Hello Everyone! Grab a cup of whatever relaxes you and settle in with some critical information. Set a goal to click on a minimum of three links within this newsletter. While I provide overviews and essential nuggets from the resources because I assume you do not have time to read each article, the full texts are worth the time, so give yourself the gift of delving into at least a few of them.
This can be click #1. It is fast and fabulous, a moment of levity to get started. Check out this country western honkytonk called, Take off Your Tin Foil Hat. The fact that this song even exists makes me smile. Listen a couple of times. The lyrics are priceless and they will leave you humming! --- “Good Lord, stay off the internet!”
Messaging Matters
Have you noticed that much of the messaging prevalent on social media about white people and their racial identity has a distinctive shame-based flavor? A UK-based online magazine, Peace News, repackaged some ideas I have expressed on the topic previously as an invitation to create an anti-racist practice rooted in empathy and the strategic understanding that messaging matters.
Protecting and Maintaining Relationships with Loved Ones
I am thrilled to announce that the Western States Center has published a six-part series of posts titled, My Child Is Sharing Conspiracy Theories and Racist Memes. What Do I say? - co-authored by Christine Saxman, Joanna Schroeder, and myself. The full toolkit is still under construction. We hope it will be available by the end of the spring.
While this new conversation guide supports caregivers who want to protect their children against the recruitment efforts of extremists peddling conspiracy theories and hate online, many suggestions and insights transfer to those seeking to maintain relationships with adult family and friends who have fallen for conspiratorial thinking during the past few years. This article highlights the ongoing challenges many families face. This article adds important suggestions, building on the idea that we should not focus on trying to change someone’s mind (which rarely works), and instead help them find their own motivation to change.
Apply by March 5th – K-12 educators, administrators, content specialists, and curriculum supervisors are invited to apply for the inaugural cohort of The 1619 Project Education Network. A cohort of 40 education professionals will receive grants of $5,000 each to support exploration of key questions of racial justice and other pressing issues in a community that also includes award-winning journalists and the Pulitzer Center education team.
Attend a bystander hate incident intervention training for community members (multiple dates available). Learn about the types of disrespect and dangers that Asian and Asian American folks are facing right now and throughout history — from microaggressions to violence. Understand what to look for in scenarios and the positive impact that bystander intervention has on individuals and communities. Talk through five strategies (5Ds) for intervention and how to prioritize your own safety while intervening.
"In a nearly 100-page report obtained by GQ, Mayor Svante Myrick will propose replacing the city’s current 63-officer, $12.5 million a year department with a “Department of Community Solutions and Public Safety” which would include armed “public safety workers” and unarmed “community solution workers,” all of whom will report to a civilian director of public safety instead of a police chief."
We have a lot of work to do! Stay engaged and energized by joining an ongoing, monthly support dialogue for white anti-racists. AWARE’s monthly Sunday Dialogue (SD) occurs on the 3rd Sunday of every month, 3-5PM Pacific via the Zoom online platform. We focus on connecting, sharing, and learning from one another. If you have not signed up for the interest list (required to receive the registration link), please subscribe here: Sunday Dialogues Interest List Sign Up
Connect the Dots - Follow the Thread
The through-line between the articles in this section deserves attention.
Begin with this article from the Atlantic that highlights four key findings from analysis into those charged following the insurrection on January 6th.
“First, the attack on the Capitol was unmistakably an act of political violence, not merely an exercise in vandalism or trespassing amid a disorderly protest that had spiraled out of control…. Second, a large majority of suspects in the Capitol riot have no connection to existing far-right militias, white-nationalist gangs, or other established violent organizations…. Third, the demographic profile of the suspected Capitol rioters is different from that of past right-wing extremists (older and more white collar)…. Fourth, most of the insurrectionists do not come from deep-red strongholds.” Conclusion: “What’s clear is that the Capitol riot revealed a new force in American politics—not merely a mix of right-wing organizations, but a broader mass political movement that has violence at its core and draws strength even from places where Trump supporters are in the minority.”
Read more…
Add to this “new force” two articles from the Los Angeles Times, describing the convergence of anti-mask and anti-vaxx conspiratorial groups, whose blended calls for action against government officials influence many to react against health policies and bring them into closer alignment with politicized, racist, anti-democratic messaging.
Notice how the anti-democratic messaging has expanded throughout the white power movement as well.
Read this SPLC report highlighting the increased investment in violence against the government.
