White nationalist attacks should be prosecuted as terrorism, lawmakers say
White nationalist attacks should be prosecuted as terrorism, lawmakers say
Alexander Nazaryan 22 hours ago
It was a poignant, disturbing moment from a House Oversight hearing on white nationalism. Tlaib wiped the tears away as she read the vitriolic words, leading Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., seated next to Tlaib, to put a consoling hand on her shoulder. Meanwhile, on the dais behind them, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, fiddled with a smartphone plug.
Tlaib and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. are the first Muslim women in Congress. Both have been the targets of political attacks, but also of threats on their lives. A man in New York was arrested in April for threatening to kill Omar.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. (Photo: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
“How is that not enough to fall under domestic terrorism?” Tlaib wondered aloud, speaking of the letter she had received.
That was the central question of the hearing, the second conducted on white nationalism by the civil rights and civil liberties subcommittee. It is a question without an easy answer, because while U.S. law does define domestic terrorism, there is no specific criminal charge for it. That means white nationalists can be prosecuted on charges related to weapons, hate crimes and other laws, but they are not prosecuted or punished the same way as terrorists affiliated with a foreign group like the Islamic State would likely be.
Similarly, the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center is not allowed to track purely domestic terrorists , including white nationalists.
The hearing comes at a time when white nationalism poses an increasing threat to national security. In his opening statement, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and the subcommittee’s chairman cited Anti-Defamation League findings that between 2009 and 2018, far-right extremists were responsible for 73 percent of murders, while Islamic terrorists were behind 23 percent of murders. But the FBI’s commitment of manpower was “almost exactly backwards from what the problem would suggest,” reflecting the intense need to stop and destroy al-Qaida after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Police leave the area after a small group from a KKK-affiliated group gathered in May for a rally in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo: Seth Herald/AFP/Getty Images)Raskin also said that while law enforcement has managed to stop about three-fourths of all attacks by Islamic radicals since 2001, only about one-fourth of attacks by far-right extremists had been stopped during that same time period, citing the findings of a University of Maryland terrorism center. “How many far-right extremist attacks could have been prevented if we had taken that threat as seriously as we had taken the threat of Islamist fanatical extremism?” Raskin said, adding that, according to the Anti-Defamation League, every one of the 50 murders committed by a domestic extremist in 2018 was tied to a far-right cause. Most, he said, were explicitly committed in the name of white supremacy.
The seeming gap in the current law was highlighted in the recent case of Christopher Hasson, a Maryland man who allegedly intended to kill Democratic lawmakers and members of the media in Washington. Arrested on drug and gun charges, he was ordered released on bail in April , a decision that was met with widespread outrage.
There was plenty of both emotions in the hearing room on Tuesday afternoon, in part because a number of critics argue federal law regarding domestic terrorism is woefully inadequate to deal with the new varieties of old hatreds that have sprouted in the digital age.
Sometimes, lawmakers simply struggled to understand why the law was so incomplete, as when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., asked the hearing’s key witness, Michael McGarrity, assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, “Is the white supremacy issue not a global issue?”
She seemed to be making the point that white nationalists could potentially have ties to international organizations just like terrorists who have pledged their allegiance to ISIS.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. (Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)McGarrity acknowledged that white supremacy had, indeed, gone global. Only the law had not kept up. “The United States Congress doesn’t have a statute for us to use domestic terrorism like we do on foreign terrorists organizations,” he explained.
Later, in response to another lawmaker, he seemed to express support for possible new laws for domestic terrorism. “I want every tool in the toolbox — and I want options,” McGarrity said.
He also faced tough questioning from Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., who wanted to know about the alleged monitoring of “Black Identity Extremists,” a heavily criticized designation the FBI is alleged to have created to cover disparate individuals and groups whose only clear link is race.
McGarrity professed confusion on this point. “There’s no surveillance on that activity,” he said, speaking of social justice groups affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement, which began in response to police killings of unarmed black men. “I don’t know where that information is coming from.”
Tlaib’s emotional testimony came shortly after that exchange. Tlaib said she wanted to ensure the laws were sufficient to protect potential victims of white nationalists. “I’m a mother,” she said. “I want to go home to my two boys.”
That was the central question of the hearing, the second conducted on white nationalism by the civil rights and civil liberties subcommittee. It is a question without an easy answer, because while U.S. law does define domestic terrorism, there is no specific criminal charge for it. That means white nationalists can be prosecuted on charges related to weapons, hate crimes and other laws, but they are not prosecuted or punished the same way as terrorists affiliated with a foreign group like the Islamic State would likely be.
Similarly, the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center is not allowed to track purely domestic terrorists , including white nationalists.
This needs to be tracked. I wonder why it isn't????
Gee, how long before Nancy Pelosi introduces a bill to "fix" all of that?
