Turning the Other Cheek - What to Tell Your Kids About Campus Area Protests

Parent Cafe
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One thing often forgotten by many is how even with non-violent tactics, law enforcement agencies of the period(some of the local ones were themselves infiltrated with active KKK members and sympathizers) did their utmost to paint them as violent anti-social groups in mainstream US media…and many in the mainstream White majority back then actually believed…and some still believe it to this day.

And to reinforce that false portrayal, those agencies employed agent-provocateurs as shown through the now heavily documented FBI’s Contelpro program during the '60s and the unevenhanded ness of how LEOs treated Civil Rights protestors(violently assaulted*, jailed on made up charges) compared with the White supremacist protestors(treated with kid gloves at best).

  • Beatings, high pressure water cannon, dogs, etc.
42

Not mentioned is the deranged man who shot up a ballpark, wounding several and nearly killing a congressman solely because they were Republicans. The level of hate and intolerance is widespread and can set off unstable people on both sides. Perhaps that is what the President was clumsily referring to.

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Of course there are crazies on all side. That’s not what we are talking about here. This white supremacy stuff is organized and growing. I don’t think the ballpark example relates to this discussion unless we want to talk about all one off type crazies.

And, yes, @cobrat, we are still seeing signs of that today. Deflecting the blame to counter protesters even when peaceful, calling them fascists, etc. but coming from the right and their media spokespeople more so than law enforcement IMO.

44

I warn my children to avoid dangerous situations. Going to a shouting match is not worth the risk.

45

Reminder too that white supremacist groups now really cannot be compared to those in the 60s, 50s, and before.

Today, these people have CONSTANT contact with each other through social media and other web platforms. They can organize a march in an hours and pull people from all over the country. People who were the lone or rare racist in their area can lock themselves in virtual, racist echo chambers.

46

Not the same thing as the shooter was by all accounts, a lone wolf with serious personal, financial, and possibly mental problems and not much demonstrated interest in politics before he carried out a planned shooting which has nothing to do with campus protests.

Not to mention this is one textbook example of citing an event seemingly from the “other side” in an attempt at a false equivalence.

47

Counter protesting is better than fine, but not at the same time and place as another protest.

The 30’s in Germany were notable for the approved demonstrations-“unpopular” or government deemed “unsafe” ideas were shut down.
That’s far more dangerous than letting idiots look like idiots.

We only know our dedication to the first amendment when it protects something that makes us burn inside. But we get to choose whether we care more for the concept of freedom or for our other dogmas.

We do well to chose carefully and wisely.

48

I told my son to observe but be careful and watchful and have an exit plan if it got out of hand. Guns are not allowed on the Auburn campus (except in parked cars) but I’m sure some had them on them hidden. This is reminiscent of a time just before my time in college (mid-late 70’s) and I thought this could be a significant experience in his lifetime. Turned out not to be, and that’s okay too.

49

Lots more guns around than the 60s, 70s as well. Sadly.

50

We took our S to a pro-choice march on Washington when he was in a stroller. He played on the floor behind my desk as I worked for gay rights when he was in pre-school. I took him to a counterprotest against a white supremacist group in Lewiston to support Somali refugees when he was in jr high. He helped me carry our church banner in the gay pride parade in college.

At any of these events there was the possibility that some violent person would attack us. I think that protest DOES matter and that peaceful demonstration is effective.

Yes, I would rather he not duke it out with neo-Nazis in the street, but that’s something I really cannot imagine him doing. Especially now that he’s a journalist, and they have a strong professional ethic that they should strive to report the news, not BE the news.

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https://www.splcenter.org/hate-map

I don’t know if that indicates an increase but 917 groups is certainly frightening.

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I’d tell my kids to stay home, stay safe. No one is changing anyone’s mind at these protests/counter-protests. Even just going out to watch is risky, too. Like going out during a flash flood “to see how high the water is”–someone could easily get swept away. Fortunately this hasn’t come up near any of my kids’ colleges.

53

That effectively silences counterprotests and renders them less effective by denying their free speech rights to voice disagreement in the vicinity of those protesting for causes they disagree with.

