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The Amazon Trail: All Along the Watchtower

Lee Lynch | January 12, 2021

Topics: American Civil Liberties Union, Capitol riot, Coup, Donald Trump, Republican Party, Southern Poverty Law Center, The Amazon Trail, Unite the Right

In this month’s Amazon Trail, Lee Lynch explains that the right-wing insurrection we’re dealing with now in the United States is nothing new.

Oh, hell, what can I say at a time like this? Did we think they’d simply go away?

When angry white criminals occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon back on January 2, 2016 and the seven miscreants were charged with federal conspiracy and weapons violations only to go scot free;

When, in the 1980s and 1990s, angry white Christians organized to legalize discrimination against their scapegoats-of-the-day, gays, in order to build a vast political machine;

When a woman was killed by a white supremacist at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia;

When people of color are daily, hourly, victims of “officers of the law”;

With Southern Poverty Law Conference workers putting their lives in jeopardy to identify and expose hate groups;

With the American Civil Liberties Union and its sister social justice organizations unendingly trying to bring equality to a country that can’t or won’t provide it for its citizens;

When sixty-four million voters choose a money-grubbing, power-grabbing, morally empty, strangely uneducated cheater to rule them, and make an American idol of him;

When you’re Jewish, or your skin isn’t white, or you’re female, or your affectional preference scares people enough to make you a threat and a target;

When Americans bomb their neighbors;

When it’s dangerous to represent the citizens who elected you — we need to pay attention. We need to acknowledge that anti-democratic power is quietly accruing and will lash out; will harm rather than protect this too-trusting nation.

These rightist protestors are angry that gays can marry; they’re angry about a woman, especially a woman of color, becoming our vice president. They’re angry because they can’t get ahead, can’t pay their medical bills, can’t put anything away for retirement. This anger is passed from generation to generation, and as we become a more just and equal nation some of these Americans blame the newly enfranchised for taking away their jobs, or their right to be better than whoever is lowest on their totem poles. They’re striking back, but at the wrong people.

Right wing demonstrators apparently think wealthy Republicans represent them. Socially, they may. But it’s not affirmative action taking bread off their tables, it’s not gay marriage siphoning off the middle class. It’s not “satanic” Democrats lowering taxes on big business or cutting food stamps, gutting Medicaid, and threatening to weaken Medicare and Social Security. Democrats are not the ones passing laws to weaken unions nor are they making it easier to give U.S. jobs to countries guilty of child labor, sweatshops, and pitiful wages.

Republicans are for big business. There’s a mutually beneficial relationship there: corporations fund their political campaigns and elected officials do corporations’ bidding. Like voting to consider corporations equal to humans. The campaign donations are used, in part, to target voters who are told that Democrats, progressives, socialists, liberals — whatever trigger word works — are harming Americans. The demonization is passed through certain churches, through organizations like the N.R.A., through some charter schools, through media designed for the purpose of telling lies.

They spread lies that smeared intelligent and capable Hillary Clinton so thoroughly that an insecure, bankruptcy-prone idiot who knows nothing about government, foreign affairs, economics — about anything necessary to the office of President of the United States — was elected. Now, because he pandered to the anger and frustration of a populace frightened of change, opposed to inclusiveness, looking for a miracle, they seem to believe an economic evangelist con man will lead the way to riches untold.

We should have expected it and done more to stop it. This is a capitalist nation. Nothing wrong with that. Except, when Republicans eased the restrictions on corporations, they unleashed a money-grubbing free-for-all.

Unfettered capitalism is greed, pure and simple. Greed for profit and greed for power. And that’s what we have today, universal greed. Instead of taking care of its citizens, our government feeds that greed, starving those it was supposed to serve and protect, telling them all the while who to blame. While destroying the economy for the average American, these shameless elected corporate automatons duped laid-off factory workers, ex-service people, unstable wanna-be rebel leaders. Duped them not into a revolution, but into murderous, cock-a-hoop self-sabotage.

