Challenging Street Violence on the Road to Elections
Over the last week, fourteen right-wingers from two militia groups, one known as the Wolverine Watchmen, have been arrested for plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, long targeted by President Trump in his ”LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” tweets designed to subvert her stay-home orders during the early days of the pandemic. Some of these men were part of the right-wing protests last April in which armed men swarmed the Michigan Capitol carrying guns, some with swastikas, Confederate flags and nooses, calling for the governor — who they felt had too much power — to be lynched and shot. Their recent plans, publicly supported by the local sheriff, included storming the Michigan Capitol before the election in an attempt to overthrow the government of Michigan and take Whitmer hostage in what they hoped would be the beginning of a civil war.
This just weeks after Trump refused to denounce white supremacy during the Presidential debate, instead telling the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” clear message that armed white supremacists can continue attacking our communities with impunity contrasts with Trump and Attorney General Barr’s public celebration of the extrajudicial killing of antifascist activist Michael Reinoehl by Federal marshals. From the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville to the murder of two racial justice demonstrators in Kenosha by 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, we’ve seen right-wing street violence accelerate in tandem with the Trump regime’s escalations against our communities. This feedback cycle of increasingly overt attacks by the state, feeding off and emboldening violence from non-state far right actors, has metastasized into an existential challenge to our democracy.
We are at a dangerous crossroads. We need to take these threats seriously in order to strategize a united response.
Out-of-uniform white supremacist violence is as old as the establishment of this nation. The state has always relied on vigilantes and militias to play roles in advancing state terror against Indigenous people and communities of color, as well as enlisting some of them into more official capacities where they get badges or gavels or Congressional votes. With the blowback to the massive Black-led uprising during the upheaval of the pandemic, we have entered a distinctly elevated phase of danger, part of a growing trend towards fascism and authoritarianism internationally. Armed with guns, knives, pepper spray grenades, and shields with nails, Proud Boys, white nationalists, Boogaloo Bois and QAnon conspiracy cult theorists join forces in the streets to intimidate and attack protestors. The Center for Analysis of the Radical Right has charted around 500 right wing extremists gathering to counterprotest the uprising since late May. Just since July, there have been 60 documented instances of vehicle attacks on crowds of protesters, taking several lives. Sheriffs in rural Oregon blame “Antifa and BLM” for devastating wildfires and encourage vigilante violence against evacuees. Police and Federal forces cheer on white nationalist shooters while continuing to target protesters with violence, mass arrests, and terrifying house raids.
There are different interests and agendas represented by these armed men. Some of them ally themselves with this authoritarian government, which they see as the protector of their interests. Other white nationalists want to establish a whites-only state, and don’t believe the current government is radical enough. They seek, and have broken with or intend to overthrow the established order.
Some of them, like the Patriot movement, have a history of armed confrontation with law enforcement but currently are visibly allying with police and sheriffs against our people. Others seek to remove whatever democratic and pluralist structures of the state still exist, to renovate the U.S. into a white Christian theocracy. Accelerationists seek to hasten another civil war pivoting on white supremacy because they believe the right is better prepared to seize the reins should state functions collapse.Taken together, they pose significant threats. Those include: Injury and death to protestors; Intimidation and squelching of street actions; Intimidation of voters as elections near; An emboldened feedback cycle of violence between state and vigilantes; Continued destabilization of our communities .
All of them are in motion against our efforts to build a future based on collective liberation. And none of them will quietly lay down their guns in any scenario of how the November 3rd election plays out. Our work as we get out the vote must include fortification of long-term efforts for real community safety and democratic governance.
Trump’s racist dog whistle has become a siren as the election nears. He will call upon patriots to “do their duty,” which means to intimidate and attack voters of color and racial justice protesters. He will invoke election fraud and redbait fears of a communist takeover, as he invites these vigilantes to increase their violence in the streets.
Trump and Attorney General Barr will continue to push a dangerously divisive narrative about “bad protestors,” targeting “antifa” and “BLM” as terrorists. We can’t let them drive a wedge between us; we need to be prepared to support people who are defending themselves or their communities. Let’s be clear that an attack on one is an attack on all of us.
We won’t be intimidated. We will out-organize their voter intimidation with voter support. We will continue to assemble and demand justice and an end to racist policing. If you’re not already connected, it’s time to find your crew. Connect with local initiatives like: rapid response networks, mutual aid projects where neighbors are caring for each other, voter support and poll watching, restorative and transformative justice efforts in your area that build our capacity to weather this storm and continue planting the seeds of the world we want.
More things you can do:
- Become an election defender with The Frontline, a new united front effort including Working Families and the Movement for Black Lives : https://www.mobilize.us/thefrontline/event/321224/
- Become an election defender with Showiing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)
- Connect with The Rising Majority
- Volunteer with Seed the Vote to build long term organizing power in communities of color while getting out the vote
- Learn about how white supremacists are organizing with Political Research Associates
