The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Nation grapples with fear, violence
NEW HAVEN » The rally of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, that turned deadly may symbolize a greater willingness of hate groups and racists to express their views in public, according to those who study racial issues.
“If you look at the images out of Charlottesville, no one was trying to hide their identity,” said Khalilah Brown-Dean, associate professor of political science at Quinnipiac University. “They were very open about it, and I think there is a broader acceptance of it.” Brown-Dean and others say President Donald
Trump has played a role in the more open displays of anger: with his rhetoric about immigrants taking jobs away from nativeborn Americans, with his negative comments about Mexicans and Muslims, and by stoking fears in people who are losing jobs to other countries and to advancing technology.
“People who hold these views, who express those views ... often do so under the guise of economic anxiety,” Brown-Dean said. “I think that focus on Trump solely is misguided. This started long before Trump started as a political figure and it will continue whether he is in office or not.”
Trump’s rallies and his call to “Make America Great Again” have sent a signal to groups that appeal to lowerincome whites’ fears that the American dream is out of reach.
“It has allowed these groups to network, to recruit, to spread their message far and wide,” BrownDean said. “So while the rhetoric of Trump has encouraged it, it did not ignite it. These views have been there and have been sharpened, and what is driving it is people feeling that they are losing out.”
But that feeling is really a myth, she said.
“I think, however, that that anxiety has nothing to do with what we are seeing now,” she said. “Remove the Jews” is not a logical response to fear about losing jobs.
But while the need to feel superior to other groups has deep roots in human history, the images from Charlottesville of swastikas and marchers dressed in Ku Klux Klan robes show that “we’re in a different climate now,” Brown-Dean said.
On June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof murdered nine African Americans during a Bible study because he thought his actions would start a race war. On Aug. 12, a man who was known to express racist views killed Heather Heyer when he allegedly drove full speed into the crowd of counter-protesters in Charlottesville.
Two years ago, “People were shocked, but they condemned it. Now, people are trying to rationalize and make excuses for the hate that we’re seeing.”
And that’s a symbol of a larger problem, BrownDean said.
“You don’t have to be a card-carrying member of a hate group, but when you are sympathetic to that group’s rhetoric and actions, that’s even more dangerous . ... Everyone’s not going to go to a rally, but if you’re a teacher and you hold these views, it’s going to affect your classroom. Solely focusing on these groups underestimates the magnitude of what we’re facing.”
Organized hatred has grown in recent years, however. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, there are 917 such groups active in the United States now, down from the 2011 total of 1,018 but a sharp rise from the 784 operating in 2014. They include a 197 percent increase in anti-Muslim groups since 2015, along with anti-black, anti-Semitic, anti-LGBTQ groups and others.
The rise shows the greater willingness of hate groups to come out into the open, according to the Montgomery, Alabamabased organization’s website. “The rise accelerated in 2009, the year President Obama took office, but declined after that, in part because large numbers of extremists were moving to the web and away from on-theground activities. In the last two years, in part due to a presidential campaign that flirted heavily with extremist ideas, the hate group count has risen again,” the SPLC says.
Connecticut not immune
There are five such groups in Connecticut, according to the SPLC: ACT for America, an anti-Muslim group, which has a statewide organization and a branch in Cheshire; the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement Connecticut; White Lives Matter CT, a white nationalist group; and the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense, based in New Haven. None of the groups could be reached for comment.
It’s a mistake to believe that racism and bigotry are a Southern problem, Brown-Dean said. “I grew up in Virginia, so it’s very clear where people stand. You know where to go, you know how people feel, and I think here in Connecticut there is a veneer of New England niceness.
“You have people debating in Waterbury about whether to remove that [slave] whipping post. We had that dust-up on the Green in New Haven,” when a far-right group, the Proud Boys, planned a demonstration, which turned violent when counter-protesters arrived.
“This is a national issue,” Brown-Dean said.
Right-wing extremists took comfort in Trump’s statements after the protest last week — on Tuesday he said there “were very fine people on both sides.” David Duke, former imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, tweeted: “Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists,” including the Black Lives Matter movement.
Richard B. Spencer, whom the Southern Poverty Law Center called “the white nationalist firebrand behind the racist-leaning ‘alt-right’ movement,” also praised Trump, calling his statements “fair and down to earth.”
“We can’t say that Trump himself caused what happened in Charlottesville, but his campaign and his rhetoric helps create an environment where that can take place,” said Don Sawyer, a sociology professor at Quinnipiac. The hate groups preceded Trump, but “the fact that he wasn’t denouncing them gave them a sense of legitimacy.
“I think one of the things that draws people to a lot of groups is when you feel voiceless and you’re made to believe that no one is thinking about you,” Sawyer said.
With more minorities in positions of power, symbolized by the 2008 election of Barack Obama as the nation’s first black president, “people feel uneasy . ... When you look at Charlottesville, the people talking about taking our country back — most of these people have not experienced oppression,” Sawyer said. “You’re dealing with people who have never had to compete and now there’s competition.” This results in “the attacks on affirmative action, the sense that people of color are taking … what’s theirs.
“What they’re really saying is ‘making our country white again,” Sawyer said.
Professor Daniel HoSang, who teaches American studies at Yale University, including racial politics, said right-wing groups are “trying to appear more mainstream. … They’re trying to celebrate the extremism and violence and that I think is something new.”
He said the new visibility of hate groups is “Trump’s chickens coming home to roost.”
“I think what’s really new [is] there is a certain kind of pleasure that he’s inviting people to join in,” HoSang said.
What’s starting to happen among the diverse right-wing groups, HoSang said, is “more coordination on their part. … Charlottesville is one of the first times that we saw them try to coordinate their work.” He also sees an emerging “ability to draw people outside of their immediate constituency and membership base, to draw beyond the true believers.
“The assumption had always been, if you were calling a white supremacist march, the large majority of people would not want to be associated with that … and that’s starting to change. It’s no longer something people need to apologize for.”
The proper response
“Some people believe that you have to have counter-protests but some people believe the counter-protesters actually give these people legitimacy,” Sawyer said. It’s important, he said, that whites speak out against the racists, just as white activists joined the Freedom Riders during the 1960s civil rights movement. “Our white brothers and sisters have to be part of the discussion. … For a long time it’s been a burden on the people of color.”
Brown-Dean said, “I think ignoring what’s happening is a poor move because I think what needs to happen is to have proactive moves in place. … We need to figure out what we will tolerate on public taxfunded property and how we will prepare for that. We need to decide if a group submits an application for a permit, what is it we’re evaluating? We have to balance freedom of speech with the concern for public safety.”
No matter how repugnant, hate speech is protected under the First Amendment, said Frank Harris III, a professor of journalism at Southern Connecticut State University who has made a documentary, “Journey to the Bottom of the n-Word” (www.journeynword.com). “People have the right to walk with torches in the middle of the night and say hateful things about Jews, blacks, gays,” he said.
But the protesters in Charlottesville came armed and many were ready to fight. “You cross the line when you start being violent, when you start attacking people,” Harris said. However, Virginia is an “open carry” state and, Harris said, “It gets to be a sticky area when you’re trying to figure out what incites violence.”
Ultimately, he said, “There has to be a stand against tyranny, against hate, against these groups, and you can’t just let them march, just ignore them. You have to take a stand and let them know where you are on this.”
Society will be grappling with the increased visibility of hate groups for some time to come, HoSang predicted. “This is not over by any stretch, and I think we can expect to see more of these conflicts, and I think it’s going to force more people to take a stand against the groups but also the organizations and the histories that they represent.”