Tag: KKK

What the policing response to the KKK in the 1960s can teach about dismantling white supremacist groups today

During his confirmation hearing in February, Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland pledged that his first order of business would be to “supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol on January 6.” 

On that day, thousands of Trump supporters – including members of white nationalist and militia groups – gathered to support and defend a series of fabricated and conspiracy-laden claims around the purportedly “rigged” 2020 election. 

As a social scientist who researches how white supremacist groups are policed, I understand both the need to vigorously address threats of violence from racist and anti-democratic elements and the calls from some Justice Department officials to expand police powers to do so. Continue reading.

Trump earns support from former KKK leader David Duke a second time

In recent weeks, Trump has defended Confederate memorials and denounced Black Lives Matter as a ‘symbol of hate.’

Former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke formally backed Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection on Wednesday. He also demanded that Fox News host Tucker Carlson replace Vice President Mike Pence on the ticket.

“President Trump! You have one last chance to turn the tables, win this election and save America — and yourself ! Nominate Tucker Carlson for Vice President. This would energize your campaign beyond belief. You can replace Zio NeoCon warmonger Pompeo with Pence as Sec. of State!” he tweeted.

“Trump & Tucker is the only way to stop the commie Bolsheviks! It is the only path to beat them! #TrumpTucker2020,” he added minutes later. Continue reading.

Virginia Man Who Drove Truck Into Protest Says He’s A White Supremacist: Prosecutor

Harry H. Rogers was arrested on several charges, including assault and battery, after driving through a crowd of anti-racism protesters.

A Virginia man who drove his pickup truck into a crowd of anti-racism protesters on Sunday is a self-described white supremacist, prosecutors said Monday.

Harry H. Rogers, 36, has been arrested and charged with assault and battery, attempted malicious wounding and felony vandalism after witnesses in Richmond said he drove onto a median, revved his engine and drove into a crowd of protesters.

One person was injured during the incident. The victim was evaluated at the scene and refused further treatment, Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor said in a statement issued Monday. Continue reading.

An Emboldened KKK is Utilizing a Deeply Disturbing Recruitment Tool

The following article by Linley Sanders of Newsweek was posted on the AlterNet.org website October 11, 2017:

Credit: Martin / Flickr

The Ku Klux Klan hopes to recruit future white supremacists at high school football games.

The racist group distributed propaganda fliers at a Friday night football game at Gray’s Creek High School in North Carolina. The fliers showcased racist comments about Jews, Mexicans and Muslims written atop the Confederate flag, also attacking Black Lives Matter, recent NFL take-a-knee protests, and black culture.

The fliers were left on cars during the October 6 game and criticized any removal of Confederate flags and Confederate monuments as a sign that people do not “respect the white majority of America,” providing evidence that the historic Confederate symbols fuel white supremacy.  Continue reading “An Emboldened KKK is Utilizing a Deeply Disturbing Recruitment Tool”

Just How Many Neo-Nazis Are There in the U.S., Anyway?

The following article by Julia Flasphaler was posted on the AlterNet website August 16, 2017:

Credit: Youtube screencap / Vice News

Neo-Nazis suddenly seem highly visible following this weekend’s Unite the Right riot in Charlottesville that left counter-protester Heather Heyer dead. The protest was largely void of Klan hoods, suggesting that neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan are feeling more emboldened. With the renewed visibility of these groups, many may be wondering: How many people do hate groups count as members, and where are these groups located?

Data from the Southern Poverty Law Center suggests the number of hate groups is currently near the country’s all-time recorded high, in 2011. The SPLC reports that as of 2016, there are 917 active groups. (That’s 100 fewer than the 1,108 groups reported in 2011.) The SPLC’s hate map identifies groups by tracking their publications and websites. Of those 917, more than 90 are neo-Nazi groups. California has the highest number with 79, followed by Florida with 63 and Texas with 55. Continue reading “Just How Many Neo-Nazis Are There in the U.S., Anyway?”

It Has Always Been About Slavery

The following article by Cynthia Tucker was posed on the National Memo website August 18, 2017:

“Our new government is founded upon … the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition.”
— Alexander Stephens, vice president of the Confederacy, 1861

Credit: Reuters

As if he had not already dumped enough fuel on a raging inferno, President Donald Trump has now taken up common cause with the Lost Cause: the historically inaccurate, myth-driven campaign to sanctify the Confederacy. The president was apparently not satisfied with merely showing his sympathy for white supremacists, insisting that their ranks include some “very fine people.”

A day or so later, he went on Twitter to bash the movement to take down Confederate monuments and statues — though he had previously said those decisions should be left to local authorities. Trump tweeted that he was “sad” to see the “history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments.” Continue reading “It Has Always Been About Slavery”

CAP’s Neera Tanden Reacts to Trump’s Latest Comments on Charlottesville

The following statement was posted on the Center for American Progress was posted on their website August 15, 2017:

Washington, D.C. — Neera Tanden, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, released the following statement in response to President Donald Trump’s latest remarks regarding the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia:

Progressives in this country have one aim: to expand the circle of equality and opportunity in America.

Continue reading “CAP’s Neera Tanden Reacts to Trump’s Latest Comments on Charlottesville”

What does ‘antifa’ mean?

The following article was posted on the Star Tribune website August 17, 2017:

When President Donald Trump said this week that there were “very fine people” at the white power rally, he cast “blame on both sides” including the “alt-left” antifa.

First bursting into the headlines when they shut down far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos in February at the University of California, Berkeley, anti-fascists again captivated the public imagination by battling the fascists assembled at the “Unite the Right” white power rally in Charlottesville, Va. Continue reading “What does ‘antifa’ mean?”

A Nazi salute, KKK hoods and Trump: Magazine covers after Charlottesville are jarring

The following article by Callum Borchers was posted on the Washington Post website August 17, 2017:

The Economist, Time and the New Yorker released post-Charlottesville cover images Thursday.

President Trump collects magazine covers, but he probably won’t want to keep these.

The latest from the Economist depicts the president bellowing into a white, conical megaphone — with eye holes that lend the appearance of a Ku Klux Klan hood. The clear implication is that Trump has amplified the message of white supremacists by failing to treat them as any more blameworthy than the counterprotesters with whom they clashed in Charlottesville last weekend. Continue reading “A Nazi salute, KKK hoods and Trump: Magazine covers after Charlottesville are jarring”

Here’s what white supremacy looks and sounds like now. (It’s not your grandfather’s KKK.)

The following article by Daniel Kreiss and Kelsey Mason was posted on the Washington Post website August 17, 2017:

President Trump points to members of the media as he answers questions in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York on Tuesday. (AP)

In a remarkable exchange with the press Tuesday about the deadly violence in Charlottesville over the weekend, President Trump said, “I’ve condemned neo-Nazis. I’ve condemned many different groups. Not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me. Not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch.”

On one level, the president is right. Not all the right-wing groups ostensibly there to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee were neo-Nazis or white supremacists, as we have traditionally understood them.

But the face of white supremacy has changed in important ways. The Charlottesville “Unite the Right” event was designed to reconstitute and rebrand various white right-wing groups under the banner of the “alt-right” and make the movement more publicly visible. This newer, more diffuse, younger and technologically enabled movement — promoted by prominent White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, among others — seeks to advance white identity politics through appeals to equality, democratic multiculturalism and freedom of speech. Continue reading “Here’s what white supremacy looks and sounds like now. (It’s not your grandfather’s KKK.)”