We are used to seeing heavily armed white militia marching around in public spaces to show their support for white supremacist causes. Those shows of strength were clearly intended to intimidate lawmakers, government officials, and the public. But on Saturday, the tables were turned and there appeared over 1,000 heavily armed members of a black militia who marched through a park in Georgia where there are statues of confederate leaders.
About 1,000 heavily armed militia, all of whom were Black, marched through Georgia’s Stone Mountain Park on Independence Day, challenging white nationalist groups in the area to either come out and fight or join them in demonstrating against the government.
Stone Mountain State Park officials said the Black militia group was peaceful, orderly and escorted by police Saturday as they called for the removal of the country’s largest Confederate monument near Atlanta. Videos posted to social media show the group, the “Not F**king Around Coalition” (NFAC), meeting at the massive nine-story quartz sculpting that depicts Confederate president Jefferson Davis and Southern generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.
NFAC Founder Grand Master Jay told Newsweek via phone Sunday that the militia members at Stone Mountain on Saturday were “100 percent black” and they are not affiliated with Black Lives Matter. “We are a black militia. We aren’t protesters, we aren’t demonstrators. We don’t come to sing, we don’t come to chant. That’s not what we do,” he said.
…The coalition of Black militia met at the monument, which is historically tied to the birth of the Ku Klux Klan and has more recently been the site of white nationalist rallies. Leaders of the heavily armed marching protesters frequently halted the protest to challenge local white supremacists and far-right Second Amendment advocates to “stop hiding.”
“I don’t see no white militia, the boogie [boogaloo] boys, the three percenters and all the rest of these scared-ass rednecks. We here, where the f**k you at? We’re in your house,” one protester said into a PA system during the Stone Mountain Park march.
…“It’s life or death out here, that’s why we’re out here, day by day, practicing our Second Amendment right just like the white folks do,” one of the protest organizers said during the march.
In Stone Mountain, Georgia earlier today pic.twitter.com/F2Autd4YtI
— Naomi (@naomiruta) July 4, 2020
… challenging white nationalist groups in the area to either come out and fight or join them …
Good thing boogalooers (or, as I prefer to call them, the boogers) were too scared/disorganized to take them up on that, because they wouldn’t go for that second option.
Next time or the time after, however…
This does not give me a good feeling going forward.
The white nationalists are totally not ready for this. Their schtick only works when they are the only armed ones present.
Look up Deacons For Defense and Justice.
Is the founder Amy relation of Jam Master Jay?
Look up the Huey P. Newton rod and gun club.
As much as I support the idea that blacks should have EXACTLY the same rights as whites, I despise militias, and think this is, at best, NOT productive. The chances of violence erupting is just too high. Peaceful protests are the only way to go. Even the moderately liberal whites I know have already latched on to what little violence there has been during the BLM protests.
The chances of violence erupting is just too high.
Part of me thinks that if the boogaloo boys got a good look at the elephant, they’d realize that being a bowling league would be a better way to spend their time.
I can tell from how they carry their gear and walk that some of those guys are ex military; the boogaloo boys would probably be dead before they knew what hit them…
@7, I have no idea who leads this group or anything about their ideology. Ideally, cool heads. But marching armed seems more than justified given the heaps of abuse black people have suffered.
I doubt that group will receive abuse from police, and if they do, the police will get exactly what they deserve for it. finally.
What are those moderately liberal friends doing, Matt? Paying lip service or writing their senators and voting for primary challengers that will remove police impunity and fund them at an appropriate scale?
Sam@9- My point is that there are white people on the left who are vaguely supportive of BLM, but seem more concerned about violence at BLM rallies than violence committed against blacks by cops. They are an example of white privilege -- they want to signal that they want change, but they don’t really want change.
Weird how the cops weren’t out there teargassing them…
@7, 10 MattG
The word you’re looking for is conservatives, not liberals. These are folk that want to keep things the way they are, and are happy to let the black folks, march, so long as it doesn’t actually accomplish anything. If they have problems with the violence then if they were liberal they would be against the police, not against protesters.
They want no change and they want to have clear consciences. Well,they shouldn’t have both.If they don’t support systemic change, then they are racist, that’s all there is to it. They can choose differently or live with the knowledge.
Consider how little the cops are doing to control the right wing gun carrying nuts.
@10, I suppose I don’t understand how you view such an action as, ‘at best’ not productive then. Not productive for who? Their peaceful efforts don’t seem to get consideration by enough of the present populace or legislators. Indeed, some progress from the civil rights era has been walked back.
I think showing white conservatives that violence is a real possibility so long as they continue to perpetuate violence upon black Americans may be quite productive. I’m uncertain enough about the outcome of such movements that I wouldn’t go so far as to actively encourage it, but in the current climate of rightwing armed bullying my attitude towards seeing such a response to it is far from negative.
And it looks like we’re ready for another Mulford Act…
As people have pointed out numerous times in the past, the only time the NRA and conservatives supported gun control was when it was the Black Panthers marching with guns.