by Emilio Menotti & Chris Lewis
On January 6, 2021, a mob of nearly 2,000 alt-right Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in an attempt to prevent the confirmation of Joe Biden. While seemingly spectacular, the event was the culmination of 4 years of hatred that’s been snowballing since Trump’s inauguration.
“White nationalist groups in the U.S. have increased 55% since 2017 due to the fear of demographic change,” Beyza Donmez, a senior reporter for AA explained in her article.
Trump’s presidency and rhetoric have been integral to this development, only adding more fuel to a nationalistic fire that has consumed our country since its inception. The ex-President’s response to the Charlottesville massacre perfectly exemplified this; after James Fields drove his vehicle through “Unite The Right” counter-protesters, the President publicly announced there were good people on “both sides.”
“You know it doesn’t make Logan feel like a welcoming place when you walk around and see racial slurs plastered on the walls.”
White Supremacy is quite literally at the fingertips of many Americans. This absurd accessibility only increases the chances of a person becoming radicalized. No longer does mobilization occur through post or word of mouth but has become digitized.
“Most extremist groups have their own websites and they and their supporters have profiles on different social media sites,” according to ADL, the Anti Defamation League – an organization specializing in documenting hate groups across the country. “They use these to share propaganda and to become friends with people who seem to display interest in what they are thinking, doing, and saying.”
This strategy is uniquely designed to radicalize disparate young children across the nation. A Washington Post interview of a concerned parent displays this when it explains, “Schroeder described the onslaught of racist, sexist and homophobic memes that had inundated her kids’ social media accounts unbidden, and the way those memes — packaged as irreverent, “edgy” humor — can indoctrinate children into the world of alt-right extremism and white supremacy.”
The rise of white supremacy and radicalization of desperate teens has had far and reaching impacts on our community. Just recently, JLHS received an onslaught of racially charged and targeted graffiti. The most recent example of this occurred on April 12. In response to flyers across the school raising awareness about the Ethnic Studies Department’s 30 day “Affirmation Challenge,” students vandalized the posters promoting the occasion only half an hour after it was placed publically for all to see. It became littered with swastikas and racial profanity. While seemingly mundane, events like this represent a larger trend in our community that brings detriments to students.
“Many kids at school have felt unsafe on campus,” Isha Bhasin, a captain of policy debate on James Logan’s Forensics team said. “You know it doesn’t make Logan feel like a welcoming place when you walk around and see racial slurs plastered on the walls.”
However, the influence of radicalization and everyday acts of racism aren’t intrinsic to graffiti but arguably are embedded in youth culture itself.
“Kids at our school have gotten used to racism. You walk around and almost always expect to see kids calling each other slurs as a greeting,” Senior Yama Sekandar, a racial justice advocate said. “In fact, some of them see it as funny. This ‘edgy’ youth culture is really problematic.”
Noticing the propensity for young radicalization, many students at our school have taken efforts to combat its spread. Luciann Nguyen, an officer for the club “Be Heard,” explained his rationale.
“Wanting to make a change, me and a couple friends created a school program where we teach kids in middle school about social justice issues,” Nguyen said. “While it seems small, I feel like we’ve exposed otherwise unconcerned teens to a plethora of issues that plague not just our community, but our country.”
In the face of massive waves of white supremacy, the first step in mobilization is undoubtedly schoolwide awareness. Through discussions with friends, family, and loved ones, you can potentially expose people to information that stops radicalization at its core.
