Earlier today a Minnesota jury found Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the May 25, 2020 killing of George Floyd.
While the verdict confirms what all with an ounce of compassion saw with their own eyes when Chauvin was recorded murdering Mr. Floyd, the response across the far right and white nationalist movement demonstrated its base lack of compassion and lack of mooring in reality.
A prominent theme included an expression of the false sense of white and national dispossession that animates these movements writ large. Typical among the crowd that runs with white nationalists was the response of groyper figure Steven Franssen who wrote simply, “The justice system just died.[1] Show trial. Cartel country. Down the drain we swirl.”[2] Fellow “groyper” and America First Students head Jaden McNeil bemoaned that Derek Chauvin “never stood a chance” in a multiracial America:
Self-proclaimed “groyper mommy” Michelle Malkin offered that “Chauvin was sacrificed.”[3] The Tulsa, Oklahoma-area Proud Boys recirculated a post declaring that “Derek Chauvin Did Nothing Wrong.”[4]
Proud Boys of the American Redoubt bemoaned, and racialized, the trials of being a police officer, writing on Telegram about a “Silver lining in the guilty verdict: Thousands of cops will quit in fear of being in the same situation due to it being impossible to police black neighborhoods.”[5] AFPAC 2020 speaker Scott Greer asked “Why even remain a cop? The system hates you and only needs you to enforce mask regulations. Get a job that won’t send you to jail for doing your job.”[6]
The white nationalist League of the South was more explicit, and crass, about its white nationalist view of multiracial juries:
“The US is a failed state with an organized communist criminal cabal for a government. If you’re White middle-or working-class, you have not good future in this system. The late Dr. Samuel Frances predicted this state of affairs and called it Anarcho-Tyranny. He was right on the money. What indeed is the meaning these days of a ‘jury of your peers?” America is suffering from a bad case of Ni**** Fatigue. And for that, you can thank the jews (sic).”[7]
In like fashion, The Western Chauvinist, formerly Proud Boys Uncensored, declared that we live in a “Two-tiered justice system” and that George Floyd “got what he deserved.”[8]
Others offered visions of violence. White nationalist and VDARE head Peter Brimelow tweeted, “Does anyone really see any way out except Civil War/secession?”[9] The Telegram site Boogaloo Intel Drop said in crass racist terms that, “Derek Chauvin, the cop that legally restrained a feral ni****, George Floyd, was found guilty on all counts. This is not ni**** vs pig, this is being white in America… The system is rigged by the international jew (sic) for the subhuman hordes. THERE IS NO POLITICAL SOLUTION.”[10]
“Erik Striker” of the white nationalist/national socialist National Justice Party declared that “All of the white officers in that court should’ve thrown their badges on the ground and refused to even apprehend Chauvin,” declaring that a “white labor strike would bring these malicious forces and corrupt institutes to their needs (sic).”[11]
From the Halls of Congress, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) sounded a tune that could have been played at any white nationalist event, declaring that Black Lives Matter had “proven itself to be the most powerful domestic terrorist organization in our country. After Maxine Waters’ threats, could there have been any other verdict?”[12]
In the militia sphere, sounds of impending war were heard. One commenter in the Mewe-based United States Minutemen group declared, “Chauvin guilty!!! TOTAL BULLS***, not one of those chicken-sh** jurors had the moxie to do the right thing…WELL NOW LET THE GAMES BEGIN IN EARNEST.” Responding, one individual declared, “Hope they all get their houses burned and their women raped.”[13]
As white rage boiled across these spheres, Back the Blue events quickly popped up. As of this writing, such rallies have been announced for at least Grand Rapids, Michigan, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Orange County, New York, Strongsville, Ohio, Gastonia, North Carolina, Claremont, New Hampshire, Machesney Park, Illinois, and Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
The guilty verdict returned in this trial reflects what we all saw in Derek Chauvin’s nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds on George Floyd’s neck. Guilty was the only just verdict.
The response from the far right and white nationalists tells us one thing we knew going in. The struggle for racial justice in America must address deep inequalities in our institutions and contend with a backlash that can be expected at every turn from organized racists and the far right.
NOTES
[1] Steven Franssen. Telegram. April 20, 2021. https://t.me/stevenfranssen/7577
[2] Steven Franssen. Telegram. April 20, 2021. https://t.me/stevenfranssen/7578. Before the verdict, Facebook groups had already posted material on ” Dozens Of Buses Arriving Full Of Armed Rioters Before Chauvin Verdict,” potentially contributing to create an atmosphere of white panic.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1352395478268950/permalink/1664452350396593
[3] Michelle Malkin. Telegram. April 20, 2021. https://t.me/MichelleMalkin/3930
[4] Boom City Proud Boys. Telegram. April 20, 2021. https://t.me/OklahomaProudBoys/1161
[5] Proud Boys of the American Redoubt. Telegram. April 20, 2021. https://t.me/PROUDBOYSOFTHEREDOUBT/5000
[6] Scott Greer. As reposted by The Western Chauvinist. Telegram. April 20, 2021. https://t.me/TheWesternChauvinist/9101
[7] Southern Nationalst. Telegram. April 20, 2021. https://t.me/sonat61/209, https://t.me/sonat61/210, https://t.me/sonat61/211
[8] The Western Chauvinist. Telegram. April 20, 2021. https://t.me/TheWesternChauvinist/9103
[9] Peter Brimelow. Twitter. April 20, 2021. https://twitter.com/peterbrimelow/status/1384621260072755205
[10] Boogaloo Intelligence Drop. Telegram. April 20, 2021. https://t.me/boogaloointel/3542
[11] Erik Striker. Telegram. April 20, 2021. https://t.me/EricStrikerTRS/7031
[12] Marjorie Taylor Greene. Telegram. April 20, 2021. https://t.me/RealMarjorieGreene/376
[13] John Ferrando. United States Minutemen. Mewe. April 20, 2021.
