Boston Alt-Right Rally Draws Different Crowd Than Intended
“Fuck white supremacy”
This is the common refrain spoken by those gathered at the Boston Common to protest the “Free Speech Rally” set to take place this afternoon. Most of the event’s speakers have failed to appear though, and the massive congregation of white nationalists that was supposed to form has largely failed to materialize. Far from turning into Charlottesville Pt. 2, the day is instead becoming an impromptu celebration of diversity and large-scale expression of contempt for all things Trump.
For some, the very meaning of the term “free speech” seems to have been altered by the white nationalist camp’s use of the phrase. Seated comfortably on the plush grass of the common, 22-year-old Ethiopian immigrant Olivia rails against the what she sees as the co-opting of the term by members of the alt-right “I don’t believe it’s about free speech, I believe it’s about upholding white supremacy culture and ideology.”
Throughout the day the issue of whether or not hate speech should be protected as free speech draws sharply polarized views, sometimes from the very same person.
31-year-old Tim feels that “it would be cool if we had some limits on free speech that pertained to saying hateful or hurtful things about people. It’s a complex issue. When you allow [the government] to say what’s protected and what’s free, you get into a very tricky area where civil liberties sort of get questioned. I tend to err on the side of people are allowed to say what they want, as long as it’s in a non-violent way… I’m sort of sorting it out in my own mind.”
The crowd is predominantly white, but those people of color present, such as area student Somintra, seem to see the protest as an opportunity for otherwise marginalized voices to be heard. “I am attending the counter protest today to help amplify the voices of my black and brown sisters, and as a person of color I think it’s important to bring down this Nazi, KKK mentality. Fuck Trump and fuck white supremacy.”
Although there is relatively little violence between the different factions, this isn’t due to a lack of desire for it. For Somintra, the use of force against white nationalists and alt-right protesters is justified by history. “There’s been 300 years of violence against black and brown folks, why should we not retaliate with the very weapon they created to destroy us? Our founding fathers were slave owners. They created this system with violence and if we have to fight back with a little violence ourselves, then we will.”
Her friend Felicia adds that “we’ve been trying to address these problems for years and years and years. We’ve been putting band-aids on the problem but we’re not getting at the root and in my mind to get to the roots you’ve got to disturb the flower bed and that’s why the violence doesn’t scare me. We’ve got to get to the root of it, we’ve got to unearth it, we’ve got to start over.”
Toward the end of the day two self-proclaimed “abortion abolitionists” appear with signs depicting fetuses in utero emblazoned in all-caps with the message “THERE IS LIFE IN YOUR WOMB — ABORTION IS NOT THE ANSWER.” The signs are promptly snatched away and trashed by the crowd. Officers quickly descend on the scene, tossing away the signs before escorting the pro-lifers across the street. Surprisingly, neither of these men support Trump.
This man wasn’t ready to embrace Trump, despite his recent appointment of the conservative-leaning Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. The appointment of Gorsuch, widely considered a pro-life judge by those on both sides of the issue, is often held up as the first true victory of the Trump administration. Yet this pro-life, single-issue voter remains skeptical, a troubling sign for an administration short on meaningful legislative achievements.
It remains to be seen whether Trump can have success widening his base if even those who in theory should support him are hesitant to do so. The younger of the two pro-lifers, 17 year old Connor, compares the anti-Trump protesters’ fight against racism with his own fight against abortion.
“We go all across America to try and bring the evil of our age into conflict with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We weren’t coming here in support of [white nationalism], obviously we are against that. Racism is wrong for the same reason that ageism is wrong, so you have to be consistent saying that both racial injustice and the injustice of allowing people to be murdered based off of their age is equally wrong.”
Fairly or not, Trump is now considered by much of the nation to have tacitly aligned himself with those responsible for the recent white nationalist demonstrations in Charlottesville, an association that seems to be dampening support among those who might otherwise back him.
Among anti-Trump protesters, probably the most common sentiment expressed throughout the day is that Americans needs to take real, tangible action to address our nation’s individual and systemic racism. One protester eloquently sums up her thoughts on how to achieve that goal this way:
“Get the Nazi fucks out of here.”