I hope she uses "emergency powers" just to see how much you all would lose your minds.
[deleted!]
she does not have any emergency powers... LOL
simply too funny
hint: the left has been neutered by trump
Not the left that's neutered. It's morality and the rule of law.
The hearing comes at a time when white nationalism poses an increasing threat to national security.
Really? How so? In what way? And to what extent? What alleged crimes have they committed?
Groups like Antifa, BLM, and white liberals and their SJW buddies are responsible for most of the violent demonstrations and acts that could be labeled terrorist in this country. Then you add in the gangs of all types including MS-13 and the criminals who sneak across the border and that accounts for a lot of the crime that occurs here. There is no real problem with white nationalists in the US, they are few in number and unorganized. Almost all the mass shooters in the US have been left leaners and democrats
The only place you hear about this alleged problem is on left leaning forums like this one. The usual suspects spreading hate and misinformation. I sure wouldn't put too much trust in rabble rousers and haters like Omar and Tlaib.
word.
Its so funny reading the buzz words favored by Trumpers. 'Antifa' 'leftists' 'socialists', something old, something new, something borrowed....
Look over there at the leftist and pretend all the white nationalist/neo nazi terrorism doesn't exist and didn't commit mass murder!
WHITE NATIONALIST
White nationalist groups espouse white supremacist or white separatist ideologies, often focusing on the alleged inferiority of nonwhites. Groups listed in a variety of other categories - Ku Klux Klan, neo-Confederate, neo-Nazi, racist skinhead, and Christian Identity - could also be fairly described as white nationalist.
Top Takeaways
In their attempt to reorient and rebrand after the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally, white nationalist hate groups have largely retreated from public activism. Amid infighting following the rally, many groups splintered, accounting for some of the increase in white nationalist hate groups in 2018. Some leaders have urged followers to focus their energy on private meetups and internet recruiting. But the movement has struggled to secure meeting venues and to maintain a stable web presence as various online payment processors and social media platforms have begun enforcing terms of service violations and removing those who propagate hate speech or threaten violence. In 2018, white nationalists feuded internally over whether they should openly espouse violence or hide their genocidal ambitions behind more banal aesthetics like Americana or meme-laden ironic detachment. Harried by lawsuits, fracturing alliances and public embarrassment, movement figureheads largely settled in favor of putting forward as inoffensive a public presentation as possible.
Key Moments
Richard Spencer’s college tour came to an end, and Jason Kessler’s attempt at a second “Unite the Right” rally was a dismal failure. However, other groups such as Identity Evropa, Patriot Front and the League of the South continued to hold rallies and banner drops. But more than ever, 2018 was the year white nationalists drew blood. From the Parkland, Florida, shooting of 17 students in February, to the massacre of 11 at a Pittsburgh synagogue in October, white nationalists or those inspired by white nationalism have committed violence at an alarming rate, killing at least 40 people in North America this year alone.
What’s Ahead
Despite pressure on law enforcement and Silicon Valley to seriously counter the rise in violent extremism perpetrated by white nationalists, the far right shows no signs of letting up. White nationalist leaders will continue to explain away the violence in their movement as a regrettable but understandable reaction to demographic change.
Background
Adherents of white nationalist groups believe that white identity should be the organizing principle of the countries that make up Western civilization. White nationalists advocate for policies to reverse changing demographics and the loss of an absolute, white majority. Ending non-white immigration, both legal and illegal, is an urgent priority — frequently elevated over other racist projects, such as ending multiculturalism and miscegenation — for white nationalists seeking to preserve white, racial hegemony.
White nationalists seek to return to an America that predates the implementation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Both landmark pieces of legislation are cited as the harbingers of white dispossession and so-called “white genocide” — the idea that whites in the United States are being systematically replaced and destroyed.
These racist aspirations are most commonly articulated as the desire to form a white ethnostate — a calculated idiom favored by white nationalists in order to obscure the inherent violence of such a radical project. Appeals for the white ethnostate are often disingenuously couched in proclamations of love for members of their own race, rather than hatred for others.
This platitude collapses under scrutiny. Two favorite animating myths of white nationalists are the victimhood narrative of black-on-white crime — the idea that the dominant white majority is under assault by supposedly violent people of color — and the deceptively titled “human biodiversity,” the pseudo-scientific ascription of human behaviors, in this case along racial lines, to “non-negligible” genetic difference among humans. Appeals to the “empirical science” of human biodiversity are frequently coupled with thinly veiled nods to white, racial superiority.
In addition to their obsession with declining white birth rates, these themes comprise some of the most powerful propaganda that animates and drives the white nationalist movement. Adherents frequently cite Pat Buchanan’s 2001 book, The Death of the West , which argues that these declining white birth rates and an “immigrant invasion” will transform the United States into a third world nation by 2050, as the text responsible for their awakening, or “red pill.”
