A few days back, I attended a community meeting discussing the options for protesting and responding to a visit by a white supremacist icon to Michigan State University. Having long counted Gandhi and MLK as heroes, I spoke of the need to adhere to nonviolent means. These remarks sparked quite a bit of healthy debate, and I had a lot to think about over the next few days.
Here is an email I sent to the organizers of the meeting, with a link I think is quite beneficial. And hopeful.
Aaniin,
I would like to share this link, regarding the potential for satire and mockery to undermine the highly questionable appeal of alt-right trolling tactics.
I’d also like to say I’ve thought much about the nonviolence conversation at the ELPL community meeting, and think it can be agreed upon that there is nothing to be gained by the throwing of first punches, or inciting confrontation. But my eyes were opened to the reality of needing to be ready to protect and defend the innocent as required, if physically attacked. Of course, ideally the alt-right thirst for drawing us into shouting/shoving and worse matches is something that can be rejected as absurdity. But I do appreciate the willingness of those who feel a responsibility to keep an eye out just in case. Mostly, it seems important to retain the moral high ground, and expose the grotesque nature of the supremacist ideology, without playing into their divisive mentality.
Insight/Outfit of the Day 
That’s true. MLK had a protest school. It was to build character and strength to not throw punches. It was two weeks long before each major protest. To be, at the forefront of change you have to be willing. It’s actually easier to project strength through violence than to suggest otherwise. Racial supremacy started during Calvinism it would be great if the church recognized that. That would solve some issues.
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It’s all so aggravating. And ridiculous. I’ve been trying to think of clever rejoinders, since racism seems to thrive on vitriol. Something along the lines of how Whites Only=No Rock&Roll, No PBJs, No Traffic Lights…. etc.
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You have to see that also this is their concert. Any confrontation is good for them. A unified presence has not been tried. Silence against chanting. Pretty much the reverse of all they encourage.
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Such a delicate situation. Young people in particular are so impassioned when outraged. That heatedness alas primarily serves the fanning of flames, as you point out. I’d breathe a windstorm of relief if these racial machinations would be fully exposed as the colossal distraction they are, preventing the work in earnest required to reject the plutocratic con that is being run on almost everyone anyone might happen to meet face to face. While we agonize over insults, the pumping of poisons into our commons continues unabated. It’s excruciating to mentally struggle over the intricacies of how people bait one another, all the while deeply, viscerally aware of the threats parcel to decision-making processes that will sacrifice any and all at the altar of profiteered power.
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In the Army. Sometimes you storm a hill only to let it go the next day because the offensive changed. Death, from these changes always feel unfair.
Charlottesville should have been a national example that White supremacists protests have transformed from mock battle to potential war. Any other Justice department would have argued that safety comes before their freedom of speech and assembly. This did not happen.
Without state support through police there is a high danger of another Charlottesville. Without a clear message there is no counter protest. I look at the Confederate flag decals and the White Pride tattoos in small towns not as the future but one group keeping what works. They fear the future. They know it’s not them. That’s why they air their grievances. They had their war, they lost. I’m Native. We had ours and I don’t blame everyone for our loss.
Active recruitment is what occurs at these rallies but most of us know that this is the extreme on the spectrum of race and price
politics.
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Interesting – I’m also indigenous. It’s a perspective that seems conducive to balancing idealistic outcomes with rational assessments of reality. As an example, I don’t operate from the thought that “I was here first,” but rather “here we all are.” Now, how do we best assure continuity and quality of life?
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I knew this philosophy professor that would get mad I was so rational. There’s this rapper called The Grouch that said, “we’ve been conscious since birth. Welcome to Earth.” That would make us evolved some socially as we neither create nor destroy. When I was younger I thought rationality was kind of a rock that I carried everywhere. It does, allow for a deeper grasp of subjects without personal and sometimes unnoticed projections. Like, just recently I was talking to a lady that seemed nice. She got angry I didn’t have a washer and dryer. That I use public laundromats. I told her it would take me four years to break even with that convenience. So. She stopped talking me. Big loss. Good example though of projecting a created similarity versus finding one.
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