Going to a white nationalist conference should be a terrifying thought for any rational person — but try doing it while you’re gay and brown.
Earlier this month, the nation’s most notorious white nationalist groups gathered in Washington, D.C. for a “What Is The Alt-Right?” press conference.
Carlos Maza — an openly-gay Latino man who represents just about everything the Alt-Right hates by his mere act of existing — was right there to document for Media Matters.
The Alt-Right movement, of course, has gained recent mainstream prominence thanks to the candidacy of Donald Trump, and white nationalists and white supremacists who once felt confined to the outer reaches of extremism are now feeling emboldened.
The Trump campaign and Alt-Right movement were officially married when Breitbart’s Steve Bannon — a site that “has been openly promoting the core issues of the Alt-Right, introducing these racist ideas to its readership” — joined the Trump campaign.
But while the speakers at the conference acknowledged that the movement had been “riding [Trump’s] coattails,” they also made clear that they weren’t interested in being a “Trump cheerleading squad.” For them, this election is an opportunity to make the case for a pro-white political agenda that goes far beyond 2016. “The ideas of the alt-right are gaining ground rapidly, Trump or no Trump,” said one speaker. “We are gaining ground because we are right.”
This video featuring Maza is a must-watch below.