This is a gross oversimplification of the history of Germany especially if we’re talking before the Nazi takeover in 1933.

One of the reasons why the Nazis rose into power was that the prevailing law enforcement/military and court judges which were effectively an independent “state within a state” during the Weimar Republic were very uneven in their handling of Nazi and related violent protests/intimidation tactics vs anti-Nazi opponents.

A large part of this was that even as early as the early 20’s, the Nazi party had support from many prominent right-wing leaning military figures including former WWI top general General Erich Ludendorff who took part in the Beer Hall Putsch with Hitler and the Nazis in 1923.

While it failed, the sympathetic judge allowed him to use the court as his political bully pulpit and police who served as Hitler’s jailers treated him and his followers with extreme kid gloves and gave him a light sentence in a very luxurious for a prison settings where he was allowed visitors among other things.

If one examines police/military maneuverings during the interwar period, there was definitely more sympathy/favoritism shown to right-wing political groups…including violent ones like the Nazis vs centrist/center-left leaning ones like the Social Democrats or much moreso…the German Communist Party.

Not too surprising considering most of those right-wing groups were composed of disgruntled military veterans who strongly bought into the Ludendorff “stab-in-the-back” myth blaming Jews, Social Democrats, Communists, and other “undesirables” for Germany’s defeat in WWI.

Ironic considering Ludendorff perpetuated that myth to divert attention from the fact he was one of two top WWI generals who presided over and thus, was responsible for the plans/actions which led to the defeat of the Imperial German Army.

And the establishment controlled mainstream media of the period portrayed the left wing as being the cause of all the violence and chaos when the right-wing groups like the Nazis and some coup-minded military officers and sympathizers(1920 Kapp Putsch) were just as violent and worse, often had some military backing in covert and not-so-covert forms.

And the military establishment finally showed its hand when its senior leaders gave full backing to Hitler/Nazis in exchange for them eliminating the SA/Ernst Rohm because they didn’t want their long-standing traditional dominance over German state and society to be supplanted by what they viewed as unwashed undisciplined rabble upstarts.

One upshot from the weakness of Weimar Democracy and the strong favoritism the military/LEO establishment had toward right-wing groups like the Nazis the Germans took after WWII was to institute strong checks such as an agency responsible for the protection of the Federal German Constitution against political extremism and a ban on hate speech/gestures such as the Nazi salute, hate speech, or wearing/display of Nazi paraphernalia for anything except historical purposes and attempts to constant monitor military personnel/police to ensure they’re not inclined towards political extremism…especially Nazism or similar right-leaning extremist groups in light of their horrific past.

54

Speaking of Beer Hall Putsch, some white supremacist message boards/websites were touting the Charlottesville protest/violence in those exact words last night, calling it their “Beer Hall Putsch”.

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Godwin’s law, FWIW.

I maintain that it is possible both to support the first amendment and abhor some of the things it protects.

The protests are a symptom. The hate groups are capitalizing on a broad unrest. They are not purely a product of their own marketing. Defanging the groups starts with understanding what it is they’re tapping into and dealing with that.

Edit: Defanging those groups almost certainly does not involve seeking a confrontation. That will likely have the opposite effect.

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@50N40W

Considering you’'re the one who initially brought up the example of 1930’s Germany in an oversimplified manner, invoking that when others reply in response is quite intellectually dishonest.

What we’re seeing with the White supremacists in Charlotteville and across the US and European fringes is largely prompted by the very same inclination to blame marginalized groups for problems that are due to systemic economic issues, their own failings. and a need to assert their entitlement to supremacy that prompted the rise of the KKK, anti-immigration groups, and '30s era European Fascist movements like the Nazis.

57

Seems that some Americans are not content to incite fights only in the US.

http://www.dw.com/en/us-tourist-beaten-for-giving-hitler-salute-in-dresden-germany/a-40073119

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Most of those groups are very small. Few of them can claim more than a thousand members.

59

“Most of these groups are very small. Few of them can claim more than a thousand members.”

Those groups can still cause lots of damage. It does not take a group of 1000+ to do so. Very scary times.

60

Godwin’s Law is not applicable when we’re talking about ACTUAL NAZIS.