The Republicans aren’t sitting in jails, the corporations aren’t sharing their riches. These dissenters, tools of a corporate, big brother world, aren’t going away. We, the people, cannot look away any more.  

Copyright Lee Lynch 2021. Top Photo via The Hill/Twitter

Hate-Motivated Murders Double, Hate Crimes Highest Since 2008

New Civil Rights Movement | November 20, 2020

Topics: anti-LGBTQ hate, Center for the Sutudy of Hate and Extremism, Donald Trump, hate crimes, Southern Poverty Law Center

The surge reported by the FBI, a 21 percent increase in the first three years of Donald Trump’s presidency, was predictable, but that doesn’t make it any less terrible.

An FBI report released Monday reveals hate crimes under President Donald Trump are surging.

For all of 2019, the latest results available, hate-motivated murders more than doubled, and hate crimes hit their highest level since 2008, when George W. Bush was president. For President Trump’s first three years in office, hate crimes surged a staggering 21 percent.

“The latest rise in hate crime signals a new brutal landscape, where targeted attacks against rotating victim groups not only result in spikes, but increases are also being driven by a more widely dispersed rise in the most violent offenses,” Brian Levin, executive director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, told Voice of America (VOA).

The FBI reports there were “7,314 criminal incidents and 8,559 related offenses as being motivated by bias toward race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender, and gender identity.”

Criminal incidents involving race, ethnicity, or ancestry made up the majority of the crimes, at 57.6 percent. Religion-based bias crimes were the second-highest, at 20.6 percent of the total.

Sexual orientation (16.7 percent) and gender identity (2.7 percent) bias crimes combined were the third- highest, at 19.4 percent.

Disability bias crimes comprised 2.0 percent, and gender bias crimes just under one percent.

Hate-motivated homicides have increased every year since Trump became President.

“Hate-motivated homicides more than doubled to a record 51, driven by attacks carried out by white supremacists, including an August 2019 massacre at an El Paso supermarket which left 23 people dead,” VOA adds.

The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism reveals “racist killers dominated the overall category of ‘extremist motivated’ homicides with a total higher than that of all extremist killings combined for 2018.”

Hate-driven aggravated assaults are now at their highest point in nearly two decades, since 2001.

The “Trump effect” on America and hate-motivated violence is not new. A 2016 study by the Southern Poverty Law Center found “almost 900 incidents of harassment following Donald Trump’s win in the US presidential election,” the BBC reported.

“Hate crimes reportedly jumped by 226 percent in counties that hosted Trump campaign rallies,” Vox reported last year.

Written by David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement. Image via screencap.

Richmond’s Big Heart Collective Shows Heart With Their Charity Live Album

Jonah Schuhart | September 3, 2020

Topics: An Evening At Cary St Cafe, Ben Butterworth, Big Heart Collective, black lives matter, Cary Street Cafe, George Floyd, NAACP, Southern Poverty Law Center

An off-the-cuff pre-pandemic live recording from Big Heart Collective, a fun side project featuring some of Richmond’s most talented rockers, has become a fundraiser and statement in support of Black lives.

For the better part of 2020, musicians around the world have been in a forced state of hibernation. Most are unable to go play shows, and many have zero access to a studio. However, 2020 has also been a time of political chaos, and the resulting spark of inspiration from these issues has motivated many artists to release whatever content they can in spite of the quarantine.

Big Heart Collective is one of these bands, and while their recently-released live album — An Evening at Cary St. Cafe — was recorded before the George Floyd protests, it’s release was still inspired by the historic event.

“It was something where I wanted to help out in whatever facet I can,” said BHC founding member Raphaël Katchinoff. “And the only way I could think of was to put a record out and then use that money to donate to causes that were worthwhile.”

The album itself is admittedly nothing too elaborate. For the most part, Big Heart Collective is a side project for all of its members. Katchinoff (Drums), Andrew Carper (Bass), Nick Michon (Guitar), Andrew Sisk (Percussion), Andrew Rapisarda (Guitar), and Tommy Booker (Keys) all play and record with other bands, including Palm Palm, The Southern Belles, The Deli Kings, and many more.

