The Next Open Season?

As I write this, a jury is deliberating in Wisconsin. Kyle Ritenhouse, accused of murder and other crimes during an anti-racism protest, seems likely to be acquitted.

If this happens, I fear it will be open season on people of color, especially with the Supreme Court likely to expand gun rights. White supremacists and other reactionaries will feel they can arm themselves at protests and will see any action as a threat that would merit lethal force. The concern to activists, especially those on the ground, is how to best respond.

The obvious response, arm people of color in response, may not be the best one. It may be playing into the narrative the gun lobby, more of a gun manufacturer's lobby, and the rural reactionaries they rely on, want. In a sense, it could be the start of a domestic arms race. I could see state legislatures, or a future Republican Congress, proposing laws designed to make it harder for people of color to gain access to firearms.

One alternative solution is to develop strategies for keeping activists alert. Educating activists on tactics like the SALUTE method could go a long way in stopping the next vigilante.

Having eyes and ears among the boots on the ground would be another component. Activists trained in operating drones, skilled with digital cameras or just handy with a cell phone camera, would be useful assets. People skilled in digital information gathering could put names, addresses and employers to faces. The way cyberspace responded to the rural reactionary attack of January 6, 2021,could be a blueprint. This work may have to be done on a distributed social network, as Facebook seems to be more and more a glorified Parler or Gab.

When people think of "community defense" they too often think of the physical, but there are other fronts to consider.