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| Poet, playright, and Reveal podcast host Al Letson, roughed up by the Antifa at the Bay Area vs. alt-right collision on 8/27/17 in Berekley |
Dear Diary,
Al Letson will talk with anyone who will talk to him, or so it seems. After the election, he interviewed alt-right celebrity Richard Spencer, and asked how Trump would promote his vision of a White ethno-state. He interviewed Spencer again after Charlottesville, in a futile attempt to clarify the distinction between alt-right and neo-Nazi — and why Spencer exchanged Nazi-style salutes when addressing a giddy Trump victory party. Both times, Letson made it clear he wanted a conversation, not a shouting match, and almost seemed to be offering friendship — since he doubted how much contact Spencer had with black people in his daily life, he said Spencer could always feel free to call him, and he would also be happy to put him on the line with his adopted white son. (Who would become a citizen of a different country than his dad in Spencer's White America utopia).
Last Sunday put Letson's commitment to civility to the test. (Please listen to the Reveal podcast story, The Rise of a Movement — the movement in question is Antifa, short for anti-fascist, whose goal is to win "the battle of the streets" against the the alt-right.) At first the Bay Area/alt-right collision in downtown Berkeley was peaceful, seniors and some children were present, and Letson's mic captured something approaching a dialog:
Bay Area woman: I just want to look in your eyes, could you look in my eyes. I'm wondering, when you look in my eyes, do you see someone who's different than you?
Alt-right guy: Hmmm
Bay Area woman: Can you make a connection with other people you see, when you look around, people marching for peace and freedom?
Alt-right guy: Can I make a connection with them?
Bay Area woman: Yes.
Alt-right guy: Sure, everybody wants peace and freedom.
Then at noon the Antifa contingent marched onto the scene in tight formation, at first looking like riot police to Letson. The real police kept them away from Civic Center, where the violent confrontations would happen if they happened, and then let them enter after the alt-right protesters dissipated. Enter Joey Gibson, the right-wing radio host with Patriot Prayer out of Portland, accompanied by his massive friend "Tiny." According to Letson he looked like "the bait at the end of the hook." Antifa took the bait and chased Gibson and Tiny toward police lines. Letson ran with them, trying, as always to get more of the story, and saw a man on the ground who who was being kicked by Antifas and beaten with a heavy flag pole.
Letson's 1st reaction: they're going to kill him; 2nd reaction, protecting the victim with his body; 3rd reaction, he might die too.
Al Letson survived, as did the man he protected, Keith Campbell, an alt-right video blogger with a YouTube channel called Patriot Warrior Media. Campbell used social media to thank Letson from his hospital bed. And Letson being Letson, his Reveal podcast downplayed the extent of his injuries: the Antifas landed a few blows, but seemed to pull their punches after realizing who he was. Nor did he equate Antifa with the Neo-Nazis. Moreover, there was a big plus in his explanation of why Antifa is on the rise after Charlottesville: many in the mainstream left now welcome their presence, glad to see people going all out to protect their communities.
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After Charlottesville. Diary, that "Unite the Right" event shook my little NPR-centric piece of the podcast world. Mignon Fogarty, rarely if ever political, used her August 17 Grammar Girl show to urge grammar sticklers to stop calling themselves "Grammar Nazis" — not funny, now that we have real Nazis marching in the street. Those marching Nazis figured prominently in Doug Henwood's August 24 Behind the News show, and the tone felt like someone shocked into sudden sobriety. Do the facts — 1,000 neo-Nazis held a torch light "blood and soil" parade, possibly their biggest event in America ever; they were
indeed into blood, murdering Heather Heyer; they appear to be merging with our completely native neo-Confederates, joining forces to protect monuments to slavery; they were protected by "third force" right-wing militia, in camouflage, carrying semi-automatic rifles in "open carry" Virginia; the outgunned police were disinclined to intervene. Cornel West credits Antifa with preventing clergy at the counter-protest from being "crushed like cockroaches."
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| Dr. Cornel West, philosopher and social critic |
Who were these allegedly "3rd force" right-wing militia? Fresh Air explained much in an August 23 show about the ongoing militia/Antifa "face off." 3rd force means they bill themselves as distinct from the neo-Nazis and the counter-protesters, just there to protect free speech — although they never show up to protect left events. They include the Patriot Movement, who believe we need to exercise our right to bear arms, or America will succumb to an international "new world order" conspiracy that already controls much of the federal government. There are people of color in their ranks, but they're vehemently anti-Muslim. They've been on a growth spurt since 2008, impelled by the rise of social media, the great recession, and the election of that Muslim Barak Obama.
Trump's election posed a dilemma for them. How can you sustain anti-government paranoia, with someone you love in the White House? New enemy needed, and with Antifa it was "hate at first sight." One reason they show up at Nazi/alt-right events is to confront Antifa, who they say are funded by George Soros, and trained in Syrian terror camps on techniques for tormenting patriots. Our alt-right, so lacking in common sense, yet so richly endowed with self-pity.
And they're fueled by an atmosphere of tacit encouragement by Trump, that political genius at dog whistles to his fringe base. Trump equivocated on blaming the neo-Nazis for Charlottesville, which the alt-right could read as an endorsement. His confidant, Roger Stone, was more explicit on 8/24, predicting insurrection of Congress moved to impeach his friend. America's like a black driver pulled over by the cops, not necessarily innocent, but terribly, tragically vulnerable. As the Rolling Stones sang in Gimme Shelter, "It's just a shot away."
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Diary, should we be supporting Antifa against the sinister crazies? People do have the right to protect themselves from lynch mobs, and my stripe of pacifism acknowledges that on rare occasions, soldiers are good. But soldiering is a complicated business. Some obvious requirements: having firearms and knowing how to use them; to know when to hold your fire; to be controlled by a political intelligence agile enough to know the difference between an enemy who is trying to intimidate, and one who is trying to provoke to score propaganda points. Antifa fails on all counts.
A good thing. The militias and Antifa facing off with automatic weapons in Charlottesville — let's not go there. Without guns, Antifa could play a positive role, as they did for Cornel West. And provide a way for young men to express their idealism. (Mostly guys in Antifa, as in the militias). Some may scoff, but I see nothing wrong with a male masculine ideals, masculinity, as it is certainly OK for a female to aim toward being a strong woman. But standards do vary.
My own fave is that a man doesn't allow the people around him to feel degraded. OK, it's actually gender neutral, and it's impossible for anybody, male or female to do completely. It's a line from the movie Kiss of the Spider Woman, the response of the political prisoner when his transvestite cell mate asks him what the guy thing is all about. It is useful to consider the people around you in degrading circumstances, and wonder how you could help. Protect clergy in Charlottesville, yes. Prevent the undocumented from being scapegoated, yes. Try to protect a defenseless person who is being brutalized — yes to that one too.
