Following this summer’s deadly unrest in Charlottesville — kicked off by a group of tiki-torch carrying Nazis and white supremacists — leading Nazi Richard Spencer remained undeterred. He returned to the scene in October with a flash mob and then took his message to the University of Florida, where an audience of hecklers drowned him out. Likewise, Spencer’s brand of white nationalism was shut down by The Guardian‘s Gary Younge in the above clip after Spencer ridiculously uttered this sentiment: “Africans have benefited from their experience with white supremacy.”
Younge’s interview of Spencer arrives alongside his own wide-spanning feature about his exploration of white America, in which he meets up with the proud, suit-wearing Nazi, who Younge (in his feature) describes as an “intellectually unimpressive, historically illiterate huckster.” In response to Spencer’s claim about black people benefiting from slavery (and followup question — “How can you deny that?”), Younge leveled with Spencer:
“It’s such a ridiculous notion, that people forcibly removed from their homes and taken to this country to work for nothing, for a couple of centuries, that that benefited them? Have you ever for a second considered that if they were able to stay in the countries where they were born and lived, and weren’t forcibly removed that those continents might be in a better state now?”
To this, Spencer said that Africans had no impact on history “because we are the genius that drives it.” That didn’t sit well with Younge, who assessed the remark as “talking nonsense,” and the clip ends with Younge dismissing the merry Nazi while insulting his intelligence level and rhetoric:
“The interview is over, you’ve got nothing to say. I was looking for someone who could give some intellectual ballast to what’s going on in this country in terms of race, in terms of white people, but I found the wrong guy. Because you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Between this and Younge’s description of a bourbon-carrying Spencer and his “entourage of adoring bigots,” the feature at The Guardian is worth a full read. Although the piece digs deep into Younge’s impressions and research into the continuing racial divide in America, the shadow of Spencer looms large. The Nazi couldn’t hold his own during this interview, but Spencer points out that his movement is gaining momentum. In response, Younge admits, “This is one of the few accurate things he actually said.” And then comes the kicker: “And by far the most chilling.”
(Via The Guardian)