White nationalists also frequently cite American Renaissance , a pseudo-academic organization dedicated to spreading the myth of black criminality, scientific racism and eugenic theories. Its annual conference, a multi-day symposium with a suit-and-tie dress code, is a typical early stop for new white nationalists.
Although it isn’t ubiquitous, there is a current of antisemitism in the modern day white nationalist movement. Jews are common scapegoats for the perceived cultural and political grievances of white nationalists. White nationalist and antisemitic literature and conferences also have frequent author and speaker overlap. Kevin MacDonald , the author of The Culture of Critique — a trilogy of books alleging a Jewish control of culture and politics with evolutionary psychology — is a frequent guest in white nationalist media and at events. His writing is frequently cited as what introduces white nationalists to the idea of a Jewish conspiracy
White nationalists also commonly pass through paleoconservatism — an anti-interventionist strand of libertarianism that seeks to limit government, restrict immigration, reverse multicultural programs and deconstruct the social welfare programs. Some of white nationalism’s most prominent voices, including Richard Spencer , Jared Taylor , and Peter Brimelow did stints at Taki’s Magazine , the most prominent paleoconservative journal.
Strategies for pursuing the white ethnostate fall into two major categories: mainstreaming and vanguardism. Mainstreamers believe that infiltrating and subverting the existing political institutions is the only realistic path to power. They aspire to convert disaffected “normies” to their politics and advocate for white nationalists to seek positions — in politics and society — that have access to resources otherwise unavailable to avowed racists. These resources often require that white nationalists disguise their politics and compromise on their most extreme positions. Mainstreaming allows those sympathetic to white nationalism to pursue or enact policies furthering white nationalist priorities. These aren’t always exclusive to white nationalism, such as immigration restriction or the elimination of social welfare programs.
Vanguardists believe that revolution is the only viable path toward a white ethnostate. They believe that reforming the system is impossible and therefore refuse to soften their rhetoric. They typically seek to reform what they believe to be an “anti-white” establishment through radical action. Vanguardists favor public demonstrations to anonymous, online activism and hope that by turning out in numbers at protests they can defy so-called political correctness, polarize politics and accelerate what they view as the inevitable collapse of America.
The racist so-called “ alt-right ,” which came to prominence in late 2015, is white nationalism’s most recent formulation. While the themes of white dispossession, nostalgia for pre-1960s America and the desire for separatism remain central to the ideology, its edges are softer and porous, allowing for the influence and inclusion of more radical elements, including a suite of neo-Nazi organizations. It also welcomed an unsavory ecosystem of internet trolls. These chaos agents contribute a distinct style of discourse that include a notable lack of empathy, extreme, often violence-tinged, rhetoric, and willingness to dehumanize their enemies in service of political goals. Throughout 2016, with the contentious presidential campaign as a unique backdrop, the nascent alt-right launched a novel campaign of “cultural vanguardism,” tightly focused on radically altering culture — in the form of a total war on “political correctness” — rather than politics. This third style of activism, which borrowed from both the mainstreamers and the vanguardists, primarily took place online in the form of “shitposting,” meme making and online harassment.
As momentum dissipated post presidential election and online activism began to yield diminishing returns, white nationalists reverted to tried tactics such as public demonstrations, including college speaking engagements and propaganda distribution, primarily in the form of anonymous flyerings and banner drops — also on college campuses. Universities, with their impressionable and at times combustible student bodies provide easy targets for the newly trollish tactics of an alt-right obsessed with youth recruitment.
Groups listed in a variety of other categories — Ku Klux Klan , neo-Confederate , neo-Nazi , racist skinhead and Christian Identit y — can also be fairly described as "white nationalist." Although, as organizational loyalty has dwindled and the internet has become white nationalism’s organizing principle, the ideology is best understood as a loose coalition of social networks orbiting online propaganda hubs and forums.
2018 white nationalist hate groups
View all groups by state and by ideology .
*Asterisk denotes headquarters
Why White Supremacist Attacks Are on the Rise, Even in Surprising Places
While President Trump answered a query about whether he thinks white nationalism is a growing global threat, in a press conference following the Islamophobic terrorist attacks that targeted two New Zealand mosques and killed 50 people on March 15, he was dismissive: “I don’t, really,” Trump said. “I think it’s a small group of people that have very, very serious problems.”
This statement puts him at odds with the beliefs of people studying the matter. As University of Southern California homeland security scholar and former FBI agent, Erroll Southers has said, white supremacy is no longer a movement on the fringes but rather “is being globalized at a very rapid pace.” This is happening within a larger trend. University of Maryland professor Gary LaFree, who established the Global Terrorism Database, has observed that, “We’re seeing terrorism affecting a larger number of countries.”
