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This weekend has seen countless cases of brutality towards protesters. I want to talk about one specific tactic, vehicle ramming, and how it took hold in 1) the American far-right, 2) mainstream conservatism, and 3) US law enforcement over the last 5 years
I've spent the last year studying VRAs. I'll try to provide some context for these incidents in this thread; in particular how various aspects of the extreme and mainstream right-wing celebrate them online. [cw: graphic images and videos below]
For VRAs in America, most folks probably think of Charlottesville. But the A12 attack did not occur in a vacuum. The tactic was first introduced by the far-right to attack street-blocking protests by the Black Lives Matter and NoDAPL movements
For a sample of these incidents, see Jan. 2015 in MSP, July 2016 in Ferguson and Southern Illinois, and Jan. 2017 in Nashville. In one July 2016 case, the driver got out, shouted “all lives matter, not blacks, all lives,” and then drove into the protesters http://www.kfvs12.com/story/32413138/driver-plows-through-black-lives-matter-protesters-in-southern-il
The right began creating memes to celebrate these initial VRAs online. For an example, Fox shared a Daily Caller video of several VRAs in Jan. 2017. Mike Raust wrote "study the technique; it may prove useful in the next four years". https://money.cnn.com/2017/08/15/media/daily-caller-fox-news-video-car-crashing-liberal-protesters/index.html
Historian @Limerick1914 cataloged several of these frightening posts at the time. "Run Them Over" became a meme in right-wing circles online https://twitter.com/Limerick1914/status/755132030493556736?s=20
This then took hold among law enforcement. Here's one of many cases: in February 2017, a Santa Fe police sergeant and president of the local police union shared the cartoon “Splatter” meme on his personal Facebook: http://www.sfreporter.com/news/2017/02/20/to-protect-and-troll/
Then, elected officials began further encouraging these attacks by attempting to legalize them. See the table below for 6 states where bills were proposed to provide protections to drivers who ran into protesters. Luckily none passed into law.
All of this lead to Charlottesville. James Alex Fields shared a meme (below) about running over protesters twice in May 2017. And similar memes were shared in the Discord server used to plan the Unite the Right rally: https://twitter.com/UR_Ninja/status/897979666610491394?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E897979666610491394%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Funicornriot.ninja%2F2017%2Fdata-release-discord-chats-planned-armed-neo-nazi-militia-operations-charlottesville%2F
https://twitter.com/UR_Ninja/status/897979666610491394?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E897979666610491394%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Funicornriot.ninja%2F2017%2Fdata-release-discord-chats-planned-armed-neo-nazi-militia-operations-charlottesville%2F
In the Discord server, the proposed laws came up. Even though it never passed, one user wrote "I know NC law is on the books that driving over protesters blocking roadways isn’t an offense.”
The atmosphere created by those failed bills encouraged future VRAs.
The atmosphere created by those failed bills encouraged future VRAs.
After a year of studying VRAs, it pained me to see a new spike this weekend. Video of two NYPD SUVs driving into protesters has widely circulated.
https://twitter.com/pgarapon/status/1266885414016688134?s=19
California highway patrol appear to have done the same thing outside LA: https://twitter.com/NBCLA/status/1265819937802772480?s=19
https://twitter.com/pgarapon/status/1266885414016688134?s=19
California highway patrol appear to have done the same thing outside LA: https://twitter.com/NBCLA/status/1265819937802772480?s=19
Civilians have driven into protesters this weekend too. In my hometown Denver, a woman hit a protester, then turned around to hit him again. https://twitter.com/bellers03/status/1266174838374313992?s=19
Also in Bakersfield, San Jose, Tallahassee, & Gainesville
https://www.kget.com/news/local-news/bakersfield-police-arrest-man-accused-of-driving-through-crowd-protesters-striking-girl/
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/29/protestors-gather-in-oakland-san-jose-to-decry-police-violence-george-floyds-death/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
Also in Bakersfield, San Jose, Tallahassee, & Gainesville
https://www.kget.com/news/local-news/bakersfield-police-arrest-man-accused-of-driving-through-crowd-protesters-striking-girl/
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/29/protestors-gather-in-oakland-san-jose-to-decry-police-violence-george-floyds-death/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
And today in Minnesota, a semi driver tried to drive through protesters on the highway, in a frightening reminder of the capacity of these attacks that made me think of the deadliest jihadist VRAs in Europe https://twitter.com/BrettHoffland/status/1267227669701316608?s=19
And this new wave is being celebrated. A simple Twitter or Facebook search of "run them over" will provide you a multitude of examples of people encouraging this behavior
Most of these VRAs were likely spontaneous. US far-right VRAs are less pre-planned than jihadist VRAs in the West. Regardless of premeditation, I hope folks take away that there is an online environment celebrating these attacks, only making them more likely. This needs to stop
This is only one aspect of anti-protester violence that I happen to be familiar with. For more see @ProfPaulPoast's graph on militarization of police through surplus gear, and for historical background, read @stschrader1's book.
https://twitter.com/ProfPaulPoast/status/1267048272314712064?s=20
https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520295629/badges-without-borders
https://twitter.com/ProfPaulPoast/status/1267048272314712064?s=20
https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520295629/badges-without-borders
