White resistance groups recast themselves as citizens with rights to justify segregation.

Evidence

The white residents below Westview Drive, however, were unwilling to trust the black real-estate agents. As whites of the West End had done before, they again decided to unite in “defense” of their neighborhoods. The new group they created, the Southwest Citizens Association, largely resembled its immediate predecessor, the Mozley Park Home Owners’ Protective Association. Still devoted to the “protection” of property owners, the new group’s name signified a new wrinkle to the ideology of resistance. As “citizens,” these middle-class white residents asserted certain rights, such as the right of self-government and the right to private property, but also acknowledged certain duties, such as working with city officials to ensure that their needs and the needs of others were met. — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 169

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Directly feeds the reader’s case study of segregationist ideology being reinvented: the shift from ‘home owners’ to ‘citizens’ reframes neighborhood defense as civic rights rather than racial exclusion.
• XREF: Mirrors the reader’s own work on ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ where moral panics get recast in civic/political language. — connects to: The anti-busing movement mobilized white suburban middle-class moderates, not just ideologues. — Matthew D. Lassiter, The Suburban Origins of “Color-Blind”…, 68; Working-class whites greeted open fascist segregationism with mass enthusiasm. — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 117; Segregationists understood resistance as defending their own rights and freedoms — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 31 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Segregationists understood resistance as defending their own rights and freedoms #expands (1.00) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 31
• Segregationists framed their stance as defending their own liberties, not denying others’ #expands (0.98) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 31
• Excluded whites reframed their segregationism as a defense of beleaguered rights #expands (0.95) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 102
• Segregationist leaders reframed their activism as lawful peacemaking, not bigotry #expands (0.92) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 137
• White segregationists rhetorically reframed racial exclusion as protection of community integrity #expands (0.90) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 193