“During the Reconstruction era (1865-1877), this variety was what helped keep early versions of the Klan a secret. While testimonies from witnesses referenced the outlandish costumes, people in power denied that these attacks were evidence of efforts by a coordinated hate group. In 1890, with the ushering in of the Jim Crow laws, the Klan's first iteration mostly disbanded, as their prejudices had been successfully codified into law— meaning there was no need for lynch mobs to hide their faces and identities.” KKK policy was then embedded in local laws.
The second iteration of the Ku Klux Klan began with a sputter in 1915, when the traditional white robes and pointed hood became Klan standard, and exploded with the glorification of the Klan in David Wark Griffith’s Birth of a Nation released in that year. By the 1920s, the Klan grew into a massive body of White Supremacists. Supported by clearly racist presidents (Woodrow Wilson and Warren Harding), by 1925 the Klan was able to stage massive marches in Washington, D.C. with their faces exposed (see above picture). To say black Americans faced brutality, death, discrimination, forced racial separation with voting pretty much out of the question… well that is an understatement, at least in the deep South, until the civil rights movements of the 1960s.
For whatever reason, white supremacy seems enamored of fire symbols – torches like those above from the August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia reminiscent of KKK cross burnings – and costumes. White Supremacists and other extremists are particularly fond of long guns, constantly referencing their purported Second Amendment rights to bear arms… everywhere, but particularly at political gatherings.
In April, in serious opposition to Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s COVID restrictions, dozens of protesters, some of whom were armed (pictured with flags and guns above), gathered at the state capitol. Later that year, “A federal grand jury has charged six men with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in what investigators say was a plot by anti-government extremists who were angry over her coronavirus policies.” NBC News, December 17th. That last picture is of self-described QAnon leader, Jacob Chansley, one of those arrested in connection with the Capitol break-in on January 6th. Camouflage jackets and other military apparel (some reflecting actual military service) are also popular.
These costumes and symbols, expressions of extremism, are nothing new. “Like the early Ku Klux Klan, the viral spread of the QAnon conspiracy theory has been driven through spectacle. Chansley admitted as much. He has commented that his costume gets people’s attention, which then gives him the opportunity to spread the tenets of the conspiracy theory: that the world’s governments and banks are run by secret rings of Satan-worshipping pedophiles that manage child sex-trafficking organizations.
“Other members of the movement are keenly aware of how their clothing can work to influence others… Doug Jensen, the man seen in a viral video at the head of a mob chasing a police officer through the Capitol building, said in an interview that he purposefully positioned himself leading the charge wearing a ‘Q’ shirt so that ‘Q’ could ‘get the credit.’” FastCompany.com, January 26th.
Many of those who entered the Capitol on January 6th, despite the violence and the damage, cannot believe that they can be convicted of any crime because the Capitol is “our house” and they were clearly invited to the Capitol by the President of the United States. Reactions such as these are typical: “A retired firefighter from Long Island, New York, texted a video of himself in the Capitol rotunda to his girlfriend’s brother, saying he was ‘at the tip of the spear,’ officials said. The brother happened to be a federal agent with the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, who turned the video over to the FBI. A lawyer for the man, Thomas Fee, said that he ‘was not part of any attempt to take over the U.S. Capitol’ and that ‘the allegation is that he merely walked through an open door into the Capitol — nothing more.’
“Another man who was inside the Capitol was willing to rat out another rioter who stole House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern and emailed the video to an FBI agent, even signing his own name to it. ‘Hello Nice FBI Lady,’ he wrote, ‘Here are the links to the videos. Looks like Podium Guy is in one of them, less the podium. Let me know if you need anything else.’…
“[Does bode badly for Donald Trump’s upcoming Senate trial?] Unlike criminal cases, impeachment trials do not have specific evidence rules so anything said and done that day can be used. And several of the people charged have said in interviews with reporters or federal agents that they were simply listening to the president when they marched to the Capitol.” Associated Press, January 26th. Still, Republican opposition to convicting Trump is very strong.
Whether they are armed militia groups with helmets and flak jackets, rifle-toting marchers wearing Hawaiian shirts or horned crazies yelling nasty slogans, it seems pretty clear these white supremacists intend to intimidate and force their will on the rest of us. So much for democracy. That so many American believe that the November election was fraudulent, to the point of supporting and encouraging what would have been a violent overthrow of the US government, is shocking… but those feelings will dictate whether there is a remote chance of bipartisan unity… or the same-old/same-old pattern of congressional blockage, delay and gridlock.
I’m Peter Dekom, and this right wing, white supremacist (American “nativist”) movement is not going anywhere for a long time.
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