The Myths and Martyrs of White Christian Nationalism

Media Clip (News Report, Kate Cagle): In the run up to the 2020 election, Beverly Hills became a central gathering point for Trump supporters. Many of those organizers will be back here today at that same park to commemorate the anniversary of January 6, or as they're calling it, Ashli Babbitt day. While many Americans watched rioters breach the US Capitol in shock and horror last January 6, Shiva Bagheri believes it was nothing short of divine intervention that kept her away.

Media Clip (Shiva Bagheri): I'm telling you, the Holy Spirit told me something bad was going to happen, and I listened, I just used my discernment, and I didn't go.

Media Clip (News Report, Kate Cagle): While the freedom rally organizer stayed here, three of her friends were later arrested, including salon owner Gina Bisignano, who pleaded guilty to six charges including obstruction of official proceedings and physical violence in a restricted building.

Media Clip Intro: ...country, very courageous young people who say, 'I'm willing to stick to my claim, make a pledge, and I will abstain until I'm married.' I'm not married yet. I made a claim a long time ago, but I want to recommit myself to say that I will wait until I'm married. So I'm going to do it with them. I'm very proud of y'all. They're so awesome in number, I'm looking at an ocean of young people. And not only do they represent themselves, but each teenager out here, each young person, represents pundits back home that couldn't make it. As they stake their individual claims, their individual commitment cards and drive them to the ground here in the National Mall.

Sara Moslener: Welcome to Pure White, a podcast about sexual purity and white supremacy. I'm your host, Sara Moslener, and this is our final episode: The Myths and Martyrs of Christian Nationalism. Immediately after the 2020 presidential election images of grieving white women, laying prostrate in parking lots, kneeling before the glass doors of election headquarters evoke something unique about white women's symbolic power in the United States. These women were praying for the re-election of Donald Trump, whom they believed had been anointed by God to organize the US political landscape according to their deeply held religious beliefs. Trump had made significant headway in that regard by appointing three conservative justices to the Supreme Court, shifting the nature and practices of that court in the direction that white evangelicals expected, most significantly, resulting in the overturn of Roe v Wade. But by November 6, 2020, with most of the ballots counted, it appeared that Trump had lost re-election, and the only remaining intervention was direct supernatural involvement.

Media Clip (Election offices in Nevada):

Sara: It's hard to hear in this clip, but what we're listening to are people praying at the doors and in the parking lots of election offices in Nevada. The quiet murmurings are accompanied by images of women kneeling and raising their hands, even touching the door of the office in prayer. They are asking God to intercede in the election results. For these white women Trump's loss was a spiritual dilemma. If God had anointed him to remake the nation according to traditional (i.e. white Christian) values, why had God abandoned the plan? The existential and constitutional crisis that ensued demonstrated just how easily Trump and his team were able to manipulate white Christians into acknowledging him as anointed. And when he called to avenge the injustice, they showed up.

Media Clip (Woman rallying): We, the people, are not going to take it anymore. You are not going to take away our Trumpy bear. You are not going to take away our votes and our freedom that our men died for. We will never let our country go...

Sara: Among the people arrested and charged for participating in the Capitol Insurrection on January 6, 2021, were 102 white women. According to the report, The Women of January 6th, produced by the Extremism Program at George Washington University, 33 of those women face felony charges and 66 face misdemeanor charges. The report describes how women play a unique role in far right organizations, one they described as based on, quote, 'traditional gender roles.' As you've probably figured out by now, what we mean by this phrase, 'traditional gender roles' in the United States is the gendered order that was developed in the 19th century with women defined by their work in the domestic sphere and men in the public sphere. Gender roles that characterize white women as innately nurturing, virtuous, moral and innocent. Though observers of these women are less interested in their sexual status, they are primarily defined by their caregiving work and their relationships to the men in their lives. The report explains how this is a common practice with far right organizations. It found that women are especially good in conducting PR for their groups because they offer a 'softer' presentation of the groups' goals. By leaning into these feminine traits, women lend their 'good reputations' to the movement they are part of. White women in the contemporary US have these good reputations for the same reasons they did in the 19th century-- they use their racial power to support male-dominated hierarchies. In short, their good reputations allow them to forward very disreputable ideologies. This is why the stories and images of white women attacking the Capitol on January 6th have confounded many people. Here's Tucker Carlson trying to make sense of it all. Also trigger warning, because... Tucker Carlson.

Media Clip (Tucker Carlson): The second thing to consider, and it's related to the first, is why the woman who was killed today went to the rally in the first place. We don't know anything about her, but she did not look particularly radical. She bore no resemblance to the angry children we have seen again and again wrecking our cities. Pasty, entitled nihilist, dressed in black, setting fire, spray painting slogans on statues. She didn't look like that. The one in the capitol hallway looked pretty much like everyone else. So why was she there on a Wednesday? Why were any of them there today?

