I can’t take credit for the title. I stumbled across it while listening to recordings of The Charlie Kirk Show. On the day of Kirk’s assassination, guest host Andrew Kolvet — joined by Libby Emmons — aired a segment under that headline, arguing that white people are under attack by people of other races. I won’t address Kirk himself here; that will come once more is known about his killer and his motives.
The theme was hardly new in right‑wing circles. In 2009, Rush Limbaugh used the phrase on The Rush Limbaugh Show after a video surfaced of a white student being beaten by a Black student in Belleville, Illinois:
“In Obama’s America, it’s open season on white people," said Limbaugh. "The white kids now get beat up with the Black kids cheering.”
The local police chief initially framed the fight as racial, but later walked that back after reviewing the footage. In reality, both white and Black students were seen cheering, and others of both races tried to stop the fight. Still, Limbaugh’s framing was amplified across right‑wing media. The Drudge Report ran with the headline: “White student beaten on school bus; crowd cheers.” Talk radio across the country seized on it for days.
Limbaugh didn’t invent the phrase. It had been floating around since the 1990s in local talk radio, early internet forums, and social media. But he gave it a national platform — and a face. Limbaugh found ways to attack Barack Obama daily; this was just one example.
In April 2015, Bill O’Reilly posed the same question on Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor. Discussing the 2016 presidential race, he argued that cultural and political forces were biased against white men and Christians, and that this would help Hillary Clinton’s campaign. His claim ignored the persistence of white and male privilege in the U.S., but supporters saw it as a blunt acknowledgment of what they viewed as anti‑white, anti‑Christian sentiment. O’Reilly first made the remark during the Ferguson protests and repeated it as Clinton faced Donald Trump in 2016.
In 2023, it was alleged that Brittney McClure of Morrow, Georgia, was charged for livestreaming a video declaring it was “open season” on white people and police officers. But there is no verifiable news coverage or law‑enforcement press release matching that description — no trace in mainstream or local Georgia outlets, police blotters, or court archives. This alleged McClure should not be confused with unrelated individuals of the same name in other states, including the Michigan white woman charged with having sex with her dog.
The “open season” narrative fits a long‑standing pattern: highlighting attacks on white people by Black perpetrators, a trope that in earlier eras targeted “savage” Native Americans and later expanded to immigrants from Mexico, Latin and South America, China, and Haiti. Today, it’s hyped not only by social media and podcasts but also from the Oval Office during this administration.
The recent stabbing of Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light‑rail train is now being held up as proof of a “war on white people.” The accused killer, 34‑year‑old Decarlos Brown, allegedly mumbled, “I got that white girl.” Brown has a lengthy criminal record and now faces state charges of first‑degree murder and a federal charge for committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, he suffered from hallucinations and paranoia and had previously attacked his sister — who is not white.
Coverage has focused heavily on his release from jail on cashless bail, rather than the lack of mental‑health programs that might have prevented Zarutska’s death. Brown is becoming the new Willie Horton. Donald Trump has called for his execution — just as he once called for the death penalty for the Central Park Five, who were later exonerated by DNA evidence.
The “us vs. them” frame has deep roots in American politics, with “us” historically meaning white people. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the aptly-named Know‑Nothing movement and later segregationists warned that Catholics, immigrants, or Black Americans would “take over” unless stopped. During WWII, some leaders justified Japanese‑American internment by portraying them as a potential fifth column. Today, contemporary politicians and media figures have embraced “replacement” or “invasion” narratives — suggesting that immigration or demographic change is an intentional threat to white political power. The Center for American Progress notes that certain white nationalist ideas have migrated from the fringe into mainstream talking points, framing white Americans as an embattled majority that must “defend” itself.
Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly made fortunes from race‑baiting. Politicians have won or held office by appealing to a white base, aided by redistricting and gerrymandering that secure their seats — and their influence.
The truth is, there has never been an “open season” on white people — only a lucrative market for those willing to sell the idea. From talk‑radio provocateurs to politicians clinging to power, the myth endures because it works: it stokes fear, cements loyalty, and distracts from the fundamental inequities that demand our attention. The danger isn’t that white America is under siege, but that too many are willing to believe it.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of William Spivey's work on Medium. And if you dig his words, buy the man a coffee.