There have been several recent
incidents where far right whites
of premises groups have targeted
lgbtq people.
William brangham explores what's
behind these troubling attacks.
>> 'That's right Judy two of
those events happened this past
Saturday.
In coeur d'alane Idaho, 31 men
-- believed to be members of the
white nationalist group "Patriot
front" were arrested as they
traveled in a U-Haul truck to
allegedly riot at a local "Pride
month" celebration in town.
In San Lorenzo California, a
group of men believed to be part
of the violent, far-right "Proud
boys" entered a public library
shouting homophobic and
transphobic slurs and threats as
parents and kids attended what's
known as "Drag time story hour".
I spoke earlier today with
Harris mojadedi. He lives in
that community, works at U.C.
Berkeley, and was part of a
group of local leaders who
denounced the proud boys.
And I asked him what he thought
they were trying to do that day.
>> Cause terror, cause harm. You
know, there. Is. So much
misunderstanding. And I think
there's a lot of fear of hate
towards the lgbtq community, but
that really probably comes from
fear. But I think that was the
intended purpose was to stop the
program and to say that that
that the. This community is not
inclusive in welcoming. And I
think that was their intention.
You know, we are seeing a rapid
rise in discriminatory policies
across the country. But San
Fran, the San Francisco bay
area, is not Texas. It's not
Florida. And so the fact that
this could happen right here in
the bay area, it. It's cause for
concern because this is no
longer an issue that's far away.
This isn't this is it's home.
It's in our backyard. It's our
community. And that's really
telling that this is a very
serious issue and it must be
addressed. And this is the
moment.
>> Can you give me a sense of
how the community has responded
to this? What kinds of
conversations have you been
having? What have you been he,
airing from people?
-- What have you been hearing
from people?
>> I'm honestly very heartened
that the response, because it
shows that we are going to fight
for our rights and we're going
to fight for this community. So,
you know, again, San Francisco
bay area, it's it embodies what
it means to be an inclusive area
and an I can be an out and proud
gay Muslim Middle Eastern man in
the bay area. That's part of my
story and part of my narrative.
And we're going to fight for
that. We're going to fight to
ensure that this remains a place
for all to feel welcome,
regardless of their identities.
And so that's really what's at
stake.
>> For more on why these groups
are targeting this community,
and how it connects to their
larger worldview, I'm joined
again by J.M. Berger. He's a
writer and researcher who
focuses on extremist ideologies
and he's written four books on
the topic.
Why is it they would be
targeting this particular
community?
>> A lot of these groups are
identity based.
They are very focused on gender
not as their primary interest
but as a secondary marker of
identity.
You see this in far-right groups
and jihadist groups such as
ISIS.
Where people who have
nonconforming or sexual
orientation, they face -- it is
a visual kind of hatred.
These groups will give you a
rationale.
They have justifications for
what they do.
They will talk about birthrates
and biological gender and the
sacred duty to procreate but
ultimately I think this is a
much deeper and more visceral
kind of hatred.
>> Is there a connection here?
We saw this racist attack in
Buffalo.
We saw the tree of life in el
Paso.
Are those isolated acts?
>> There are connections here.
The temperature of the far end
extremist right has been rising
and what we are seeing is a real
interplay between these fringe
movements such as patriot front
and proud boys and the far right
outlets where we see some of
these new right-wing media
outlets.
There are alarming levels of
rhetoric directed at lgbtqia
plus communities, using all of
those letters because all of
them are in the crosshairs here.
The language we are hearing from
mainstream outlets is alarming
and violent.
I am very concerned about where
this is going.
>> Given this has moved from the
fringes to the more mainstream
megaphones, it seems it will be
difficult to address them or
tapas down or stamp them out.
>> It is much harder.
A lot of the research and
understanding we have in this
country about violent extremism
is based on the idea that
extremism is a friend activity.
A lot of this expertise came up
in the 9/11 era when thinking
about violent extremism as
jihadism.
It was much easier to deal with
both from a perspective of law
enforcement and public safety
but also in terms of social
safety.
What we have now -- we are
looking at numbers that are 20
or 30% of the country that are
in some ways sympathetic to
these views that are very
aggressive and potentially
violent as far as race and
gender identity and sexual
orientation.
That is a big problem that is
metastasizing.
Our ability to combat it will be
really heavily dependent on a
political process in this
country that is very deeply
broken.
Request those numbers you are
describing people who are
empathetic or shocking in some
ways.
As someone who has studied his
movements, what is your
sentiment of the trajectory?
Where does this go from here?
>> In my field, there are a lot
of different views about what
will come next.
Going from a very extreme view
that there is a pending new
civil war in America to a
restrained view.
This is more akin to the years
of lead in Europe or the
reconstruction era of violence
in this country.
These are identity driven
things.
It is going to be a very
difficult process to walk back
from the precipice on this.
What I see happen from the
midterm elections in November
and 2024 will be very
determinative of how bad it
gets.
>> Always good to see you.
Thank you for this.