changes. Slavery was abolished but yet
Heimbach felt that those were the good old days. The events in the
past support the changes we have made and justify the progress of our
current society. Heimbachs idea and approach of reverting to the past
would defy Comtes theory of progress and basically destroy the multi
racial harmony that the past had worked so hard to achieve for.
With the above analysis, I feel that the conflict paradigm is
strongly represented in this video as the foundation of all arguments
and ideas are based on race. Race is a very sensitive subject and is
broad enough to substantiate differences in social treatment. It is also
one of the more common topics of debate in social inequality. Racial
treatment is still a very real conflict to tackle as we live in a multi racial
society in current times. The conflict theory is a good representation of
the video discussed.
Video Link: The Young and the Racist
http://digital.films.com.ezp.pasadena.edu/PortalViewVideo.aspx?
xtid=57404&psid=0&sid=0&State=&IsSearch=N&parentSeriesID=&tS
cript=0
Works cited:
http://oscareducation.blogspot.in/2013/03/social-statics-and-dynamicsaccording.html
http://oscareducation.blogspot.in/2013/03/social-statics-anddynamics.html
Textbook

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