Thoughts on White Supremacy, Fascism and Vehicle Attacks: Looking At The Increasing Frequency, Deadliness and Expectation
CW: some links contain graphic police violence
There will be more as the narrative and legality around these attacks are supported by the State and socially by accelerationist agents, who act on behalf of the state.
Vehicle attacks at protests are becoming more frequent and more socially accepted. It’s sad, in so many ways. There is a dramatic increase over this past year by both the State and independent actors, either on behalf of either the state or acting on their shared beliefs in anti-Blackness, pro-white supremacy are engaging in a specific brand of domestic terrorism.
The direct attacks, resulting in injuries and murders, focus on and around the aggressive behavior of those actors. They have no remorse, no empathy and a dedication to silencing perceived dissent, which in this case, is occupying public roadways for the causes of racial justice or social justice, directly confronting pillars of the state and white supremacy. As the frequency of these attacks increase, so too has the legality of these acts, the methodology and the public discourse surrounding it. Vehicle attacks from these actors are happening more frequently and will continue to happen and become more violent.
These vehicle attacks need to be branded as white supremacist domestic terrorism incidents, committed by independent cells of a larger, overarching group, directly confronting the “lone wolf” narratives often given off in media. The allegiance of each actor to a specific “group” isn’t something that is commonly talked about, as their attacks (with the exception of those that cause death) often become forgotten quickly.
It must be recognized that these attacks, mostly committed by cis white men, are not labeled as acts of domestic terror. As these acts are not recognized as such, they are seen as the contrary, in which there are examples of the state beginning to protect these actors. There have been legal measures seeking to absolve people who decided to drive through protest marches, effectively making it seem like they will face no repercussions for any injuries or deaths they cause.
One example of vehicle attacks being legalized and accepted is in the state of Florida, where Republican legislators introduced “anti-protest” laws. These laws seek to absolve people who drive through protesters, permitting them a feasible defense in any legal action against “mobs”. The implication being that these “mobs” are attacking the motorists, where on the contrary, it is the motorist acting to intimidate, injure or even kill based upon their beliefs (white supremacy, authoritarian, racist, fascistic). The idea of demonizing the group who is protesting is rooted in far-right ideology and deeply fascistic thinking, implying that the control of the narrative belongs solely to those in power.
This normalization is occurring because of the overall alignment of the parties involved. The state, the media and the attackers. These are never seen as “attacks on (so called) Americans’’. Ever. It’s quite the contrary, as those who are righteous in their causes for racial justice or battling oppression must be dehumanized to the public in order to set up a framework, justifying this behavior. It’s how white supremacist terror is becoming easier to spot for some and much easer to ignore for others.
Each new attack has contradicting narratives, if acknowledged at all. Right wing bloggers paint the image that drivers are “defending” themselves or are somehow entitled to the kill. News cycles keep the story on for a short time and then they vanish. While others, allies in particular, keep the memory of those murdered alive through vigils and memorials. The demonization of people who defend themselves is another incredible example of privilege. There is no conscious thought, compassion, empathy or even decency and having that thought penetrate new viewers, will lead to further extremes when vehicle attacks alone aren’t enough or if there is ever a “protection” put in place for protesters.
The state already engages in these kinds of attacks as well, as we have seen more clearly in the last year, where police brutality has been broadcast widely. Evidence from New York and Tacoma highlights police attacking protesters without reasonable provocation (even under the aforementioned “mob” language, where at most in both clips, water bottles were thrown). If the state is taking these actions it seems as though when seen, they can be replicated. How can there be a clear line identifying extremes in this situation, when there is no response from so called authorities, but they are now actively taking part. This permits further radicalization and a kind of accelerationism of white terrorism where, no pun intended, the mask is coming off and these things are seen, clearly.
As time passes, there will be more narrative adding nuance to these instances. Legality around these attacks, which are already supported by one state, may not even matter, as most attackers don’t see any repercussions and often assume the role of “victim”. Socially, these actions will be seen as having little repercussions also, so they will not only increase but they may get worse or even be hailed as some kind of victory in different “less radical” groups, thus causing further radicalization. If or when they are furthered by accelerationists, opportunists, or newly radicalized peoples, the idea of these being seen as domestic terrorism from behind the wheel may get lost somewhere, especially by those who are looking to drive home a deeper narrative.
The murder of Heather Heyer by James Fields in Charlottesville in 2017 stood apart. It simultaneously spotlighted violent and murderous white nationalism while also setting off the shit storm of disillusionment surrounding the rhetoric of somehow permitting the action. Fields was convicted of first degree murder in 2018. Since the murder of Heather Heyer, vehicle attacks at racial justice, anti-nazi, anti-police marches have almost become something to expect from opposition sympathizers, who offer gross symbolic excuses for their actions as a disguised dog-whistle.
