Segregationists framed racial exclusion as defense of churches, schools, and lodges.

Evidence

In its private discussions and public pronouncements, the West Side Mutual Development Committee constantly stressed the importance of neighborhood institutions as sources of community strength. “The values of community life built around schools, churches, lodges and other organizations, are built up over a period of years, even generations,” an official policy statement noted. “In the sense that the city of Atlanta is made up of a number of parts, the city as a whole suffers a loss when an established community is destroyed.” And, in the WSMDC’s mind, established white communities were destroyed by residential desegregation. “In my opinion, transition of a large established community from one racial occupancy pattern to the other is wasteful,” noted WSMDC adviser Bob Stuart. “Community institutions, churches, schools, lodges, etc., are made up of people. If the people are suddenly changed, these institutions are wiped out.” — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 204

Categorization

• DEFINE: Captures how whites redefined residential segregation as protection of ‘community institutions,’ a rhetorical move central to the color-blind reinvention.
• XREF: The claim that institutions are ‘made up of people’ and thus white communities must stay white prefigures the color-blind framing of later suburban conservatism the reader is tracking. — connects to: Competing white supremacist groups were rivals publicly but allies in neighborhood defense. — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 124; Segregationist leaders staged mob intimidation while posing as protectors to force black homebuyers out. — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 133; White segregationists rhetorically reframed racial exclusion as protection of community integrity — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 193 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• The Religious Right’s religious-freedom framing masked its defense of segregation #expands (0.88) — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 112
• Church leaders framed neighborhood defense as protecting church property values. #exemplifies (0.88) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 213
• The label ‘Christian education’ functioned as a cover for racial exclusion. #exemplifies (0.86) — Wikipedia contributors, Segregation Academy, 10
• Segregationists framed their stance as defending their own liberties, not denying others’ #expands (0.85) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 31
• The Religious Right began as a defense of segregated private Christian schools #exemplifies (0.84) — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 6
• Segregationists understood resistance as defending their own rights and freedoms #expands (0.83) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 31
• Excluded whites reframed their segregationism as a defense of beleaguered rights #expands (0.82) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 102
• Segregationists resisted the racist label by invoking God, nature, science, or common sense. #expands (0.78) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 17
• White resistance in transitioning Atlanta neighborhoods targeted institutions like schools and churches. #exemplifies (0.76) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 211
• Segregationist neighborhood defense was rhetorically recast as apolitical community preservation with race unspoken #qualifies (0.72) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 194