Are Far Right ‘Free Speech’ Rallies Breeding Terrorism? – The National Memo (blog)

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

The disturbing ramblings uttered by Jeremy Joseph Christian as he entered thecourtroomMay 27 drew on a horrifying trend in America: Rallying behind the right to so-called free speech, both figuratively and literally, to justify white supremacy and its violent acts.

Get out if you dont like free speech, Christian said. You call it terrorism, I call it patriotism. You hear me? Die.

Christian, 35, was arraigned on charges of aggravated murderof Ricky John Best, 53, and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche, 23. Both men were stabbed and killed by Christian on a Portland light-rail train when they tried todefendtwo young women Christian was harrasing with anti-Muslim slurs. Christian was charged with the attempted murder of athird stabbing victim, Micah Fletcher, 21, who survived and was present in the courtroom.

If there is a central theme to Christians ravings leading up to the attack, its his tendency to articulate a volatile synthesis of xenophobia, Islamophobia, and white supremacy,Jack Jenkins, a senior religion reporter at ThinkProgress, reportedthe day after Christians first court appearance.

In addition to calling for violence against Muslims on his Facebook page, Jenkins added, Christian reportedly attended a free speech rally in April, where he shouted the n-word at protesters and offered up Nazi salutes.

According to Willamette Week, Christian arrived at an April 29 free speech march in Southeast Portland wearing a Revolutionary War flag as a cape. He carried a baseball bat. He threw Nazi salutes and shouted racial slurs in a Burger King parking lot. Twice, left-wing demonstrators grew so infuriated with his antics that Portland police officers formed a barrier to shield him.

Even the alt-right marchers were divided on Christians behavior.

Some of them, leather-clad bikers, told him to shut up and tried to kick him out of the rally, added Willamette Week reporterCorey Pein. Others seemed fine with him expressing himself: Unpopular speech was the point of the event.

Eight days after the Portland murders, another free speech rally took place in the City of Roses, where14 were arrested. Similar right-wing free speech rallies have been popping up in other blue-state cities fromBerkeleyto Boston, while aWashington D.C.version is planned for late June.

In addressing President Trumps overwhelmingprioritization of fightingIslamic extremism, Dan Coats, director of national intelligence, announced at a Senate Intelligencehearing on May 11, Homegrown violent extremists remain the most frequent and unpredictable terrorist threat to the United States.

Alexandra Rosenmann is an AlterNet associate editor. Follow her@alexpreditor.

This article was made possible by the readers and supporters of AlterNet.

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Are Far Right 'Free Speech' Rallies Breeding Terrorism? - The National Memo (blog)