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The commentary surrounding Baltimore social issues should always be contextualized with facts about the rise of white supremacist ideology in our era & its many deep adherents in the Baltimore metro region.
These are the kind of folks who candidates let drive the dialogue:
These are the kind of folks who candidates let drive the dialogue:
Brandon Higgs went to Charlottesville & prolific online. Lived in Reistertown. https://www.thedailybeast.com/alt-right-charlottesville-marcher-brandon-higgs-accused-of-trying-to-kill-black-men
James Harris Jackson is Baltimore born & raised. Went to Friends & lived in a Hampden: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/23/nyregion/timothy-caughman-white-supremacist-guilty.html
Richard Preston a longtime Klansman, Baltimore resident, and former school janitor: https://www.baltimoresun.com/citypaper/bcpnews-baltimore-city-grand-dragon-arrested-for-firing-a-gun-at-charlottesville-20170828-story.html
2/7 members of The Base arrested this past week call Maryland home : https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2020/01/17/the-base-alleged-white-supremacists-virginia-rally-latest/
Baltimore suburbs see swastika graffiti calling for “race war now” https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-county/ph-ca-at-crime-0710-story.html
Label 56 - one of the last surviving white supremacist music labels - is run by Clemie Richard Haught Jr. out of SW Baltimore https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/after-charlottesville-some-white-power-labels-disappeared-this-one-survives-in-maryland/2017/10/13/baf06cfc-a23c-11e7-9335-16c8faedd676_story.html
Who was one of its “artists”? Wade Michael Page who opened fire inside a Sikh temple in Wisconsin https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2012/08/06/suspected-sikh-temple-gunman-signed-with-maryland-record-label/
Jason Tankersley is the founder of Maryland Skinheads runs a gym in Rosedale where lots of MMA types work out: https://phillyantifa.org/keystone-united-exposed-day-15-jason-tankersley/
Speaking of MMA - it’s subculture has long been prime recruiting ground for white supremacy https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/sep/11/far-right-fight-clubs-mma-white-nationalists. Just saying.
These folks aren’t just on the fringe of Baltimore culture. Glen Keith Allen was an attorney for the city & a long time PARTNER at huge corporate law firm DLA Piper https://www.colorlines.com/articles/update-baltimore-ends-contract-attorney-after-revelation-white-supremacist-ties
Crescenzo Gizzi worked for Baltimore for 17 years & thought it totally okay to post racist & anti-Semitic screeds online https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-racist-public-works-employee-20190822-kv6tvtnkgjcwzkk2hoqoiaqzpa-story.html
Enterprise Rent-a-Car of Baltimore was just ordered to pay the largest back pay settlement in OFCCP history for intentional discrimination against black applicants https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/pages/baltimore-company-ordered-to-pay-$16.3-million-in-race-bias-case.aspx
There are a five Patriot Front & Identity Europa (aka AIM) chapters one Baltimore doing book drops and sticker actions on the regular.
Ex. 1 https://thinkprogress.org/turner-diaries-nazi-propaganda-being-sold-in-baltimore-penn-station-1184c59de832/
Ex. 1 https://thinkprogress.org/turner-diaries-nazi-propaganda-being-sold-in-baltimore-penn-station-1184c59de832/
Ex 2 https://www.reddit.com/r/baltimore/comments/bazn87/white_nationalistneonazi_group_stickers_found/
Ex 4 https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/kkk-flyers-found-on-federal-hill-block-where-a-murder-happened
Don’t let anyone tell you white supremacy is limited to poor, working class white folks in Morrell Park.
White Supremavy is bred in elite spaces & endemic in Baltimore’s private school culture: https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-halloween-costumes-20171030-story.html
White Supremavy is bred in elite spaces & endemic in Baltimore’s private school culture: https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-halloween-costumes-20171030-story.html
Not just Roland Park, but Boys Latin, Mount St Joseph & Loyola Blakefield: https://www.wbaltv.com/article/racist-graffiti-prompts-towson-private-school-to-close-thursday/14435746
(See also James Harris Jackson above)
All this to say, when media & politicians respond to “voter concern” about crime w/o parsing out the ways reactionary dialogue has been used by white supremacists since slavery to subjugate Black bodies & justify racist legislation, you are doing their work for them.
The reporting/response you give becomes fodder for normalization, mainstreaming & recruitment.
Baltimore’s lack of institutional response to racism helped launch 1 of the nations biggest white supremacy leaders - Matthew Heimbach.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-bc-us--trump-protester-charges-20180515-story.html
h/t @slinkymaster
Baltimore’s lack of institutional response to racism helped launch 1 of the nations biggest white supremacy leaders - Matthew Heimbach.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-bc-us--trump-protester-charges-20180515-story.html
h/t @slinkymaster
How did he first market himself at Towson?
Vigilante “safety walks” around Towson https://www.thedailybeast.com/riding-along-with-a-towson-university-students-white-patrol invoking racist tropes around protecting the sexual purity of white women.
Vigilante “safety walks” around Towson https://www.thedailybeast.com/riding-along-with-a-towson-university-students-white-patrol invoking racist tropes around protecting the sexual purity of white women.
And WJZ basically called him naughty & gave him a platform to spread his racist propaganda:
The advisor for Heimbach’s racist student org?
Still working http://towson.edu/coe/department , published by McGraw Hill, and posting batshit stuff on here:
Still working http://towson.edu/coe/department , published by McGraw Hill, and posting batshit stuff on here:
I live, work, & socialize in white spaces in Baltimore. The ideas these white supremacists advocate are regularly given voice by individuals who consider themselves “socially liberal.” They are softened by patronizing, faux concern & Moynhanah era myths masked as common sense.
White supremacy is alive and well in Baltimore.
Not implicit bias - explicit belief in the superiority of white people and white culture.
It seeds & drives conversations around crime, squeegee crews, neighborhoods, & corruption.
Yr silence when it’s discussed is complicity.
Not implicit bias - explicit belief in the superiority of white people and white culture.
It seeds & drives conversations around crime, squeegee crews, neighborhoods, & corruption.
Yr silence when it’s discussed is complicity.
