As reports like this one from the Washington Post are documenting, the United States is currently undergoing a mix of widespread and sustained protests unmatched for half a century. Particularly heartening for those of us hoping for a true sea change in attitudes toward civil rights is how marches and demonstrations are hardly confined to large urban centers; hundreds of events have now taken place in all 50 states, including small towns in solidly conservative states and regions. Not only are these evidence of a shift in the present moment, they may also presage increased future support of civil rights and police reform efforts; as the Post notes, “the closer someone lives to a protest, the more likely it is to change their vote. Protests influence not just election turnout, but also what types of issues rise to the top of party platforms, and who gets elected to state, local and federal offices.”
This phenomenon of small-town participation has been happening here in Oregon, with demonstrations in support of justice for George Floyd taking place not just in Portland but locales like Monmouth, Medford, and Pendleton. But these peaceful protests have been sometimes shadowed by a less progressive counterpoint. Even as small-town Oregonians rallied against systemic racism, others were being driven to paranoia and fear via what appear to be coordinated efforts via Facebook to foment civil strife and right-wing violence. And so in communities like Klamath Falls and Grants Pass, armed vigilantes turned out to fight off phantom buses rumored to be filled with antifa members aiming to kill, loot, and plunder these small towns; as one Facebook commentator put it, antifa were “going to burn everything and to kill white people, basically.”
Klamath Falls in southern Oregon saw the most fraught outcome of this fear-mongering; according to reporting from NBC News, as a diverse group of some 200 protestors rallied downtown, another group of hundreds formed a sinister response to their protest:
They leaned in front of local businesses The Daily Bagel and Rick's Smoke Shop wearing military fatigues and bulletproof vests, with blue bands tied around their arms. Most everyone seemed to be carrying something: flags, baseball bats, hammers and axes. But mostly, they carried guns.
They said they came with shotguns, rifles and pistols to protect their downtown businesses from outsiders. They had heard that antifa, paid by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, were being bused in from neighboring cities, hellbent on razing their idyllic town.
A police presence between the two groups continued for the four hours the George Floyd protestors were present; but it is easy to imagine events having gone another way, with a group of unarmed protestors confronted by heavily armed vigilantes amped up on paranoia and adrenaline. And as NBC points, this basic scenario, of small town residents driven by wild rumor to prepare for violence, was repeated in many other locales around the U.S. In Forks, Washington, for instance, such paranoia led locals to harass and threaten a multi-racial family visiting from Spokane, after their bus was mistaken for one of the mythic antifa assault vehicles; in a scene out of a community theater, cinema verite re-enactment of Deliverance, the family was followed by cars containing armed individuals, and was later trapped at a campsite after some of their antagonists apparently cut down trees to prevent their exit (friendlier locals ended up clearing their path).
The juxtaposition between peaceful protests in favor of justice, and violently-minded posses spurred to do battle against imaginary enemies, is uncomfortably stark. While we should keep the nationwide groundswell of support for racial justice in the forefront of public discussion, it’s not helpful to sweep under the rug this parallel right-wing, racist, and anti-Semitic response (some rumors held George Soros to be funding the antifa buses); in important ways, the under-the-radar nature of the rumors and Facebook messaging made it invisible to much of the media, and so to the mass public consciousness and light of reason that might have quickly exposed the falsity and absurdity of the claims. At the same time, it’s invaluable to realize that great numbers of Americans are so susceptible to being worked up into an armed frenzy, even if to an objective observer their fears are nonsensical. This realization can’t be separated from the way that Donald Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr have essentially been party to a dangerous incitement of hate, as both men have grossly exaggerated the extent of violence among protestors over the last week, while also stating without evidence that much of it is being caused by antifa and anarchists.
What’s also notable are the multiple examples of these small-town folk resorting to vigilante-type preparations for violence, rather than relying on their local police forces to keep them safe. Again, this speaks to a definite paranoia mixed with an eagerness to take up arms against phantom enemies. While such instincts are pitiable, they are also highly dangerous. As observers like Jared Yates Sexton have being arguing, such readiness to engage in militia-style violence against left-wing enemies represents a frightening fascistic strain in American society. We must hope that enough of these citizens witness actual peaceful demonstrations by their neighbors, so that reality might pierce their mass hallucination of persecution and vengeance.