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I think most settlers don’t understand the role they play in settler states. Other than establishing markets and serving as labor to some capacity, their main role is to act as soldiers in the fight against Black and Native people. Châteauguay and Ferguson demonstrate this. 
When the Mercier Bridge was blocked during the Oka Crisis, and settlers were unable to access Montréal, they rioted. These riots had multiple purposes. They were filled with vitriolic hate towards Indians. They pushed the state to act further against the Kanien’kehá:ka people.
When Black or Native people rise up in defiance of the current state of things, the state is not usually the first actor to move, but rather the settlers. In this case, the Kanien’kehá:ka of Kanehsatà:ke had killed an officer, and the state didn’t move. It wasn’t until...
the riot at Châteauguay, a riot with the subtext of “If you don’t send in the armed forces we’ll go down there and kill those damn Indians ourselves”, that the Canadian army and airforce moved in against the warriors defending the Pines.
When we look at Ferguson, we see another example of settlers working as soldiers. They stood in front of “their property” (settler property), heavily armed, ready to shoot and kill the first Black person who dared come near them. This was not an isolated event, this was common.
The direct cause of this armed defense of property was because the Black community of Ferguson, just like the Kanien’kehá:ka of Kanehsatà:ke, had risen up against the oppressive conditions forced upon them by settlers and the state. When we rise up, your settler neighbor...
will instantly turn into a heavily armed soldier for the state. This is because settlers make the state and the state makes settlers. They need each other so that their power stays in their hands. And they need to help each other suppress Black and Native ppl so they keep power.
I just want to be very clear, I’m not talking about armed fascist groups. I’m talking about normal white people. At Furgeson, the white petit-bourgeois and their prole friends. The people at Châteauguay, suburban proletarian commuters. Regular ass white people