Sara: This was before Carlson knew the woman shot and killed by Capitol Police was 36 year old Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran who had been radicalized by the Q-Anon conspiracy theories. Right-wing discussion boards soon referred to Babbitt as an innocent girl, and she became quickly venerated as a martyr by many on the right, including elected officials. Here is representative Paul Gosar attempting to get information about the Capitol police officer who shot Babbitt.

Media Clip (Paul Gosar): It's disturbing-- the Capitol police officer that did the shooting, Ashli appeared, appeared to be hiding, lying in wait, and they gave no warning before killing her. Question again, why hasn't that officer that executed Ashli Babbitt been named when police officers around the country are routinely identified after a shooting?

Media Clip (Person Paul Gosar is questioning): Can't comment on that case. It's not one that we've been directly involved in, so I really can't agree or disagree with your characterization.

Media Clip (Paul Gosar): Sounds good. Do you approve of lethal force against unarmed citizens? Particularly 110 pound woman with no warning, no use of non-lethal force prior, and while laying in wait?

Media Clip (Person Paul Gosar is questioning): Not going to try to answer a hypothetical, especially one based on a case that I--

Media Clip (Paul Gosar): It wasn't hypothetical. That's actually what happened.

Sara: Notice the way he's trying to describe Ashli as non-threatening and as the victim of violence, rather than a violent offender who was stopped by Capitol Police. He describes her as an unarmed, 110 pound woman, her quote, 'executioner' was hiding in wait. But Babbitt was a military veteran who was deployed to Iraq. And she was carrying a weapon. A three inch Paraforce pocket knife marketed with the words, 'Be Ready for Anything Life Throws at You.' In his book, 'Undertow: Scenes From a Slow Civil War', Jeff Sharlet describes how the story of Babbitt's death took on a familiar narrative after it was discovered the police officer who shot her was Black.

Media Clip (Jeff Sharlet, MSNBC segment): Well, as soon as I saw Ashli Babbitt killed, and she's often spoken of as unarmed, but she wasn't. She was carrying a pretty nasty little knife. That's the knife on the cover. That's the evidence photo. As soon as I saw her death on January 6th, and you could see the hands of the police officer who killed her, and he was a Black man, and because I'm an American and I study American history and mythology, I knew what the right was going to do with that. And sure enough, within days they were telling the same old story, the lynching story. They were aging Ashli back, making her a martyr. They would say she was smaller, younger, almost as if whiter, as if a little white girl. There's a lot of people who speak of the right as a 'death cult,' but I think in some ways we can understand it as an 'innocence cult.' They want to be innocent of history, innocent of race, and Ashli Babbitt served as this whiteness martyr. So now you have the situation where the Proud Boys hand out challenge coins with Ashli's face on it. There are Ashli Babbitt flags. And 'One More in the Name of Love' tweets. Representative Paul Gosar retooling a U2 song for Martin Luther King for Ashli Babbitt. #Sayhername, they say retooling a hashtag created for Black women for Ashli Babbitt. I went to a rally where Ashli Babbitt's mother spoke-- turned into a brawl between Proud Boys and counter-protesters. Black Lives Matter protesters were chanting, 'Black lives matter.' It was the birthday of Breonna Taylor and the Ashli Babbitt crowd started counter-chanting 'Ashli Babbitt' And that was their answer to Black Lives Matter-- one white woman.

Sara: If White Christian Nationalism is an innocence cult, then white women are its mascots. Following the insurrection, proclamations of innocence ricocheted from social media to Trump's pulpit and back again. These women were innocent-- they were following the instructions of their MAGA Savior and hell-bent on exonerating him and themselves.

Media Clip (Gina Bisignano): My name is Gina Bisignano. I'm from Beverly Hills, I'm ginasbeverlyhills on Instagram, and they [inaudible] the shit out of me. They try to ruin my business. They shut me down on the Patriots.

Media Clip (Person interviewing Gina Bisignano): Your'e not shut down. You just got big.

Media Clip (Gina Bisignano): I love my country and I love my president, and I'm a single mother, and I love my Lord. And they can't take away our county.

Media Clip (Person interviewing Gina Bisignano): Jesus is the King of this!

Media Clip (Gina Bisignano): He's our King, and Trump is our president.

Sara: That was Gina Bisignano, a cosmetologist from Beverly Hills, California. She was arrested and indicted on January 21, 2021 for her participation in the insurrection. In this social media post, she raises her sunglasses to show her mascara running down her face because she's been sprayed with tear gas by Capitol Police. Notice how she identifies herself as a single mother, then expresses her love for Jesus and for Trump. Another video shows her with a bull horn, inspiring the crowd calling for assistance as the mob pounds on the windows of the Capitol building.

Media Clip (Gina Bisignano): Everybody, we need gas masks! We need weapons! We need strong, angry patriots to help our boys! They don't want to leave. We need protection!