But why is this happening now?
According to research conducted both at the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, which I direct, and beyond, it has become clear that political polarization has provided an opportunity for violent bigots, both on- and offline . Times of change, fear and conflict offer extremists and conspiracists a chance to present themselves as an alternative to increasingly distrusted traditional mainstream choices. White nationalism has reflected a coarsening of mainstream politics, where debates on national security and immigration have become rabbit holes for the exploitation of fear and bigotry.
The Brief Newsletter
The U.K.’s Home Office reports that hate crime there surged following the Brexit vote in the summer of 2016, shortly before which a Member of Parliament who opposed the referendum was murdered. Our forthcoming analysis of FBI data, done in conjunction with Cal State’s John Reitzel and West Virginia University’s James Nolan, also found that November 2016 was the worst month for hate crime in the U.S. since September 2002, with 758 incidences; the day after the election, Nov. 10, was the worst day since June 2003, with 44 incidences alone. And while there was an initial increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes after the 2015 jihadism-inspired terror attack in San Bernardino , such crimes surged to even higher levels five days later, when Trump said there should be a “total and complete shutdown” of allowing Muslims to enter the United States.
The troubles have continued. A 2017 ABC/Washington Post poll found 9% of respondents regarded Nazi views as “acceptable.” Europol noted that right-wing extremists arrests on the continent nearly doubled in 2017 over 2016. And in 2018, the Anti-Defamation League reported a 182% increase in hate propaganda , like leafleting at colleges, compared to the year before; according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the number of hate groups in America hit 1,020 last year, the highest level they’ve ever recorded.
Our most recent police data, found a spike in many large U.S. cities around election time 2018 as well. But like the otherwise very peaceful New Zealand, the most notable increases were perhaps surprisingly found in the bluest and most diverse “liberal” cities. New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago were among the cities that saw November or fourth-quarter spikes in 2018, while San Diego and cities in Texas did not. Indeed, most of the larger American cities saw a decline in hate crimes in the first half of 2018, only to have the trend reversed in the second half, as America experienced a conflictual midterm election with “immigration,” “wall” and “caravan” as key buzzwords. By year’s end, our research found hate crime in 30 large American cities hit a decade high of over 2,000. We also found Ideologically motivated murders by white supremacists increased in 2018 to 17, from 13 in 2017, while violent Salafist Jihadist killings dropped to only one.
When the first white supremacist website, Stormfront , launched in early 1995, its logo proclaimed “White Pride World Wide.” Its chat forums were divided by location (and subject) — each one displaying a national flag of various countries around the world — but they shared a common theme of white racial supremacy . Stormfront represented a significant advancement over white supremacy’s first domestic foray into the digital arena, through 1985’s Aryan Liberty Net: a clunky dial-up bulletin board that proclaimed itself an “Aryan brain trust” accessible to any “patriot in the country.”
Stormfront’s violent reach expanded to hundreds of thousands of registered users around the world, where it also served as an international sounding board for some of the worst racist terrorists of our time. Among them are Anders Breivik , who murdered 77, most of whom were children, in Norway in 2011, and Dylann Roof, who slaughtered nine black parishioners at Mother Emanuel church in Charleston, South Carolina, in June 2015. Both terrorists wrote manifestos bemoaning transnational threats to whites, a primary grievance that in turn inspired the alleged Christchuch, New Zealand, killer.
The alleged Christchurch terrorist’s international lens focused on these far-away killers in his own rambling racist and Islamophobic manifesto. And like those other killers, he incorporated not only hardened bigotry , but also mainstream pundit content from around the world. He appears to have drawn on not just Nazi doctrine, but a French book — one that promotes the heinous and misguided doctrine of “replacement.” This ideology was also chanted by the torch-bearing marchers at Charlottesville, Virginia , in August 12, 2017, yet targeted at a different religious group.
As the Internet has expanded and fragmented, so too has the array of often cross-linked, hate-filled sites and platforms. The reach and evolving streaming capacities of such sites have transformed even unaffiliated lone hatemongers from merely being posters on traditional bulletin boards to global broadcasters, where they can livestream or tweet not only bigotry, but vandalism and now terrorism.
The factors that led to President Trump’s election have influenced the mainstreaming of the very white supremacy that he dismisses: a distrustful, divided polity, and an expanding, chaotic digital media . If we are going to be serious about facing the growing threat of far-right white nationalism around the world, we and our leaders have to acknowledge it , before we can effectively counter it.
But when President Bush spoke of tolerance after 9/11, hate crimes against Muslims dropped ; it is fair to compare this with the spike after Trump announced his Muslim ban . Leaders must be aware of the impact of their position on civic and social cohesion — otherwise, terrorists will gain strength in the cracks that divide us.
