You need a two hand approach, the larger peaceful movement and a smaller more aggressive movement to lead toward success. MLK & Malcolm X during the Civil Rights Movement is the example you want to set. You sway public opinion by showing violent actions committed against the unarmed peaceful protestors. You pressure by have your more aggressive wing just be themselves. Throughout American history this has been the path to change. The aggressive side doesn't even need to be violent, they just have to be intimidating and scare the MAGAs. That us enough for them to attack the peaceful protestors who they will attack because they are cowards who crave conformity.

Exactly this.

Non violent mass protests work because the implicit threat is, "make the changes we're demanding or we'll drag you out here and beat you to death."

MLK was only effective because of the alternative of dealing with Malcolm X.

I’m familiar with it, and I agree.

This, but don't reform, abolish and build new. Our current oppressive systems are insidious and will rise back up through whatever crack they find. We need to create a society that would categorically stomp them out when they do.

Battle of Blair Mountain

Excellent timing. In a conversation I learned only yesterday that Red Neck wasn't always a pejorative term. The miners wore red neckerchiefs. They were workers standing up to the man / system. It's been completely changed in meaning deliberately, or so I was told, as part of the effort to erase them from history. Seems possible to me.

Also, there's apparently no mention of this class battle in West Virginia history books. Anyone here able to verify that?

You… know how many problems the police and military have with white supremacy in their ranks, right?

This is the legacy of the confederacy. There are a nontrivial number of people in law enforcement and the armed forces who unironically want to bring it back.

It worked in 1860 .... oh wait

Timothy McVeigh and the Unabomber are heroes to some.

Cross posting from another thread because it's in my clipboard history, making this easy:

There's a lot of stellar reporting on this stuff. There was a limited-series podcast about the evolution of white supremacy in the US that did an excellent job of explaining and illustrating the shifts called Long Shadow trailer. It starts with Waco and Ruby Ridge and really helped me better understand how and why we're seeing what's happening today. (Scroll down; the white supremacist eps were preceded by a season about 9/11, which I haven't listened to).

The gig-economy metaphor makes more sense with the perspective that they understand that the KKK is unpopular and they rely on small cells and individuals for acts of terror and violence. Then the leaders of the movement can "condemn" the violence, which was what they always wanted and knew their rhetoric would bring.

Trump indictment for January 6th likely dropping today. I can’t wait.