Vanessa Cárdenas: “It’s incumbent upon all of us, across political and ideological divides, to unite against this rising threat of racist and white nationalist-inspired terrorism and to address the way these hateful ideas are spreading”
Washington, DC – The following is a statement from Vanessa Cárdenas, America’s Voice Executive Director, reacting to the horrific racist killings in Jacksonville, FL this weekend:
“How many more people have to die before we say enough? How many more families have to mourn before we stand up to the hate and violence that has been unleashed? The horrific killings in Jacksonville are part of a larger pattern of deadly hate and a rising wave of white nationalist violence targeted at the “other” – including the Black community, the Jewish community, the LGBTQ community, the Latino community, Muslims, the AAPI community, and immigrant communities.
Despite the growing list of deadly attacks and the accompanying toll in human lives, we have not as a nation sufficiently reckoned with the threat before us. It’s incumbent upon all of us, across political and ideological divides, to unite against this rising threat of racist and white nationalist-inspired terrorism and to address the way these hateful ideas are spreading.
Domestic terrorism, including by white nationalists motivated by racist and nativist conspiracies, is the greatest terrorist threat to our nation per DHS and independent analysis. When political leaders mainstream racist conspiracies, they normalize the very ideas inspiring the domestic terrorists and foster a climate for more racist political violence.
In particular, instead of condemning these ideas, some politicians and right wing media outlets continue to mainstream white nationalist and racist conspiracies and falsehoods that were previously limited to the white nationalist and neo-Nazi circles.Now, ideas like the “great replacement theory” are being spouted by presidential candidates and Members of Congress. Left unsaid, usually, is the implicit call to action that some unhinged people are taking deadly seriously. When these statements are combined with saber rattling about shooting or killing people at the border and invading Mexico, the connection to violent action is even clearer.
Our hearts go out to the community in Jacksonville. May the families and the larger community find healing and may we as a nation – across all partisan divides – take more seriously the threats before us and do the work needed to denounce and defeat those motivated by hate and the ideas that inspire them.”
Resources
- Watch this commentary from MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan putting the Jacksonville shooting into a larger pattern of racist hate
- Republicans’ Mainstreaming of Dangerous White Nationalist Conspiracies and Lies: AV’s ongoing tracking has identified more than 500 examples of elected Republicans or GOP campaigns that employed the white nationalist “great replacement” conspiracy theory over the last year since last August – this comes after 700 examples of Republicans echoing these white nationalist conspiracy theories in the ‘22 election cycle.