People For the American Way
Hate Crimes and the Rise of White Nationalism in Trump’s America
Related
On April 25, a coalition of advocates hosted a panel on Capitol Hill to help bring attention to the increase in hate crimes and the rise of white nationalism since the election of Donald Trump. The panel focused on legislative response and solutions, highlighting Congress’ critical role in addressing these disturbing trends. The participating groups included the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Heather Heyer Foundation, the Arab American Institute, and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The first speaker, Kristen Clarke from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, discussed how there has been an undeniable rise of groups inside the U.S. with an agenda since Trump was elected. She stated that the conversations for policy solutions are often “derailed” by false equivalencies and emphasized that there are practical solutions that can be implemented. She called on Congress to stop making excuses and address the crisis at hand.
Cassie Miller of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) discussed how social media platforms have been used as dangerous recruiting tools in the white nationalist movement. While companies like Facebook have started making attempts to monitor their sites for radical white nationalist figures, others like Twitter have ignored the problem entirely. She stated that it’s a “myth” that social media is too big to be monitored, as SPLC has flagged many dangerous groups online without a large team or endless resources. When asked if she was worried about these groups moving to the dark web if they are banned from more prominent websites, she explained that getting off those platforms would at least curtail recruiting tactics that are giving white nationalist groups more power.
Alfred A. Wilson, cofounder of the Heather Heyer Foundation, discussed what it was like to be in Charlottesville the day Heather Heyer was murdered by a white nationalist in the infamous attack in 2017. He stated that Charlottesville will never be the same, and how even with its rich history, it will always be known for the violence that ensued . Finally, he stated that it’s a sad reality that a woman had to die for people to pay attention to issues people have been facing for years, but hoped it would lead to tangible change.
Maya Berry from the Arab American Institute shared that data collected by the federal government reflects a 20 percent increase in hate crimes in the past two years, which is already an appalling statistic. She also stated that there were problems with how hate crimes were classified, indicating that the federal government does not include all incidences that fit this description in their data. A study done by the Institute indicated that for certain groups including Arab Americans, there was an almost 100 percent increase in the number of hate crimes committed since 2016.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has almost entirely ignored this issue, and has instead focused on furthering his xenophobic agenda through policy changes like the Muslim ban. Not only has Trump’s rhetoric emboldened white terrorists , but under his lead, the Department of Homeland Security has reportedly eliminated the unit tasked with tracking and combating domestic terrorism, further perpetuating the security threat for Americans who are already being systematically targeted by these groups.
Tags:
Charlottesville Donald Trump Hate Crimes racism white nationalism White supremacists
FBI director: White nationalist violence is a “persistent, pervasive threat”
His views match those of experts within the Department of Justice — just not the White House.
President Trump has largely shrugged off concerns about white nationalism in the United States — telling reporters on March 15 after a white nationalist murdered 50 people in Christchurch, New Zealand, that “I think it’s a small group of people that have very, very serious problems, I guess.”
His FBI director takes the threat much more seriously.
During a House Appropriations Committee hearing with FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday, Wray said the danger of white nationalist and white nationalist extremists in America is “significant,” adding that, like other extremist groups, they are a “persistent, pervasive threat.”
That answer, in response to a question from Rep. Jose Serrano, matches the assessment of experts both within the Department of Justice and elsewhere. So does Director Wray’s argument that domestic terrorism is largely “less structured, less organized,” with “more uncoordinated, one-off individuals as opposed to some structured hierarchy,” which Wray said “presents its own share of challenges.”
As has been the case over and over again, from Oklahoma City to Oslo to Christchurch, “small groups of people” committed to the white nationalist cause can and have enacted horrific violence. Since 2007, the FBI reports that white nationalist and far-right violent attacks increased from roughly five incidents per year to 31 in 2017.
And concerns about white nationalist violence, specifically white nationalist “lone wolf”-style perpetrators like in Christchurch or the 2015 Charleston church massacre , have indeed been weighing on federal officials. As reported by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in a November 2018 report on far-right extremism:
However, despite federal concerns about white nationalist extremism, the federal funding to counter that extremism either hasn’t appeared or in some cases has even been rescinded by the Trump administration.
Now many experts — and members of Congress — are decrying the lack of funding for efforts to counter white nationalist extremism. In a letter to the House Appropriations Committee sent April 1, Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) asked for increased funding to combat white nationalist groups, writing, “It is time to take the transnational threat of white supremacist terrorism as seriously as we’ve rightly taken the threat posed by other international terrorist organizations, and to give our law enforcement and intelligence agencies the mandate and resources they need to keep us safe.”
