jon_norstog
06-01-2020, 01:28
I have gotten some pretty credible-looking stuff over the internet saying that trucks and cars with out-of-state or no plates with "armed white men" in them were reported in the neighborhoods where the fighting was. There were early public statements that all or most of those arrested were from out-of-state. It sounded pretty bad, but at the same time I wondered how many "militia types" have the discipline, courage, and organization skills to invade a city. Anyway, here's a report from a man who tried to determine the truth. The man writing the report is in no way sympathetic to the militias, but he couldn't find much evidence that they were active in Minneapolis.
"Public
I have posted about my alarm regarding stories of white supremacists attempting to hijack the protests and foment a larger race war. Christopher Gunderson, a far more knowledgeable friend from Minneapolis, posts this clarifying message:
A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. This is mostly alarmist nonsense with a sprinkling of true things that might make it convincing to people who don't closely follow this stuff."
That's written by the person who posted the following. What follows is the report he posted
"I'm a professor of Sociology at Howard University and my main area of research is in the field of contentious politics -- protests, insurgencies, revolutions -- mostly on the left, but since the Trump campaign, also fascist and other far right movements. I also have a long personal political history that gives me some privileged knowledge of this. I am a former anarchist and I was very involved in anti-fascist activism in the 1980s and 90s both locally in Minneapolis and nationally. I also remain in contact with many people who continue to be more actively involved in this work than I can be. I have also lived in poor majority Black and Brown communities my entire adult life and have directly observed and sometimes participated in several urban rebellions, most notably in upper Manhattan in 1992 in response to the killing of Kiko Garcia and in Flatbush, Brooklyn where I now live in response to the killing of Patrick Dorismond in 2000. All of this is to say that I have a very good sense of the relative size, strength, and organizational capacity of a lot of the actors referred to here and of the dynamics of urban rebellions.
Simply put, there is essentially no evidence of white supremacist involvement in the rebellions themselves. With the solitary possible exception of police involvement in setting the fire at the AutoZone in South Minneapolis, the evidence for which is far from conclusive, there is literally nothing to back up these claims except a desire to transfer blame for the inevitable stupidities and excesses that occur in the course of a social explosion onto bad outside actors. There is lots of speculation and spitballing, but no real evidence. Elected officials in Minnesota have lied and said that all or most of the arrestees from these events have come from out of town, but they have been forced to retract all of these claims.
This doesn't mean that it hasn't happened at all. I have no doubt that some far right elements have gone into areas in rebellion to assess the situation or to try to stir up xxxx. You can find some livestreams of some rightists in South Minneapolis, but they are mainly wandering around engaged in amateur reporting. It is possible that some have joined in on smashing windows, setting fires or helping themselves to merchandise, but the idea that they are a major motor force for those sorts of actions is ludicrous.
A critical thing to understand about most white supremacists is that they are terrified of Black people. In general, but especially young Black men with guns of which there were many on the streets of Minneapolis. Some undoubtedly harbor fantasies of urban rebellions like this turning into a generalized racial conflagration (the Bougaloo) and have been hoarding guns, ammo and canned goods in their suburban basements for just this thing. Some undoubtedly go onto chat boards and announce grandiose intentions. I don't doubt for a minute that those boards have been buzzing like crazy this past week. But the ones actually willing to walk into a racially diverse crowd of angry people without the protection of the police are few and the idea that they might then somehow magically exercise political influence within such a context is completely bananas and reflects a complete lack of familiarity with the nature of that political terrain.
It is understandably tempting to blame outsiders for things like the burning or looting of immigrant-owned stores and restaurants or other valued community institutions that were among the targeted. But the actual evidence that this was the work of outsiders just isn't there. The unhappier explanation that there is a significant streak of nihilism among poor urban youth seems the more likely one.
What IS probably happening is that white supremacists are taking advantage of the situation to engage in vigilante-style terror attacks on individual people of color. There are many reports from Minneapolis of this happening that I think are credible. It is impossible to gauge the actual scale of this. Even a few small groups could be responsible for a much larger number of incidents. And while some physical attacks have been reported, most of the incidents are simply of suspicious activity -- white men who look out of place in SUVs without license plates. In view of the long history of MPD entanglement with organized white supremacists it is quite possible that some or even all of the people involved in this are colluding with or enjoy the protection of the police. But this too is presently just speculation.
I have focused here on Minneapolis for a number of obvious reasons, but I think what I have to say on this can be applied pretty much everywhere.
