KNOW NOW:
Financing American Hate
This is Sarasota, Florida, a few miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico, near the big arena where the local NRA gathered this spring. Longtime residents and newcomers, even veteran researchers know this city of nearly 60,000 to be active, diverse, and divided by age as much as anything else. Oldest of the 3,200 large counties in the United States (demographically it’s 15 years ahead of the nation), Sarasota has a following among data scientists as an indicator of what’s to come.
The warm west coast escape that draws so many seeking sunshine has its dark urban problems, notably persistent generation-to-generation poverty attended by low opportunity and high crime. Its promise – education, science, arts – has generated a community response that is mighty for a population this size. Locals volunteer at almost twice the rate of residents in cities measured nationwide. In Florida, where officials have been trying to add vigor to state-wide civic engagement, Sarasota is a standout. Its churches have long been at the forefront of protecting migrant farm workers. Within a few years, a single philanthropist proposed, funded and saw to fruition a plan that diversified the police department to better represent the populations it serves. Community economic development organizations have decades of depth and acute familiarity and focus to finance opportunity for individuals, families, and neighborhoods.
Hatred has never been a public, much less a mainstream part of the mix, until now. Here, like elsewhere across the country, extremist alt-right groups are cleaving their way into the culture to maximize agitation where it exists, and to create it where it doesn’t. They already secured control of the local school board to exclude certain big ideas, books, even societal developments from curricula. They stirred up residents by luring an alt-right news platform to Sarasota with the promise of tax free funding (eventually thwarted by opposition). They’ve even targeted the Sarasota County Hospital Board, expecting their “Health Freedom Slate” of anti-vaxxers with no medical experience to clinch control in today’s election. From the Herald Tribune to Sarasota Magazine, coverage and commentary contends this noxious spread of hate and intolerance is not organic, but rather engineered by a few rich, powerful, opinionated people.
It is here, in this smallish city where Trump’s former national security advisor-cum-ultra Christian nationalist Michael Flynn works all of these issues, funneling millions of contributed dollars to candidates who share his White Right commitment. He parlayed his appeal as an election-denier into a Proud Boys and QAnon-assisted reach across all fifty states. Together they’re calling for “One More Mission” – a plea to “trusted and respected” police and military veterans to serve as election monitors. His warning that Americans’ “constitutional right to vote'' is imperiled accompanies film clips of deployed uniformed armed personnel ready to fight. The unveiled message: a warrior-like assumption of the right to bear arms at the voting booth.
The expanding networks of those reading, funding, and then acting on calls like Flynn’s deeply troubles the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which identifies demonizing propaganda and tracks the results. Most treacherous is alt-right cyber-based extremism. Online victimizers routinely bully minorities and spread fear; what vexes civic leaders is the internet as a major stimulant for mass violence with real people. Pushing back at online hate groups stoking rage is now the work of tech, civil and human rights, even consumer protection groups like those connected for Change the Terms. But the bullies are winning. Consider the SPLC’s latest concern: nationwide teacher surveys showing a sharp spike in student on student bias and harassment of non-white children. Given the amount of time youth spend on social media, the trajectory will continue.
That’s due, in part, to the alt-right video platform called Rumble, headquartered here after vigorous efforts and a promised $825,000 grant from a Sarasota Commissioner who also doubles as vice chairman of the Florida Republican Party. Rumble is host to R/T, Moscow’s daily anti-American propaganda broadcasts. It is the go-to for extremists banned elsewhere for misinformation and hate speech, and where Steve Bannon interviews Flynn. In October with Bannon on Rumble, Flynn was in Pennsylvania imploring a Republican victory “at all costs” and drawing support from extremists who fuse hyper-Christianity with guns and violent crime. It’s the same kind of fear he tapped here in Sarasota, where he realized his goal to “vote out, censure…or arrest” ousting school board members he branded as threats to families. “Local action equals national impact,” Flynn repeats everywhere he goes, adding what he has achieved here is a springboard for his country-wide effort for a white Christian nation called The America Project.
Alarmed by money pouring into polarizing fundraisers and sophisticated donor-advised funds intended to impact minds and hate movements, the nation’s philanthropy sector has developed a concerted response to ebb the flow. They are joined by others anxious to distance themselves from charitable dollars supporting xenophobic, racist, anti-LGBTQ and anti-democracy groups. The Amalgamated Foundation’s Hate Is Not Charitable initiative has 100-plus signatories, charitable entities representing billions of dollars.
None of this will slow Flynn, who found an incubator here with ready ingredients: persistent poverty, racial bifurcation and a stunning availability of firearms. Publicly displayed hate mixed with guns is increasingly common on decals, bumper stickers, and yard signs. Indeed the nation’s largest gun violence prevention group warned in its 2020 report “how the Gun Lobby enshrines guns as tools of the extreme right.” The city’s number of gun shops – it has more than thirty gun and ammo stores, and some never sleep – are within arms reach of increased numbers of political extremists. This dangerous combination, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security jointly warn, is precisely what puts more people at risk for gun-related violence, here and across the US. The Bullet Hole just off Main Street in Sarasota has a large sculpture sign out front. “WE DON’T DIAL 911” it says, with a rifle hanging underneath.
DO NOW:
Want a better understanding of the roots of extremism? Explore this from Scientific American. From the Journal of Democracy find this powerful overview of “The Rise of Political Violence”. You can learn about local conditions by plugging your nearest urban area into the City Health Dashboard. Curious about Michael Flynn’s rise? Frontline’s fresh collaboration with the Associated Press produced a new documentary series Michael Flynn’s Holy War. If you need to address a hate crime, there are many avenues. Here’s the official Department of Justice Hotline for help. The Human Rights campaign focuses on medical assistance, family support and therapy. Looking for effective community responses? See the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Ten Ways to Fight Hate.
GO OUT AND VOTE.
Amy Kaslow