Civil rights groups and religious organizations have also been pressing the FBI and the Department of Justice to do more to counter white nationalist extremism.
like sasquatch, I have never even met a white nationalist. although I'm sure they exist... never seen one in the wild.
but I have seen thousands upon thousands of leftwingnuts rioting, burning cities, trying to stifle free speech with violence. things like that.
so yepp... no comparison. today's left is much more violent than today's right.
cheers )
[Removed]
I take it you didn't watch any coverage of the Charlottseville marching Nazi's, KKK member, white supremacists and white nationalists? Where one of the right wing extremists rammed their car into a peaceful crowd of protesters murdering one and maiming dozens? If we had such evidence of Sasquatch marching and chanting "Jews will not replace us", I can't imagine how anyone would doubt its existence any longer.
You know I've seen this clever defense where someone just pretends not to even see the offender and act as if the problem doesn't exist. But I have to wonder, why would anyone feel the need to defend white nationalists and white supremacists unless they harbored some of those same sentiments?
I heard about that. did not "see it"
I've seen antifa face to face... once they touched me. I took their left shoes from them.
still have those shoes hanging in my tree, I'm weird like that
if I ever meet a "white nationalist" I promise to take their right shoes and decorate another tree.
I would also let sasquatch keep his shoes.
cheers
You appear to be in serious denial about the reality of left wing violence.
Widespread white nationalist/neo Nazi terrorism simply doesn't exist in the US.
How many of those groups have any members? Numbers really matter if they are considered to be "a threat to national security"?
Where is the list of all the alleged terrorist acts and crimes they have committed?
You appear to be in serious denial about widespread white nationalist/neo Nazi terrorism
Charlottesville is the only recent widely publicized gathering of supposed "white nationalists", who were peacefully demonstrating (their Constitutional right), until they were set upon by left wing thugs.
You have other examples? The lady being run over was done by just one single deranged fool.
Then show us some evidence of some of the actual terrorism going on. So far your sources simply say it's a problem and a "threat to national security" That's simply hogwash and a bare assed lie. Why would anyone believe anything Jew hating and anti-Semites like Talaib and Omar say. After all, they call for the destruction of Israel and killing all the Jews. That's what true Muslims do.
What a sad pile of shit you just typed. They were not "supposed" white nationalists, and they were "peacefully" protesting the civil rights of others. ("Jews will not replace us") ("Blood and soil").
One of the shortcomings of this site is that we are not allowed to confront people like you.
[deleted]
They have first amendment rights like everyone else, no matter how repulsive their message is. They had a permit, and every right to assemble there. Just like Antifa had a permit to assemble in a different part of Charlotte. The two sides were never suppose to meet. Both sides were looking for a fight.
Of course the left loves Antifa, even when they hit the wrong target.
So stick Antifa in the same category as the altright/NAZIs.
I've met several neo- Nazis and they chased me down the street and into a store, for taking down one of their flier of hate against Jews and blacks in Queens NY.
Where do I put my shoe?
I dont pay a lot of attention to Antifa, they are not any sort of serious factor in American life. They mainly serve the function of allowing racists and Nazis to say "look at them, not us".
How many would it take before you actually have a problem with white nationalists?
Much more of a threat to national security than immigrants.
I've never seen any Antifa in RL, though I've seen some in video and photos. The fact is, I am an anti-fascist, but I have nothing to do with "Antifa". When you take a moment to examine the situation you have "Antifa" coming out in response to the rise in neo-Nazi's, white supremacists and the KKK marching in support of Trump and in defense of their disgusting confederate memorials. What have they done so far? Punched some Nazi's, threw some rocks, destroyed some barriers, all reprehensible things I do not agree with, but relatively minor when compared to right wing inspired violence.
From nearly a dozen black Americans being gunned down in their church while praying, to the doctors shot in the head and clinics bombed, cars rammed into crowds killing and maiming, murdering Jewish Americans in their synagogues, stabbing Muslims on the train, and dozens of other right wing inspired acts of violence and murder. So while I don't condone the reprehensible actions taken by a handful of Antifa members who have caused property damage and a few bloody noses, I'm not going to pretend it's anywhere close to the amount of actual blood on right wing extremists hands.
Besides, without the Nazi's and other right wing fascists rearing their ugly head in the Midwest and the South, there would be no Antifa. The same can't be said of the right wing neo-Nazi's, KKK and other right wing white supremacist groups. They were not formed in response to Antifa, they exist all on their own steeped in hate, ridiculous fantasies of superiority and the bitter anger at what they perceive as "white culture" being under attack.
Exactly.
Marching with swastika flags waving intermingled with confederate flags while shouting "Jews will not replace us!" is what you consider "peacefully demonstrating"? So you would have considered all the hateful rhetoric leading up to Kristallnacht "peaceful" but only when they started vandalizing and burning Jewish businesses and synagogues did they cross the line?