The phrase “they shouldn’t be in the street” has come to be the main slogan of those situated against these protesters. The call seeks to normalize the behavior of consciousness and what would become premeditated vehicular homicide, given the opportunity, casting any civility aside for the cause of killing your political, social or racial enemies. People causing minor traffic disruptions are obviously not deserving of a death sentence, from the officers on behalf of the state or any independent actors, so why does this phrase keep circulating? Repetition on “simple phrases” is seen as a valuable tool in the hands of fascists. Normalizing the phrase leads to further radicalization. It is a kind of subtle and constant accelerationism and quite possibly the most dangerous.
Each incident seems to have less and less notoriety in the media, mainly seen from the footage of independent journalists. Instances in Portland, Oregon over the last year include a driver speeding through a protest crowd dragging a motorcycle, a “Trump Train” where drivers actively sought to attack protesters and pedestrians and more recently at a Justice for Patrick Kimmons march, which is a constant target for motorists, however the city and state charge protesters who defend themselves from the attackers. Here specifically, the state and media have made it their purpose to demonize the protesters defending themselves, rather than those that are charging the crowds, often premeditated.
Fields (as mentioned earlier) was charged with 29 federal hate crimes, first degree murder and other crimes, avoided the death penalty and was given a life sentence plus 419 years and a sum of $480 thousand in fines. As most recently, again, in Black Lives Matter demonstrations continued to be attacked, the idea of further accelerationism pushes actors into spaces where they feel not only encouraged, but welcomed to be that “opposition” to prevailing social and racial justice movements. These actors are capitalizing on white rage, political encouragement, state affirmation and no fear of repercussion.
While searching for content, I began finding specific events I did not intend to be looking for. The pieces I would find would usually be the same event in different articles or different wording, where again, the bulk of these independent attacks are best cataloged by independent journalists. And then I found something else. I came across an ISIS attack in Barcelona, in which Juan Zarate (Center for Strategic and International Studies) specifically called the use of vehicles the “low tech, high impact option for terrorists”. It really began to somehow widen and narrow the picture I had in my mind. At the time, this comment aimed at ISIS (and other commentary in the short clip) are leading me into thinking about the evolution of the attacks in the so called United States and for American white supremacist actors.
A point that has been made recently claims that these vehicle attacks are the “new school shooter” and that…is understood, however may not be accurate. I’d argue they’re the same as school shooter incidents, we’re just at a different phase in the collective amnesia around the incidents, that quickly turns to normalization. The desensitization and dehumanization are becoming so frequent that they either aren’t reported or are only reported when there’s a death, and ideologically are usually similar. Vehicle attacks have the same “lone wolf” aspect to them, however when discussing the lone wolf ideology, oftentimes we forget about the pack they have, in this case, the variety of attacks: school shootings, knife attacks, vehicle attacks and others. This would lead us further towards the acceptance of white supremacist terror attacks, with cars. We’ve already passed that phase and will soon enter a phase of even more violent attacks, another step in this evolution of normalization.
Something else that I was really stuck on was the idea of the street becoming “private property” that these particular actors and attacks are striving to protect. The state, police, fascists, white supremacist street gangs and their proximity to capital and capitalism share a special relationship to the road. As I looked at the pavement one afternoon, it became clear that the symbolism of the “open road” matches with the conquest of white supremacy. The street is a symbol for the forever war. Paved over horse trails mostly and then little reminders of Henry Ford everywhere else. Thought to be created by the imperialist white capitalist murderers, on stolen lands from their ancestors who murdered the Indigenous peoples before and “defended” by their murdering ancestors after, using a weapon that destroys lives and the planet.
While writing this piece, there is social unrest in Cuba, attributed to lack of vaccines and other necessities, however this is being co-opted in the so-called United States by western imperialists as a rebellion against the communist government. I found NBC 6 covering a march on the freeway for support of the Cuban people. Florida, as previously mentioned, has recently made this kind of march illegal, while also making it “legal” for protesters to be struck while demonstrating. Interestingly enough, one comment suggested that they (the police) “won’t do anything unless it was a BLM march”, which caught me as rather interesting, with the underlying sentiment being anti-Black, while not taking into account the depth of the anti-Cuban or anti-Latinx sentiment (insinuating erasure of intersectionality in racial and social justice protesters). It’s layered narratives of both anti-Blackness and access to whiteness and who the state permits into that space and how erasure is based, in this case, on political context. Whiteness as a construct literally, on the street.
