We need to have a serious conversation about the white supremacist activity in Minneapolis last night. It’s the morning after, so obviously it’s too early for conclusive evidence. But here are a few relevant observations.

It’s pretty clear that far-right white nationalists have been actively pursuing this for a while and were in the mix in Minneapolis last night. This Vice story pulls some of the available info together. https://www.vice.com/en_in/article/pkyb9b/far-right-extremists-are-hoping-to-turn-the-george-floyd-protests-into-a-new-civil-war

Local folks are posting that white people with guns and out-of-state plates were all over Minneapolis last night: 5th precinct, etc. Reports of two-way radio picking up coordinated fire strikes with one group setting debris against buildings and another coming to light it.

There are lots of stories being posted like this one: https://www.facebook.com/leo.whitebird/posts/10219458971937234

Previously, we saw fires of two kinds that fit historical precedent. First, We saw protests with big crowds gathered at protest-relevant sites that went on for hours and eventually (in some cases) escalated to window smashing, looting, and fire.

Second, we saw break-ins and looting at some businesses that held goods that might be valuable for possession or resale—with the smashed-up business eventually being set aflame. The spatial pattern of fires shifted dramatically last night, in several ways:

1. There were numerous fires set right off highway exits. These sites were not of much symbolic value to protestors or material value to people who might want to take consumer goods. But they would be easy targets for people driving in to set fires and make a quick getaway.

2. Protests had been raging in both Saint Paul and Mpls. Then last night, as Saint Paul got quiet, Mpls exploded with fires. Over the past 72 hours, Mpls has been at the center of white-right communications about accelerating conditions for a race war. Saint Paul had not.

3. The fires in Mpls last night were all over the place, not just where sizable groups of protestors were gathered. From what I’m hearing, they were also more likely to include local businesses, black- & brown-owned business, and sites serving the community (e.g., post office).

I’m not certain what happened last night, and some of this may prove, with time, to be wrong. What I will say (again) is that we need to have a serious conversation about the White Right and what went down in Mpls last night.

In the black and brown communities most affected by these actions (and by police violence), lots of people know more than I do about what's happening. Please listen to them. Please point others toward them. And please correct anything I’ve got wrong or may have overlooked.