And you say "set upon by left wing thugs" but I watched the footage of that day and the next when one of the right wing extremists rammed his car into actual peaceful protesters. I can't imagine how deep my racism and hate would have to be to defend such violence, such blatant anti-Semitism, such vile disgusting white supremacist ideology. I have to believe it would take some challenger deep prejudice and bigotry to stand up and defend Nazis, KKK members and other worthless white supremacists.
I dunno....I think we should have a national "Punch a Nazi in the Nose Day"
[deleted] See Tessy's informative posts. Then post your proof.
Antifa is a symptom of a disease, and that disease is right wing fascism aka white nationalism. However, it appears that those who are infected with the disease can't tell the difference between the disease and the symptoms of the disease. They scream and yell about the 'Antifa" sweats, but refuse to acknowledge that they're sweating because they're sick.
So, physical violence to stop free speech on view points that the left doesn't agree with is acceptable.
Even the ACLU doesn't agree with you.
Next stop for the Constitution is the paper shredder if the left gets their way.
I second the motion...
Um, Greg? Looks like you are the one in denial.
I'm all for it, been a while since I have been arrested.
This is nothing new.
In fact there was a rather famous related incident a while back:
In 1978, the ACLU took a controversial stand for free speech by defending a neo-Nazi group that wanted to march through the Chicago suburb of Skokie , where many Holocaust survivors lived. The notoriety of the case caused some ACLU members to resign, but to many others the case has come to represent the ACLU's unwavering commitment to principle. (cont'd)
Some very interesting issues-- here's another excellent article (from a book summary) on the subject:
When the Nazis Came to Skokie - Freedom for Speech We Hate
While the ACLU did win the case, it was a costly victory-30,000 of its members left the organization. And in the end, ironically, the Nazis never did march in Skokie.
Forcefully argued, Strum's book shows that freedom of speech must be defended even when the beneficiaries of that defense are far from admirable individuals. It raises both constitutional and moral issues critical to our understanding of free speech and carries important lessons for current controversies over hate speech on college campuses, inviting readers to think more carefully about what the First Amendment really means. (Read it all)
You can't answer it, because you know it's not true. Give us chapter and verse and links and sources that support what you say.
More left wing made up propaganda.
A murdered woman isn't proof enough?
How many dead people do you need?
of course it is... to the left.
only the left gets free speech. dija not know that?
what's funny is they silence opposing thought and then 5 minutes later claim to be patriots who support our constitution and the bill of rights. when in reality they are just emotionally challenged posers.
I dont support white nationalists.
but I do support the 1st amendment even when I do not like what is being said.
when one tries to silence others freespeech they get what they deserve.
cheers
... called liberalism.
the good news for most of the inflicted is the virus burns out over time as they grow up.
cheers )
Nice try, but I had it right the first time. Your lame attempt to hijack my comment just shows how sad and petty the right wing has become. White nationalists and white supremacists are no better than necrophiliac pedophiles and should be treated as such. They don't deserve the protections that are paid for by our diverse citizenry and should all just move to Siberia where they would be appreciated by their fascist hero Putin.
no, actually you had it backwards.
you are gaslighting yourself.
liberalism combined with full blown TDS has that effect on its victims...
but don't fret none about it. all related ailments are covered by obamacare
cheers
So I'm intentionally manipulating my reality in an effort to make me think I'm crazy? Sure, sure, you keep telling yourself whatever you have to if you're so determined to defend white supremacists and white nationalist scum. Neither I nor anyone else is "gaslighting" me. Trump however, has done a masterful job of gaslighting his sycophant followers, manipulating them to believe insane conspiracy theories and his thousands of lies.
Get back to us when we ask for a birth certificate. Otherwise quitcherbitchen. And since Trumpers got the power, they are doing their best to screw up healthcare for as many Americans as possible. The secret is out, Obamacare was good and Americans don't want it repealed. This is one of my personal recent favorites:
Blah, blah, blah.
As a member here, how can you be that uninformed?
Actually, if you had actually listened to the fucking hearing, instead of pontificating on it, you would know that white supremacist violence, including mass murders was part of the hearing and it's dangers were acknowledged by Trump administration officials.
The only way to remain ignorant on NT is to purposefully ignore reality. We have all the facts anyone needs... but also all the misinformation required to allow someone who does not want to know, to remain ignorant.
Each of us chooses...
But you don't have a problem with Ms. Tlaib receiving death threats, like you and others denying white extremists should be prosecuted as terrorists. Like you and others denying these incidents happen by white extremists/neo-nazis.
Got it!
"Free Speech"
Hate Speech
Antifa is a disease, it is just a left wing disease- so the left pretend it is not there.
Leave it to the left to back a violent organization that tries to block free speech.
More proof that they attack more than fascism.
Lovely heroes the left has these days.
The denial is strong among the 'president's' supporters.