Recording this live album was not even the last music-related activity many of them did before quarantine. Katchinoff was on tour when the pandemic hit, with a band that was supposed to play South by Southwest. Unfortunately, their performance was cancelled.

Raphael Katchinoff and Andrew Carper of Big Heart Collective performing at Cary St. Cafe. Photo by Ashley Travis.

Members of the Big Heart Collective did not even originally plan on recording their set at Cary St. Cafe that night. However, their opening act, Ben Butterworth, has a habit of recording many of his live performances. That night in February, once he’d recorded his own set, he continued recording, and captured BHC’s performance as well.   

Big Heart Collective has had a steady gig at Cary St. Cafe since their origins. Katchinoff founded the group in 2017 as a way to get back into professional music after a long break from the art. The band’s first gig came on Thanksgiving night; Katchinoff assembled a lineup at the last minute. After that, Big Heart Collective became a monthly presence at Cary St. Cafe throughout 2018 and 2019.

Unfortunately, the band’s monthly live shows at the cafe have been completely postponed until the end of COVID quarantine. For now, all of BHC that is available to the public is their album.

But that’s okay, because An Evening At Cary St. Cafe‘s status as a live album by a side project makes it perfect for a charity event. It is a way to put out music during an artistic lull without straining the listener’s pocket, while simultaneously making a positive impact on the world.

Raphael Katchinoff, Nicky Michon, Andrew Sisk, and Nate Cowing of Big Heart Collective work it out at Cary St. Cafe. Photo by Ashley Travis.

“I was on the ropes about putting it out, because it’s not that great quality and it’s not our own songs,” said Katchinoff. “I would never put something out that has covers and then take money from that… The only thing I could think, to feel like it was worth putting out, was to see if I could use any funds people donated to go to organizations that I thought would stand up for the direction of what should be right in this country.”

Like many projects available for streaming on Bandcamp, BHC’s album is technically free to listen. However people may choose to donate as much as they want on the album page. 100 percent of the proceeds for the donations will go to the NAACP and Southern Poverty Law Center, two organizations that work against bigotry and fight for the rights of marginalized groups, particularly African Americans.

Top Photo: Big Heart Collective (Raphaël Katchinoff, Andrew Carper, Nicky Michon, Corey Wells, and Tommy Booker). Photo by Ashley Travis.

Extremists Trying To Take Advantage Of Coronavirus Crisis To Recruit

VCU CNS | April 23, 2020

Topics: Anti-Defamation League, coronavirus, Coronavirus Central, covid 19, Southern Poverty Law Center, Tom Kawczynski, white nationalists

Some white nationalists are using the coronavirus as an opportunity to rebrand, spreading their divisive ideas under the cover of pandemic information.

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to cause a severe economic slowdown and, among some people, distrust of the media and government, white supremacists across the nation are attempting to capitalize on the crisis to take advantage of the scared and confused in hopes of recruiting new followers. 

One white nationalist in particular, Tom Kawczynski, 39, currently hosts a podcast called “Coronavirus Central” on multiple sites, including Apple Podcasts, that is among the most popular podcasts under the health and fitness category. 

Kawczynski ranks just below NPR and BBC’s podcasts on the virus and is currently more popular than “PBS NewsHour – Novel Coronavirus.” 

He is among many extremists who see a major public health crisis as fertile ground for fomenting political unrest and spreading conspiracies, according to human rights advocates and academic experts.

“It does seem like an attempt to take advantage,” Cassie Miller, Southern Poverty Law Center senior research analyst, told Capital News Service in an interview. “When everyone is concerned by coronavirus, it gives them the opportunity to put out their own white nationalist perspective.”

