I was asked recently if I wanted to write something about extremist activity around the nationwide protests. I found this uncharacteristically difficult, and this is a short thread about why.
If you follow me, you probably also follow some of my colleagues who have been tracking this activity, so you know it's real and you know it's dangerous. Some of us should be tracking it and talking about it.
But every time I sat down to write, I thought and felt that my contribution was the wrong one for this moment. It felt like the wrong time to center the fringe bad guys we usually talk about when we talk about extremism.
Much of the dialogue around fringe extremism in the context of the protests derives from official and political claims about "outside agitators" seeking to co-opt the protests.
Some of this based in truth, as with the boogaloo boys. Some stems from a desire to absolve one's own community when violence breaks out. Some is manipulative bullshit, as with the "antifa" talk coming from the WH and social media.
All of this talk distracts from and leeches agency from the protests themselves, which are about what's happening in the center of our society and not what's happening on the fringes.
It will be necessary to talk about the usual fringe suspects, too soon probably, and to talk about the rhetoric and actions of the Trump Administration. We'll do what we must.
But for me, for today, I have to center the protesters in my mind, to listen, learn and appreciate. The protesters have the agency. They are here to say that Black Lives Matter, and that's what I am here to say as well.
In-group/out-group trouble doesn't always come goose-stepping, wearing hoods or Hawaiian shirts. It's not always explicit or articulated. But when you look at the facts, you can see its effects. washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/…
You can see its victims. George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Tamir Rice. Eric Garner. Philando Castile. Ezell Ford. Dominique Clayton. Ahmaud Arbery. Trayvon Martin.
Black Lives Matter.
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Black Lives Matter.
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