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Dispatches From the Culture Wars - Trump, Police, and the Far Right

The fight over law enforcement, history, and armed fascists in the streets

Boogaloo Bois in the street,Photo: AP

Boogaloo Bois

By William Rivers Pitt
June 18, 2020
Truthout

Armed far right groups are products of a long-standing cultivation project undertaken by the Republican Party and its media allies to agitate and radicalize its political base. 

Statues and History

By Colleen Walsh 
June 19, 2020
The Harvard Gazette

A legal scholar and historian puts the push to remove Confederate statues in context.

The Red Triangle

By Isaac Stanley-Becker 
June 18, 2020
Washington Post

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A red inverted triangle was used in the 1930s to identify anti-Nazi political prisoners incarcerated in concentration camps. This month, 88 ads with the inverted red triangle ran in pages for Trump, Pence and the official “Team Trump” page on the social network. They targeted all 50 states.

Trump’s Bluff

By Sonam Sheth 
June 8, 2020
Business Insider

The GOP's claim that antifa is infiltrating George Floyd protests is a right-wing 'bogeyman' that bears all the hallmarks of a domestic disinformation campaign.

Fascists Infiltrate PDs

By Danielle Schulkin
June 1, 2020
Just Security

The history of racism and white supremacist membership in law enforcement agencies is long and well-documented. Disciplinary systems that struggle to hold officers to account for other offenses fail to remove racist police officers, undermining public trust in entire departments. 

PDs Infiltrate Protests

By Ryan Grim and Jon Schwarz
June 2 2020
The Intercept

Law enforcement frequently infiltrates progressive political movements using agent provocateurs who urge others to engage in violence. And, more rarely, such provocateurs commit acts of violence themselves.

Police Militarization

By Tom Nolan
June 2, 2020
The Conversation

Militarization has fostered a policing culture that sets up protesters as ‘the enemy.

Police Unions

By Jorge L. Ortiz
June 12, 2020
USA Today

Police unions shield members from accountability for their actions, including coaching officers involved in use-of-force incidents on how to write favorable reports and having them collaborate to present a narrative that exonerates them from blame and places fault on the suspect.

Voters of Faith

By Mary C. Curtis
June 18, 2020
Roll Call

In a country where one party has tried to define what it means to follow the word of God, others are loudly interrupting what has often seemed a one-sided conversation.