Before Kawczynski’s rebranding as a COVID-19 expert, the podcast host used to be the town manager of Jackman, Maine. The town forced him to resign in 2018 after learning that he advocates for segregation through a fictional white ethno-nation called New Albion.

Kawczynski’s resignation drew attention to many racist remarks that he posted using his now private account on Gab Social, a social media platform similar to Twitter.

For example, Kawczynski wrote in 2017, “You don’t have to hate to see cold hard statistics and realize in a significant way that the average black in America has less intellectual aptitude,” according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Tom Kawczynski (Photo via Facebook)

About a month before his first podcast, which went live on Feb. 10, Kawczynski posted a video on Facebook welcoming viewers to New Albion. In this video, Kawczynski states that America is going through a time of financial and political insecurity and that New Albion will be rooted in the people rather than in the systems. 

During multiple podcast episodes, Kawczynski has continued to preach about the American government’s incompetence to his listeners and has also suggested that there is truth to some conspiracy theories related to the virus. 

The podcast host claimed that “there is a high probability that this was a manmade disease,” a conspiracy theory that many other social media platforms also have advocated, but scientists have debunked.  

In a recent SPLC article, Miller explains how white supremacists are hoping that chaos from the virus will drive people toward more extreme political positions.

“These far-right extremists are arguing that the pandemic, which has thrown into question the federal government’s ability to steer the nation through a crisis, supports their argument that modern society is headed toward collapse,” Miller wrote. 

Kawczynski, who declined to be interviewed but responded to an email from CNS, said, “What I am doing is not about me, but rather about helping to keep people safe.”

He claimed that he is “literally helping people figure out how to survive this horror.”

A 2015 study found that major financial crises lead to a rise in support for far-right groups.

Right-leaning parties tend to benefit more after financial downfalls because “people blame elites for failing to prevent them,” which “opens the door to political entrepreneurs who try to set ‘the people’ against the ‘ruling class,’” the researchers wrote in an article about the study. The authors were Manuel Funke and Christoph Trebesch of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German non-profit think tank, and Moritz Schularick of the University of Bonn. 

Miller told CNS that people need to be more concerned about what right-wing extremist efforts could mean down the line. She said she worries about young white men, the extremists’ target group, being stuck inside looking online for answers about the virus and finding advice from white supremacists. 

“They are going to try to recruit as many as possible,” Miller said.

Written by Haleigh Whisted, Capital News Service. Top Photo by Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash

Anti-LGBTQ Hate Groups Spike As Trump Embraces Their Leaders

New Civil Rights Movement | April 9, 2020

Topics: anti-LGBTQ hate groups, Donald Trump, Family Research Council, Richard Grenell, Southern Poverty Law Center, Trump administration

A report from Southern Poverty Law Center found anti-LGBTQ hate groups increased significantly in 2019, even as hate groups overall fell slightly.

Anti-LGBTQ hate groups are rapidly growing across America, a result, the Southern Poverty Law Center says, of President Donald Trump’s leadership, including his embrace of those groups. The White House in response has issued a thin statement denying any responsibility or blame – while not even offering to make any changes or to help with the growing danger.

While overall, active hate groups of all types fell slightly in 2019 from 1020 to 940, there was a “sharp expansion,” a nearly 43 percent increase, in anti-LGBTQ hate groups, the SPLC reports, warning that the “Trump administration has demonstrated a clear willingness to embrace their leaders and their policy agenda.”

“Though Trump promised during his campaign to be a ‘real friend’ to the LGBTQ community, he has fully embraced anti-LGBTQ hate groups and their agenda of dismantling federal protections and resources for LGBTQ people.”

Far right wing Christian evangelicals, including anti-LGBTQ hate groups like the Family Research Council, have become emboldened, enjoying what they have said is “open door” access to the Oval Office.

“Anti-LGBTQ groups have become intertwined with the Trump administration, and — after years of civil rights progress and growing acceptance among the broader American public — anti-LGBTQ sentiment within the Republican Party is rising,” the Southern Poverty Law Center adds.