SPLC Excerpt: “If anything has defined the white power movement over the latter part of the Trump administration, it’s the adoption of “accelerationism” – a term with a complicated academic lineage, but a simple meaning within the far right…
The entire economic and political system, accelerationists contend, must be dismantled through apocalyptic race war. In their conception, politics as it’s often waged – where power is exercised through elections, campaigns, policy, and mass movements – has no utility. They choose instead a “cleansing fire” of violence, as one of the strategy’s more prominent proponents put it. Accelerationism is an anti-politics born of this particular moment, defined by widespread financial and political uncertainty, a pessimistic view of the future, and declining faith in democracy…
Accelerationists aren’t part of a new racist movement. The orientation toward apocalyptic race war and advocacy of political and racist violence have long been hallmarks of the white power movement, but these accelerationist ideas are today at the forefront of the far right. And the question we should be asking ourselves is, why now?... Accelerationists can’t be viewed apart from a larger shift toward cultural and political pessimism, especially among young people….Feelings of uncertainty and political pessimism don’t necessarily translate into apathy and disengagement – it can also mean searching for new levers to exercise power or trying to rebuild existing structures. This can find expression in the growth of social movements like Black Lives Matter. But it can also take sinister forms in which people try to overcome uncertainty by retreating to a defined in-group and, with sometimes violent results, casting outsiders as an existential threat….
A recent wave of arrests has dealt a blow to white power groups, including The Base and Atomwaffen Division, but they haven’t stopped the spread of accelerationist ideas. Those are not maintained and spread solely by organized groups, but by a larger white power movement that operates before a backdrop of systemic white supremacy. Indeed, the movement as a whole is becoming more decentralized, where adherents can become a part of a social network, or “radical milieu,” without necessarily joining a group.”
Notice the theme running throughout these articles that a whole lot of people who are unaffiliated with any particular extremist group believe violent action against the government is either okay or necessary.
The details in this Washington Post article are important, as they highlight that the radicalization of the (former) mainstream is happening without necessarily an alignment or membership in a particular organization. People whipped into a frenzy about “their country” being “stolen,” people told they are patriots for fighting a civil war against democracy/liberals will take action. When they go to court, they argue they aren’t part of a hate/extremist group, and yet they are clearly influenced by them and the generalized hate/calls to violence the groups and their followers espouse.
Finally, take notice in this article of how these anti-democratic, willing-to-accept violence groups of people also align with a brand of Christian nationalism that is decidedly authoritarian.
“After processing their disappointment, Christian nationalists may come around to the reality of Joe Biden’s victory. There is no indication, however, that this will temper their apocalyptic vision, according to which one side of the American political divide represents unmitigated evil.”
There is precedent for this within U.S. history. I woke up this morning with worry in my mind and wondered why my unconscious will not let me rest. The first thing I encountered when I logged on to the internet was this article from The Guardian that lays out how our nation has been here before and why it is so essential that we keep fighting for a truthful telling of what has happened, consequences for the insurrectionists, and the preservation and/or expansion of voting rights.
Articles Curated by the Western States Center
An eye on anti-immigration…
“As predicted, a number of officials responsible for the draconian immigration policies enacted by the Trump administration have found new homes at think tanks with a history of pushing anti-immigrant material. Ken Cuccinelli, Mark Morgan and Chad Wolf have all landed at the Heritage Foundation, a group that exists just outside the established anti-immigrant movement, but often holds events with anti-immigrant figures. Robert Law, a former official at the anti-immigrant Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) before joining the Trump administration, recently joined the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). Like FAIR, CIS was created by white nationalist John Tanton, the founder of the modern-day anti-immigrant movement. As Political Research Associates recently pointed out, the Biden administration will come up against a strengthened border patrol and ICE union that flourished under Trump and will be a hindrance to any reforms the new administration will seek to implement.”
An investigation by Media Matters for America recently found that the Associated Press continues to cite anti-immigrant groups, especially those founded by white nationalist John Tanton, the founder of the modern-day anti-immigrant movement. For decades, civil rights groups have encouraged journalists to not cite these groups.
An eye on democracy… According to the Brennan Center: “Republican state lawmakers are responding to the 2020 election by introducing a slew of bills designed to further restrict access to voting in a number of states.” “In a backlash to historic voter turnout in the 2020 general election, and grounded in a rash of baseless and racist allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities, legislators have introduced well over four times the number of bills to restrict voting access as compared to roughly this time last year. Thirty-three states have introduced, prefiled, or carried over 165 restrictive bills this year (as compared to 35 such bills in fifteen states on February 3, 2020).“ Read the full article.
I found this fascinating and informative, so I thought I’d share. This is a Twitter thread from Megan Squire, a data analyst who spends her days tracking and outing white supremacists and neo-Nazis.
I am sharing this lest anyone fall into the trap of a false equivalency that claims “cancel culture” on the internet is infringing on free speech. It is worth drawing distinctions about what a society should protect and accept.
“I was just answering a survey with a question about how "Extremist actors use the internet and social media differently than the average user." Here are 6 ways I have observed far-right extremist actors behaving differently online….It's worth noting that #1 & #2 are the reasons they get banned in the first place, and then 3-6 are reactions to various levels of de-platforming.”
