In 2016, the day after Trump was elected, our phones began ringing off the hook with people who had either just experienced a bias incident or hate crime, or they were very concerned that their child would be the target of one. I was the executive Director of The Peace Center at the time. After responding to so many calls over those first few weeks, we started tracking and logging where these were taking place, how often, and what groups were being targeted.
It was clear to those of us responding that we were up against a surge of white supremacy behavior that believed they had license to ‘come out of the closet’ and be in the open with their new President. Most people of color have lived their daily lives with this knowledge, but for Jewish people, the LGBTQ+ community, it was shocking and scary to experience it in this country. White supremacists filled the streets of Charlottesville chanting “Jews will not replace us” and violence ensued. The President of the United States could not even unequivocally condemn it, instead saying there were “fine people” on both sides. He had given a green light to hate and intolerance.
Too many had to live with the trauma of those 4 years. With the help of organizations such as The Peace Center, the NAACP, NOVA and the Rainbow Room, some of the victims received support. And, all this as the world tried to cope with COVID-19, with death in the millions of people.
INTERVIEW: Robert P. Jones Exposes the Disturbing Links Between Christian Nationalism and White Supremacy
Those four years saw the birth of Moms for Liberty who launched an assault on Diversity Awareness programs, the banning of books, and overtaking our School Boards. It gave rise to the Proud Boys and other far-right extremists such as Nick Fuentes, Alex Jones and others. Many, who were vaccine skeptics, were co-opted and merged into a marriage of health-conscious parents and the far right, leaving too many vulnerable to propaganda and conspiracy theories.
Now, many of us have Post-Traumatic Stress with this past election. Those of us who had become allies and advocates thought we could put that time behind us and choose compassion over cruelty. Not only do we see the danger coming – there is now more danger with fewer guard rails to right the wrongs.
Our country was built on the backs of others: land stolen from Native Americans, slaves ripped from the continent of Africa, from family and home, to be bought and sold in the colonies; abused physically, emotionally, murdered for so many decades. Immigrants were also brought to this country as indentured servants. And the privileged class only saw these groups of people as less than human.
READ: Legislating Inequality: The Christian Confederate Roots of Project 2025
This thinking did not die after the Civil War, it persisted with Jim Crow and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK wreaked havoc, fear and death on the lives of African Americans. As freedom, and citizenship and Civil Rights birthed new ideas and levels of equality, it became shameful to be a part of racist groups. They moved underground for the most part, but their recruiting efforts never stopped. Pennsylvania serves as fourth in the nation in home grown white supremacy groups.
With the second Trump Administration coming into office in January, many of our friends, neighbors and loved ones feel more vulnerable than they did in 2016. We need to be willing to help these individuals/groups in whatever way possible. We need to be concerned about youth who can be manipulated online by white supremacists. We need to attend our local school board meetings to hold them accountable from the pressure that groups like Moms for Liberty will bring to bear. We need to support our community’s Human Relations Commission so they can address discrimination when it happens. We need to join our local NAACP which helps so many facing unfair discipline in schools or in the justice system, and gives college scholarships to deserving students of color. We need to support the ACLU, who can step in with legal help, and support organizations such as the Rainbow Room, where LGBTQ+ youth can find refuge and fellowship. And, we need to support educators willing to be a safe place for vulnerable youth who face bullying or alienation due to their race, religion, gender identity, immigration status, or differently-abled. Those of us that are privileged need to be courageous and step in to help a stranger being picked on if it happens in our presence.
White supremacy is insidious, and growing. Just a short time ago we had groups who were on the FBI domestic terrorist list who, we believed, were a tiny minority of misfits who formed small cells of neo Nazis, KKK, or Proud Boys. But with Charlottesville, the murder of Heather Heyer, and the president of the United States saying that the lawless were fine people, Pandora’s Box was opened. War criminals have been pardoned, insurrectionists have been promised pardons, and the same president, now re-elected, has named a Secretary of Defense who wants an “un-woke” military (the definition of woke being one that honors inclusion, diversity and women in combat). He sports a tattoo used by white supremacist groups as symbols of racial and Christian dominance. None of this is incidental, none of it is coincidence. It is all a deliberate assault on normalcy, decency and the inalienable rights guaranteed in the constitution.
READ: Takeaways from The Associated Press’ Reporting on the Threat of Far-Right Extremism in the Military
Without vigilance and community organizing, white supremacy will continue to be normalized and spread. With the Project 2025 manifesto against progressive movement toward equality and inclusion – and democracy we see the potential for more discrimination, vandalism and violence than we saw in 2016. There is a growing uneasy feeling among more and more people that we are going to have to fasten our seatbelts for a very bumpy ride.
