“Both men are underwriting the whitening of American nationalism, and the re-centering of white lives as lives that matter most in the U.S.,” she wrote.

Nights can turn bright if the world mysteriously whitens, as though one’s optic nerves were rebelling.

One was laser whitening, in which a laser beam activates a chemical bleaching agent applied to the teeth; Dr. Smigel helped develop and popularize it.