The White House issued a thin statement in response, refusing to accept any responsibility or blame.

“While the radical left has pushed false accusations that LGBTQ Americans are threatened, the president has hired and promoted LGBTQ Americans to the highest levels of government, including positions at the White House, Cabinet agencies and ambassadorships,” White House spokesman Judd Deere told NBC News. “He launched a global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality. … And the president has made the bold declaration that we are committed to ending HIV transmissions in the United States within 10 years.”

(Note that nearly the entire statement hinges on the President appointing openly-gay Trump diehard loyalist Richard Grenell as his Ambassador to Germany, then installing him – despite his absolute lack of qualifications – as his acting Director of National Security. It was Grenell who launched the campaign to decriminalize homosexuality – which exists in name only. And Trump can say he is “committed to ending HIV transmissions in the United States within 10 years,” but his policies are likely to make the situation worse.)

The SPLC also issued another dark warning: this hate and extremism “will far outlast this administration,” and not disappear when President Trump leaves office.

“As the country continues to experience white nationalist terror, extremist ideas long believed outside of the realm of legitimate politics are penetrating deeply into the mainstream, spawning public policies that target immigrants, LGBTQ people and Muslims. The Trump administration has installed members of hate groups into government — particularly those with anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim or anti-LGBTQ animus — and put in place highly punitive policies that seemed unthinkable just a few short years ago. These political moves will far outlast this administration, as Trump and his allies in the U.S. Senate have pushed through hundreds of new federal judges, many of whom are hostile to civil rights concerns and will serve for decades.”

Written by David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement. Image: Trump with Tony Perkins of Family Research Council, via NCRM.

Mike Pence Blasted For Appearing with Anti-LGBTQ Extremists Three Times in Five Days

New Civil Rights Movement | August 9, 2019

Topics: Alliance Defending Freedom, anti-LGBTQ activism, anti-LGBTQ discrimination, anti-LGBTQ hate groups, Human Rights Campaign, Mike Pence, religious freedom, Southern Poverty Law Center

The Vice President continues to be blatant in his support for the erosion of LGBTQ rights, and his support of those who work against us.

Vice President Mike Pence has spent three of the past five days appearing at conferences and on stage with anti-LGBTQ extremists, including one who calls gay people “terrorists” and compares them to ISIS, as well as a group that appears on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of anti-gay hate groups. Some are starting to notice and call him out for it.

“Less than a week after appearing at an Erick Erickson-sponsored conference, and a day after appearing with anti-LGBTQ extremist Sam Brownback, Mike Pence continues his anti-LGBTQ crusade with an appearance at an event organized by the anti-LGBTQ hate group the Alliance Defending Freedom,” the Human Rights Campaign says in an email. HRC points to the Vice President’s “close ties” to ADF, a group that HRC says “is among the most horrific of any group operating in the United States.”

The Vice President late Tuesday morning addressed the ADF, a group that successfully represented an anti-gay Christian baker at the U.S. Supreme Court and works to deprive LGBTQ people of their civil rights, while offering false narratives. Pence, speaking at the Ritz-Carlton in Arlington, Virginia, bragged that he and the Trump administration have “taken action to protect the conscience rights of doctors and nurses and healthcare providers,” and “gone to court to protect the right to religious expression in the public square,” while praising the ADF for being “there every step of the way.”

Wonderful to be able to hear the @VP speak on the importance of defending everywhere our fundamental freedoms, and thankful for this photo with the @ADFIntl team pic.twitter.com/2E3Gbe6wDW

— Sean Nelson (@Sean_ADFIntl) August 6, 2019

The Trump administration claims it is working to decriminalize homosexuality around the world (there do not appear to be any public reports on its progress) and yet the Vice President is bragging about his work with the ADF, a group that, according to HRC, “believes in the re-criminalization of homosexuality in the U.S. and across the globe.”

ADF also “has advocated for the sterilization of trans people,” and its “extremist views have found their way into Trump administration and state legislative actions.”

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