White Supremacy

Kyle Rittenhouse and The Embrace of Extremism

Open displays of hate and extremist ideologies are broadening

I’ve recently discussed extremism in American society quite a bit. Rightfully so. As someone who navigates the intersection of politics and race it would be a disservice not to. In my most recent article on the topic, I explored how hate and extremism continue to grow unabated despite the lack of media attention. Prior to that, I discussed extremists in positions of power all over the country. Recently, few have been more obvious than Judge Bruce Schroeder.

Schroeder was the judge in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. Rittenhouse is the teen who killed two people in Kenosha, Wisconsin during riots that broke out after the peaceful protests resulting from the shooting of Jacob Blake. Evidence shows that Rittenhouse crossed state lines from Illinois to Wisconsin to allegedly act in a law enforcement and/or paramedic capacity — neither of which he’s qualified for — while armed with an AR-15, a common military-style rifle. Schroeder has been the subject of much debate surrounding his decisions, statements, and apparent bias towards Rittenhouse who faced a litany of charges.

Shortly after the events that occurred in Kenosha when Kyle Rittenhouse shot three people, killing two, he was seen multiple times hanging out with members of the Proud Boys, an extremist hate group. Given the current state of far-right-led culture wars something as simple as flashing the “ok” hand signal in certain contexts has white supremacist connotations. Kyle Rittenhouse was seen flashing that hand signal in photos with members of the extremist group.

Rittenhouse was also a supporter of Blue Lives Matter, a counter-movement created in reaction to Black Lives Matter — a civil rights movement focused on exposing police brutality and state-sponsored murder of civilians at the hands of law enforcement. It has been apparent for several years that the premise for the support of Rittenhouse is based on anti-Black narratives parroted by hate groups and media outlets such as Breitbart, Fox News, Newsmax, the official Blue Lives Matter among others.

Even the New York Times published a piece humanizing him as an innocent kid who just wanted to grow up to be a nurse. Yet, along with hate groups expressing their open support for Rittenhouse, so have many cops including a police chief who was fired for donating to Rittenhouse’s defense fund via the Christian crowdfunding site, GiveSendGo, a site known to be used by far-right extremists

Public Displays of Extremism

Along with the Virginia police chief and other police officers, public officials and far-right actors also donated to Rittenhouse’s defense fund. A data breach at GiveSendGo revealed that the donors to Kyle Rittenhouse also donated to fundraisers for far-right activists and cops who shot Black people. Even further, many elected officials have embraced extremism and vigilantism not just in their support for Rittenhouse, but in their racially motivated coded language.

Gone are the days of the moderate Republican. Or, shall I say, the 1980s type of Republican that tried to hide their racism. Today they are blatant extremists. The overtness of their bigotry and hate began to come about with the emergence of the Tea Party after the election of Barack Obama. From there, anti-Black, xenophobic, and homophobic hate became mainstream. The Republican Party adopted extremism over policy. Appealing to the economic anxieties of white voters — coded language for keeping non-white people out of their neighborhoods.

Embracing religious extremism along with hateful ideologies provides them cover as agents of Christ (or whatever they call themselves). You know, like the Ku Klux Klan used to do. I’m sorry, still does. We’re watching no better example of hate under the guise of religion than with the support of Donald Trump. Regarding Jesus, Trump is the exact opposite of Christ. I mean, c’mon. There aren’t many things out there more telling than hiding behind Jesus to support Trump at this point — except maybe a Klan hood.

The open embrace of extremism from prominent political figures is alarming. From Trump once telling the Proud Boys to “stand by” to Steve Bannon echoing those words a few days ago. With the not-guilty verdict in the Rittenhouse trial and Madison Cawthorn telling his followers to be “armed and dangerous”, far-right extremists are primed and ready. The verdict in Kenosha signals to extremists that they can carry guns into protests and claim self-defense if they shoot anyone they perceive to be looting or destroying property.

Extremist politicians and hate groups leaders have massive platforms. Politicians, however, have access to a broader audience via cable news channels such as Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News. They use this audience to spread messages of hate towards not just non-white groups, but also towards people who think differently politically. Dividing the country along ideological lines is a tool of white nationalism. It’s how culture wars are born.

Despite the fact that Rittenhouse’s victims were white, it’s not lost on all of America that his trial stood as a perceived battleground for far-right extremists. Their enemy is, of course, Black Lives Matter. Kyle Rittenhouse’s victims represent the Black Lives Matter movement to conservatives and extremists alike. To them, this case served as an attack in the battle against the civil rights movement and with Rittenhouse being set free, they are declaring this a victory.

Armed and Ready

Dozens of political leaders have been exposed as members of extremist groups. They use their offices, their political platforms, and various media outlets to spread their messages. Paul Gosar recently posted a cartoon video of him murdering Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. All but one party member stood by him despite the violent message in his social media post. Minutes after being censured by Congress, Gosar retweeted the video via a conservative podcaster.

Similarly, Republicans stood by Donald Trump despite his rhetoric leading to mass shootings, attempted bombings, verbal attacks, and violent assaults all over the country. Trump purposely sent messages that would incite his followers. He once declared, “I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump — I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point and then it would be very bad, very bad,” which sent a message that his most ardent supporters received with clarity.

Messages like that suggest to a person like Rittenhouse that when “they go to a certain point” it’s okay to attack people. What is the “certain point” specifically? That depends on the person, their ideology, and their perceived oppressor. In El Paso, the shooter’s limits were clearly based on the perceived invasion of the U.S. by immigrants of color. The attacks against Asians across the country were provoked by an imagined limit that was broken surrounding the Coronavirus.

That’s how dog-whistles work. There is no specific plan of attack or a specific enemy. They know their base is armed. They cater to the extremists within that base. They know that by sending messages suggesting being “armed and dangerous,” individual actors could be triggered at any moment. Many extremists are pushing for an ethnic war, others want their white utopia, and even more, want a single-party dictatorship akin to a communist regime.

We’ve seen and heard the hateful and bigoted rhetoric and what that language leads to from politicians and hate groups alike. It led to the attack on the Capitol on January 6, and it’s led to countless atrocities both throughout history and in the modern era. The explosion of hate and bigotry can be directly attributed to the normalization of such ideas via the Tea Party and the Republican Party as a whole remaining silent in the face of growing extremism.

Conservative politics has taken a turn to the embrace of extremism over policy. Bullying and putting on a show rather than doing anything to help their constituents. The vast majority of their voters support their behavior because they seek the same thing. They are more concerned with “owning the libs” than they are improving their own lives. Spending most of their time copying social justice movements to create their own counter-movements and thus, culture wars.

Conclusion

What we are facing moving forward is the embrace of the idea that armed white men can stalk and intimidate peaceful protesters associated with movements they don’t agree with. The growth of hate and extremism is unending and if white people don’t start addressing it within their own communities, democracy dies. Enough is enough. Confront the hate. If you don’t, it might come for you next. If the Rittenhouse trial taught us anything, it showed us that white men can kill anyone who is perceived as an ally to the Black community and get away with it.

White supremacy kills white people too.

Arturo is a first-generation Cuban American father, an anti-racist, advocacy journalist, and publisher of The Antagonist Magazine. You can find him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also support his work here and here. If you would like to read more of Arturo’s work and the work of thousands of others, you can join Medium here.