The Coming of the White Comrade
We were never talking about statues, we’re talking about the future

Make no mistake, the conversation surrounding the violence in Charlottesville has not been about statues. It is not about the role of the historical record in contemporary America, nor is it about Robert E. Lee, George Washington’s slaves, or “our” cultural heritage. Two weeks ago, Charlottesville became the canvas on which was painted a roadmap for White America.
Terrorism is defined as the unlawful use of violence against civilians in pursuit of political aims, and the attack in Charlottesville is a textbook example. Saturday’s act of domestic terrorism was perpetrated by White Supremacists with the express purpose of intimidating our Black, Latinx, Jewish, Muslim, LGBTQIA, and other marginalized groups into silence. Instead of being silent, we intend to speak louder than ever before. The events of last weekend call us to have the critical conversations that our nation has evaded for too long. Now, we have no choice but to tell the truth.
It was only a matter of time before our new president was put to the test to deal with a terrorist attack, natural disaster, health crisis, or some other national emergency. By most accounts, the president did not pass this test with flying colors. When confronted with a deadly attack on American soil, by a group of people carrying the flag of the Nazis we so proudly defeated 70 years ago, the president was incapable or unwilling to condemn them by name. This misstep is all the more meaningful against the memory of so many politicians on the right insisting that President Obama explicitly name so-called “radical Islamic terrorism.” “To solve a problem,” Trump said in October, “you have to be able to state what the problem is, or at least say the name.” By his own logic, then, White Supremacy seems to not be a problem that President Trump wants to solve. Indeed, White Supremacist groups took great relief in the president’s initial comments. Not only did he not name any of the factions of fascism and Nazism that filled the protest group, but he explicitly stated an equality of violence on both sides. J.M. Berger, of the International Center for Counterterrorism said in a Vox interview, “the administration’s fixation on saying ‘radical Islamic terrorism’ was always a popular talking point among White Nationalists. When combined with the president’s obvious reluctance to criticize white nationalists, it’s pretty obvious what’s happening here.”
President Trump’s “statement” was not dangerous because it drew a moral equivalency between the violence of outright fascists and the counter-protesters, but because it rang as a loud, crystal clear endorsement to his alt-right supporters. Andrew Anglin, creator of the Nazi site The Daily Stormer, was thrilled with the president’s statement, writing “he didn’t attack us… [He] implied that there was hate … on both sides…There was virtually no counter-signaling of us all.” “Thank you President Trump,” David Duke, former KKK leader wrote, “for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville.” President Trump is doing exactly what reality-star Trump has always done: pleasing his fans. Trump’s morally abhorrent statements and inability to understand the historical significance of a president implicitly endorsing the actions of homegrown Nazis are not by mistake; they fit perfectly within the framework of his campaign, his victory, and his presidency. America first. Unfortunately, this appears to be the singular area where Trump is a student of history, for he takes an unforgivingly archaic reading of who is “American.”
But let us not be surprised. While the intensity of this moment feels novel and terrifying, White Supremacy has been baked into our most sacred institutions since the colonization of this country. For just as long, it has been resisted by vibrant communities of color; in the courtroom, in our banking industry, in our schools, in our police stations, in the very structures of our segregated neighborhoods. Ours is a society that pioneered the concept of chattel slavery- racial domination passed down generation after generation. It cannot take us by surprise that these ideas are back at the forefront; Black Americans have been free from slavery for far shorter a time than they were enslaved. If you have not yet seen the direct connection to that timeline, you must take a closer look.
As we reel from the events of these past two weeks, and the president’s compounding support for the vicious work of white supremacists, we must begin to tell the truth about whiteness as a tool in this struggle for liberation. Allyship is no longer enough. For too long, white allyship had been defined by its proximity to blackness: a person’s ability to listen, navigate and support African Americans within their own work. This is no longer enough. White allyship must be transformed into White Collaborators, White Accomplices, White Comrades. To our White allies, unfortunately, a war has been declared on your behalf. You may not have been the one to declare it, but like all Good Germans, you stand to gain much. When one group wants to live their lives, and the other group wants to end those lives, there is no middle ground. Now is the time to use Whiteness to meaningfully dismantle the enemy- push for policy change in local government, push resources into the hotbeds of resistance within communities of color, attack the forces of White Supremacy within the smallest aspects of your lives. This is no longer a time for ally theater, you have finally seen the boot that has been on our neck for as long as we’ve had one.
To the sensationally revolutionary communities of color that strike so much fear in the hearts of the pathetic members of the “alt-right,” I urge you to find a way to get in their way. These fascists, so cowardly and incapable of perceiving their own role in the world, cling to a sad ideology whose adherents are destined for the dustbin of history. They seem hellbent on dragging others down with them. For our communities, this is nothing new. For those of us born after 1865, we have lived in a nation of perpetually condoned domestic terrorism. For those of us born after 1942, we have lived in a perpetual state of war, an unending slog of militarism and increased Executive authority. For those of us born after 1947, we have lived through a perpetual attack on organized labor and the constant erosion of worker power. Put together, our low income communities are built and destroyed on the whim of the rich and white owner classes. If we are to dismantle this system, we must reignite our commitments to police accountability, worker power, and economic justice. We must support the women, queer and trans individuals within our communities, you are our community’s leaders. We must believe that another world is possible and, once we see it, we organize, organize, organize.
