Comment: Journalist to speak to local threat of radical right
Published 1:30 am Saturday, October 21, 2023
By Juan Peralez / For The Herald
The Jan. 6, 2021 attack on our U. S. Capitol by white nationalists will go down as an infamous day in United States history.
Although the narrative in the dominant media has considered the attack on our democracy a riot or insurrection, others witnessed the attack considered it a coup attempt to install Donald Trump as a fascist dictator. Its no wonder Trump met and praised authoritarians such as North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro and the dictator Republicans are trying to clone, Hungary’s Viktor Orban. I consider it a crash course on how to be a fascist dictator after he was elected president.
The Pacific Northwest has also been has been touched by this threat and in fact has been a breeding ground of extremist violence since neo-Nazis and white supramacists migrated to Idaho, Washington and Oregon in the early 1970s, fomenting violent confrontations in Portland, Seattle and other Northwest communities over over recent decades. Washington state was ranked fifth in the nation for white supremacacist activity in 2021 by the Anti-Defamiation League, and Snohomish County was ranked No. 1 in the state.
Let us not forget Shawna Forde, a former Everett woman and leader of the Minuteman Militia, who attempted to have her husband John Forde murdered in December of 2008 by her boyfriend. The man who shot John Forde has not been apprehended. Shawna Forde later went to Arivaca, Ariz., and shot and killed a 9-year-girl, Brisenia Flores and her father, Rual Flores, in a home invasion intended to fund her border watch group. She is now in prison on death row.
To get a better understanding on the rise and dangers of white supremacy, Unidos of Snohomish County and Communities Against Hate and Violent Extremism sponsoring an educational event from 6 to 8 p.m., Oct. 26, at the Everett Civic Auditorium, 2415 Colby Ave. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m.
The educational event will feature investigative journalist and speaker David Neiwert, recipient of awards including the National Press Club Award for Distinguished Online Journalism, and author of several books, including “The Rise of The Radical Right in the Age of Trump,” and his latest book, “The Age of Insurrection; The Radical Rights Assault On American Democracy.” Neiwert has been tracking and researching extremist groups for nearly 50 years.
By creating an awareness and understanding of the rise and dangers of white supremacy, the sponsors and co-sponsors that include the Anti Defamation League, American Civil Liberties Union, American Muslim Empowerment Network-Muslim Americans of Puget Sound, NAACP andothers, we hope to work with the state Legislature to create a statewide commission to address white supremacy as well as statewide hotline people can call to report incidents of hate and violence.
The issue of hate and violent extremism in Snohomish County, Washington state and our country must be addressed before our democracy is overthrown.
Juan Peralez is president of Unidos of Snohomish County.
