The White Supremacist “ralley” at San Francisco Crissy Field with Joey Gibson — us and them vs. dialog

Maria Konner
Aug 27, 2017 · 4 min read

After going to the “love and hope” rally at City Hall, I was riding my bike by Chrissy field after they canceled the white supremacist rally, and there was a small group there surrounded by a load of cops and park rangers and I met the guy who organized the whole thing. (Joey Gibson). There were about 50 people there — half “white supremacists” and half “regular SF” people and a bunch of bloggers with video cameras interviewing them.

My observations after listening, watching, and chatting:

  • There appears to be a whole swath of the population that has been left behind in the globalized/tech world
  • On the surface I would argue that this is a legitimate gripe but then again why are they all young white guys who look like they were all born in the same town.
  • They were not violent, didn’t appear racist, were reasonably polite, but understandably angry. But not very smart/experienced.
  • They support Trump because they argue the political system is broken and Trump speaks the truth and he’s a breath of fresh air. I see the logic in that, despite that I do NOT support him. They said the media paints Trump unfairly — there is probably some truth to that, but to me that’s trying to distinguish between a stupid devil and a clever evil devil. When asked about his racism and not supporting the environment, they went into babble talk (i.e. they had no good arguments there).
  • It was interesting hearing what they had to say (i.e. always know your “enemies”). The bloggers and a few of the “regular people” were asking good questions and it was a good thing to see these groups get together to understand what the “real” issues were (i.e. economic conditions, marginalization of the midwest and rural areas, their claim that many are thrown in with white supremacists, the broken political system). However, most of the people there were just screaming at them and that led to nothing but more of the same drama, and it was actually frustrating because it was good to see people talking with each other. And then a guy came by with a portable siren to drown out the discussion, which was funny and got a lot of likes on Facebook, but it was actually annoying to me because I could no longer hear their arguments and I was right in the middle of the beginning of a discussion with Joey and I couldn’t continue because of the noise.
When the Siren guy blasted, they would move to a different location, and then the siren guy would start up again
  • The vast majority of “regular” people will never have the opportunity to meet some of these “white supremacists” and thus have at least a little understanding of their pain and the root of what is happening here because it’s typically a lot of shouting and us vs. them instead of some level of coming together. (which is important because they clearly wield some power due to their numbers and this is a democracy). Having gone to University in the Midwest, I have some affinity with middle America, but only when we mix together and learn about and respect and appreciate each other.
  • In the public sphere, it was a big success because San Francisco showed through their “hope and love” rallies and the forced canceling of the white supremacists rally that hope and love win over hate — this is most important. On the other hand it would have been good to have more dialog between the two groups, however, if their rally’s had happened, it appears that most of the people on their side would have started the “us and them” drama and there would have been little dialog because the extremists would have gotten most of the attention, and the minority that were interested in effective dialog would have been drowned out.
  • I left wondering if it’s possible to do less “us and them” and more intermingling and dialog, but I suppose that’s just not human nature? I sit here and wonder if the problem is that people spend too much time online and making judgements about people they never met — on both sides. But then again I just watched a series on Netflix with Bettany Hughes about Socrates, The Buddah, Nietzsche, and Marx — and it emphasized that this sort of thing has happened throughout all of human history (the masses vs. the more educated, people’s words being twisted to suit the needs of the extremists and the angry)…then I think about the Fermi Paradox and wonder…oh shit, maybe he was right — intelligent species are screwed.

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Maria Konner

Written by

Fembassador,Producer of San Francisco's variety show Under the Golden Gate, CyberSecurity professional, Ex-lobbyist, Ex-man, Ex-executive, jazz pianist

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