Sara: Her use of gendered language is interesting. She excludes women who fight in the military and actively recruits assistants for 'the boys' she is with. Who are presumably doing the heavy lifting of breaking the windows. A later image shows her throwing an empty can of tear spray into a group of police, her only effort to participate in the physical altercation. According to the George Washington University report on women's involvement in January 6th, women's lawyers and the women themselves frequently insisted on their innocence. They are presented as caregivers, as wives, as mothers. They are also presented as lacking knowledge, as if entirely ignorant of their actions and the context in which they happened. Bisigiano described her involvement in January 6th as a passive one to her local newspaper, the Beverly Hills Courier. She said, 'I was caught up, I was scared, I was excited. A guy said to say that over the megaphone. I don't even remember saying it.' At her arraignment the next month, Bisisignano pled not-guilty to all charges, including Obstruction of an Official Proceeding, Civil Disorder, and Engaging in Physical Violence in a Restricted Building despite documentary evidence of her guilt. Eventually, she did accept a plea deal, but later challenged it because the charges didn't match her understanding of what she had done. On her business's Yelp page, commentators were referring to Bisignano as a terrorist. To which she responded to her local newspaper, 'I want to clear my name. Everybody in Beverly Hills knows I am not. I am not a terrorist. I am a Christian.' Following up with a final declaration, 'I didn't do anything.'

Babbit and Bisignano were just two of the many white women whose innate innocence was used to cast January 6th as a righteous cause. Reporter Andre McCormick overheard a woman that day declaring to a small group of people, as he wrote, in the Nation, "'This is not America,' a woman said to a small group, her voice shaking. She was crying-- hysterical. 'They're shooting at us. They're supposed to shoot BLM, but they're shooting the Patriots.'" Because of statements like this, I wondered if January 6th was as much about white people's fears about Black Lives Matter as it was about Trump's election loss. There's no denying that the insurrection was conducted by white people, people who believed, like President Trump, that Black Lives Matter protests were a threat to national security. Another white woman present that day summed it up best in a now infamous tweet, 'Definitely not going to jail. Sorry, I have blonde hair, white skin, a great job, a great future, and I'm not going to jail. Sorry to rain on your hater parade. I did nothing wrong.' In November of that same year, Jenna Ryan was found guilty and sentenced to 60 days in prison.

So we've traced a rather long history of sexual purity and white supremacy in just eight episodes. Yes, there's much more to say, more nuance to detail, but it's important for us in this moment to use our collective past in order to make sense of the present. The ideology of sexual purity is a powerful one that has secured white women's reputation for innocence. And in doing so, has offered white women access to a unique form of racial power that can be utilized on the national stage. Whether we elect to deploy this racial power or not, the United States has always acknowledged the representational power of white womanhood and its ability to contribute to broader myths of national innocence. Far-right extremist groups and actions have increased significantly since the election of our first Black president. But these tropes exist across the political spectrum and appear in much more mundane ways. They socialize young white women and girls into a world where their value is marked by being perceived as innocent and vulnerable, and reward us when we play these roles. It is for our sake that most sex education is nothing more than lessons laced with sexual fear and anxiety. In churches and families, sex is presented as dangerous to girls who must work overtime to protect themselves from male sexuality, while at the same time tasked with controlling male sexuality. Sexual fear in the United States is not race-neutral. Learning to fear sex and sexuality is learning to believe what Ida B. Wells called the lynching myth, to believe that it's true. Sexual fear does not exist without fear of the racial other. This is why the Southern Baptist Convention teaches its young people to wait for true love, but also fails to adequately address the problem of systemic racism. This is why right-wing groups point to the security and innocence of white children to justify the erasure of Black history and the truth of this nation's violent past. If you have personal experience in evangelical purity culture, I know it has shattered some part of yourself. I have interviewed, followed and read so many of you in the last decade that there is no denying how damaging it was for all of us. It's a spectrum of harm that includes religious trauma, sexual shame, an inability to have and enjoy sex, and sexual abuse and assault. But underneath all those fucking stupid object lessons with chewed gum, crushed cookies, and toothpaste, was something even more sinister about our collective national past. In the United States, purity and impurity have always been racially coded. To be white is to be free and pure. To not be white is to be suspect and impure. Purity culture didn't just form us sexually. It formed us racially. If you listen to people of color who grew up in purity culture in a white church, you see this so very clearly. So seek out those people on social media and other publications and listen to their stories. I've listed some of those in the show notes of this episode. Sexual purity taught us something about being white. And for those of us who are white women, it taught us that the preservation of our purity entitled us to a racial power, a racial power that keeps us invested in the United States as a white Christian nation.

This has been Pure White, a podcast about sexual purity and white supremacy. A final thank you to my amazing producer, Brad Onishi, my incredible editor, Scott Okamoto, and to our production assistant, Kari Onishi. You all have been such an incredible support system. I could not have done this without you. Thank you, everyone for listening. I will see you again soon.

Bradley Onishi: Pure White is a production of Axis Mundi Media, a podcast network dedicated to making research-based content in order to connect the ivory tower to the grassroots. Check out extras for this series and everything else we're doing at www.axismundi.us.