My point here is NOT to minimize the threat or organized white supremacists. That threat is real and they are likely to play a role in the backlash that is almost certainly coming and to some degree likely already have. But it is profoundly confused to attribute the rebellions or the property destruction that occurred within them to these forces"
"Public
I have posted about my alarm regarding stories of white supremacists attempting to hijack the protests and foment a larger race war. Christopher Gunderson, a far more knowledgeable friend from Minneapolis, posts this clarifying message:
A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. This is mostly alarmist nonsense with a sprinkling of true things that might make it convincing to people who don't closely follow this stuff."
That's written by the person who posted the following. What follows is the report he posted
"I'm a professor of Sociology at Howard University and my main area of research is in the field of contentious politics -- protests, insurgencies, revolutions -- mostly on the left, but since the Trump campaign, also fascist and other far right movements. I also have a long personal political history that gives me some privileged knowledge of this. I am a former anarchist and I was very involved in anti-fascist activism in the 1980s and 90s both locally in Minneapolis and nationally. I also remain in contact with many people who continue to be more actively involved in this work than I can be. I have also lived in poor majority Black and Brown communities my entire adult life and have directly observed and sometimes participated in several urban rebellions, most notably in upper Manhattan in 1992 in response to the killing of Kiko Garcia and in Flatbush, Brooklyn where I now live in response to the killing of Patrick Dorismond in 2000. All of this is to say that I have a very good sense of the relative size, strength, and organizational capacity of a lot of the actors referred to here and of the dynamics of urban rebellions.
Simply put, there is essentially no evidence of white supremacist involvement in the rebellions themselves. With the solitary possible exception of police involvement in setting the fire at the AutoZone in South Minneapolis, the evidence for which is far from conclusive, there is literally nothing to back up these claims except a desire to transfer blame for the inevitable stupidities and excesses that occur in the course of a social explosion onto bad outside actors. There is lots of speculation and spitballing, but no real evidence. Elected officials in Minnesota have lied and said that all or most of the arrestees from these events have come from out of town, but they have been forced to retract all of these claims.
This doesn't mean that it hasn't happened at all. I have no doubt that some far right elements have gone into areas in rebellion to assess the situation or to try to stir up xxxx. You can find some livestreams of some rightists in South Minneapolis, but they are mainly wandering around engaged in amateur reporting. It is possible that some have joined in on smashing windows, setting fires or helping themselves to merchandise, but the idea that they are a major motor force for those sorts of actions is ludicrous.
A critical thing to understand about most white supremacists is that they are terrified of Black people. In general, but especially young Black men with guns of which there were many on the streets of Minneapolis. Some undoubtedly harbor fantasies of urban rebellions like this turning into a generalized racial conflagration (the Bougaloo) and have been hoarding guns, ammo and canned goods in their suburban basements for just this thing. Some undoubtedly go onto chat boards and announce grandiose intentions. I don't doubt for a minute that those boards have been buzzing like crazy this past week. But the ones actually willing to walk into a racially diverse crowd of angry people without the protection of the police are few and the idea that they might then somehow magically exercise political influence within such a context is completely bananas and reflects a complete lack of familiarity with the nature of that political terrain.
It is understandably tempting to blame outsiders for things like the burning or looting of immigrant-owned stores and restaurants or other valued community institutions that were among the targeted. But the actual evidence that this was the work of outsiders just isn't there. The unhappier explanation that there is a significant streak of nihilism among poor urban youth seems the more likely one.
What IS probably happening is that white supremacists are taking advantage of the situation to engage in vigilante-style terror attacks on individual people of color. There are many reports from Minneapolis of this happening that I think are credible. It is impossible to gauge the actual scale of this. Even a few small groups could be responsible for a much larger number of incidents. And while some physical attacks have been reported, most of the incidents are simply of suspicious activity -- white men who look out of place in SUVs without license plates. In view of the long history of MPD entanglement with organized white supremacists it is quite possible that some or even all of the people involved in this are colluding with or enjoy the protection of the police. But this too is presently just speculation.
I have focused here on Minneapolis for a number of obvious reasons, but I think what I have to say on this can be applied pretty much everywhere.
My point here is NOT to minimize the threat or organized white supremacists. That threat is real and they are likely to play a role in the backlash that is almost certainly coming and to some degree likely already have. But it is profoundly confused to attribute the rebellions or the property destruction that occurred within them to these forces"