Racism and fascism have proven yet again to not just be a southern problem.
A man in Vancouver was detained for speeding into a group of counter protestors after a right-wing rally last Wednesday, hearkening last month’s killing of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville.
According to Willamette Week, a Portland weekly, the unidentified man drove a black Chevy Silverado with Oregon plates and a Confederate flag decal displayed on the back window. He drove slowly toward counter-protesters, where they were marching after a rally organized Joey Gibson of the right wing group, Patriot Prayer.
As the crowd parted to clear the way for the truck, protesters behind the moving vehicle threw rocks and water bottles.
The driver suddenly put his vehicle in reverse and accelerated toward the protesters as they jumped out of the street.
The driver continued to drive in reverse for nearly a block. The protestors attempted to re-route and escape the truck when it re-appeared, cutting the marchers off.
While police eventually caught and detained the man, he was never arrested.
This latest Patriot Prayer rally is among the many Confederacy-sympathizing organizations that have led to violence. And it illustrated that the increasingly terroristic right wing movement is not just limited to the southern United States.
Yet, the right wingers involved with some of these groups, some of whom say they are not racist, complicate the narrative.
The head organizer of the rally, Patriot Prayer’s Joey Gibson, identifies as Japanese and calls Martin Luther King, Jr a hero. Despite stating that he is against hate, his rallies have drawn neo Nazis, white supremacists, and other extremists.
As more of these violent white supremacist protests take place under a President that spews hateful rhetoric while his supporters denounce white supremacy, we can expect more cognitive dissonance from the far right.