Anifa is a direct result and in response to the rise of the Alt+Reich. Anyone committing violence and property destruction should be reported, prosecuted and punished. Anyone advocating for such should also be reported, prosecuted and punished. Anyone harassing others, whether in person or online, should be also be subject to punishment. Violence, hate and bigotry should NOT be tolerated nor be shielded by the 1st Amendment. It is one thing to advocate one's values - it is totally a separate thing to promote the hatred of someone else's.
If you want to equate the number of people killed by fascist in the US in just the last decade to a few fist fights that's on you. I've already listed (at least twice here) the body count of fascism in the US since 2014. You're tactic refusal to acknowledge it makes it perfectly obvious you condone that violence.
'If you want to equate the number of people killed by fascist in the US in just the last decade to a few fist fights that's on you. I've already listed (at least twice here) the body count of fascism in the US since 2014. You're tactic refusal to acknowledge it makes it perfectly obvious you condone that violence.'
Same as any others here and elsewhere who refuse to acknowledge this is happening.
When Representative Justin Amash spoke out against Trump after the Mueller report was released he got trashed by conservatives across the country. He was one of the builders of the House Freedom Caucus and now will most likely lose his job next year. I don't agree with much of his politics, but at least he stands up for the values he espouses and has the balls to denounce those that don't. The conservative tent is going to get smaller and smaller as we ramp up to the 2020 primary season.
Did it sound at all like I or anyone else is denying that antifa exists?
"What have they done so far? Punched some Nazi's, threw some rocks, destroyed some barriers, all reprehensible things I do not agree with, but relatively minor when compared to right wing inspired violence."
When have I heard a single one of the white nationalist right wing violence defenders condemn right wing violence? All I hear are comments like "(The Nazi's) have first amendment rights like everyone else, no matter how repulsive their message is. They had a permit, and every right to assemble there". Just defend, deflect, dodge, whatever it takes to protect the sniveling worthless white supremacists who murder innocents, blow up clinics, assassinate doctors and ram their vehicles into crowds of innocent peaceful protesters. I have only one message for such folk, fuck you and the slimy piece of shit you rode in on. Get the fuck out of our county, you do not belong here, you are a bile stain on our nation and should be excised like the cancer you are.
Seems you can't read. They have attacked innocent marines (both latinos) because their sight seeing took them too close to an Antifa protest. They have attacked police and reporters. They have obstructed traffic. They are not just "anti fascist".
They do have first amendment rights no matter how badly the left want to restrict them. If they follow the law when holding rallies and protests then they are protected.
Who is defending anyone that is breaking the law? Point them out. Except the left with Antifa that is. White supremacists break the law they deserve to be processed to the full extent of it. No one is protecting them. But we are talking about free speech and right to peaceful assembly; and you just moved the goal posts.
I could give a fuck if Antifa wants to hold protests and follow the laws; but they don't. They are looking for a fight and media publicity to swell their numbers. The white supremacists are doing the exact same. They love Antifa, because they bring extra media coverage. That gives white supremacists much more relevance than they have had in a very long time.
So now the left want to be arbiters of which US citizens are allowed to remain? Bet you would be upset if a bunch of right wingers wanted to exile every last Antifa, BLM, Black Muslim, Black Panther, or gang member- even if they never broke the law.
Lie
another lie
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It's a shame more people don't understand this.
I think the danger here is to mistake irrational and emotional ranting for policy proposal.
Seems you can't read even though you just quoted me saying "all reprehensible things I do not agree with".
You apparently are.
No, I specifically limited my comment to:
"They do have first amendment rights no matter how badly the left want to restrict them."
I don't mind if they have a self-inflated ego based on their race or faith, that's their choice, but when they march in the streets chanting "Jews will not replace us!" I have to ask how you and other religious conservatives would have reacted if it was a mob of Muslims marching with tiki torches shouting "Christians shall not replace us!" while carrying Iranian State flags or ISIS flags through the streets of Charlottesville. Would you be stepping up saying "Well, they do have first amendment rights no matter how badly the right want to restrict them."? Might that not be seen by some as inciting violence against Christians? Ginning up hate and fear? And how would you all be reacting if the following day one of the Muslims from the mob rammed their car into the crowd of peaceful Christian protesters killing one and maiming dozens, would you still be defending the mob at large?
free speech is a bitch like that.
free speech is the right to piss people off and bitch about anything we hate.
IE: globalism, socialism, communism, progressivism. liberalism
anyone who tries to limit or control that speech simply cannot be trusted.
cheers
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Agree 100%. They are terrorists pure and simple and need to be labeled as such.
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deleted for context
Jussie Smollett has nothing to do with this whatsoever.
Cutting to the chase, hate in all its forms should be decried, regardless of who may be mouthing the words.
There is no left or right hate, only hate.