During the first U.S. presidential debate that took place on September 29, President Trump was asked to disavow white supremacists and instead told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” News coverage and social media conversations exploded in response to this, and multiple outlets scrambled to not only interview experts about the Proud… Continue reading “The Proud Boys Are Standing By”
President Trump is laying the groundwork for a drawn-out contestation of the election and won’t commit to a peaceful transition of power. This will spark unrest. At the moment, the United States is a country but not a state. It’s a country because its government exercises legal control over an extended territory, a sovereignty recognized… Continue reading “The Only Certainty This Election Is That There Will Be Chaos”
Since the Vietnam War era in the United States, radical-right groups have articulated an apocalyptic vision under which white people would be restored to their “rightful place” of dominance on the North American continent. Over the years, various groups and personalities have expressed this vision in slightly different ways, though have involved the toppling of… Continue reading “Is America Edging Toward a “Racial Holy War”?”
In the wake of the pandemic, QAnon has morphed into a cult, an ersatz religion, a great narrative that gives meaning to an increasingly disconcerting reality. Those of us who, in the late 1980s and 1990s, frequently traveled in the United States might recall being approached by young men, dressed for business in suits and… Continue reading “QAnon: A Conspiracy for Our Time”
Law enforcement agencies have been breeding grounds for far-right ideology for decades, and not just in the United States. As protests continue to bring cities across the United States to a standstill, the problem of racist policing is more evident than ever before. The killing of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department… Continue reading “The Infiltration of Law Enforcement by Racist Extremists”
Has Donald Trump sought to promote a politics of inter-group hatred to advance his career and improve his chances of reelection? Over the course of his 2016 campaign and his subsequent presidential term, Donald Trump has sought to exploit popular fears of foreigners and certain American ethnicities to his political advantage. His verbal attacks have… Continue reading “Donald Trump and the “Kung Flu””
Recent Black celebrity anti-Semitism in America isn’t reflective of an anomaly, and scholars deserve to evaluate how increasing Black-Jewish tensions nuance the study of the radical right in America. “Hitler said, ‘Because the white Jews knows that the Negroes are the real Children of Israel and to keep Americas secret the Jews will blackmail America.… Continue reading “Series: Contemporary Tensions Between Blacks and Jews in America (Introductory Post – ‘July Fireworks and Why They Matters’)”
The backlash to Alabama State Rep. Will Dismukes’s celebration of the 1st KKK Grand Wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest marks a shift in the state — or at least a beginning. It happened again in Alabama. A clueless local politician, state Rep. Will Dismukes, a Republican from the white-flight Montgomery suburb of Prattville, attended the annual… Continue reading “GOP Lawmaker’s Celebration Of KKK Leader Forces Racial Reckoning In Alabama”
Dr. Valerio Alfonso Bruno argues that far-right leaders have shown a disdain for experts and the wider role of science, despite the worsening COVID-19 global pandemic. They argue that the far-right strategy towards experts is often based on (a) silencing and (b) discrediting. They argue that the downplaying of expertise by the far-right has worrying… Continue reading “The Right’s War On Science & Experts Escalates Amid COVID-19”
Given the current heightened atmosphere in the United States, it is hard not to be suspicious of the recent deaths by hanging of two African American men in California. On the morning of June 10, 2020, the body of a young black man, Robert Fuller, was found hanging from a tree in a park opposite… Continue reading “Two Deaths Raise the Specter of Lynching in California”
