By Alexander Reid Ross (May 27, 2017)
I am so deeply horrified right now. Jeremy Christian, the PDX killer, represents exactly the kind of person I’ve been researching and cautioning against.
A clear white supremacist, he also identified with subcultures and called himself an “anarcho-nihilist” who sympathized with “both Commies and Nazis because of Semitic Patriarchal Monotheism.” A registered libertarian, he voted for Bernie and then Trump.
There has been a significant attempt among fascists to insinuate their ideology into subcultures and meld anarchist and nihilist ideas with their own. Sometimes, as in the case with Christian, it works the way they want it to. Fascism is not equivalent to anarchism; it is the opposite. According to anybody’s definition of fascism in the generic sense, Christian is a fascist.
Aside from identifying Portland as “Vinland” and calling himself a “Viking,” he posted anti-Semitic, transphobic, and racist content on his Facebook page. It is absolutely important that he chose antifa as the target of most of his rage, claiming that “antifascists are the real fascists” as most crypto-fascists do.
He talked about stabbing or throat punching antifascists on his FB page. He didn’t just show up at the “Free Speech Rally” on 82nd St, he was openly recruiting people to come with him. Christian wasn’t a guy who would protest in a black bloc at May Day; he detested the left so much it drove him to murder.
Yet it is Joey Gibson and his alt-right supporters who are truly responsible for cultivating the atmosphere of terror that is behind this murder. They have encouraged people like Christian to act out in extremely violent ways, supporting assault against people on the basis of their willingness to defend the people most vulnerable to their attacks. At the same time as people received word of the attack, Nazis drove through the Portland State University campus, celebrating and shouting “White power!” as they made the Roman salute.
We must build a stronger community of resistance in Portland. We can’t let people like Gibson and Christian run our streets. This isn’t just about antifa, this is about making Portland a no-tolerance zone for hatred and about making persistent efforts to enfranchise equality against oppression and love against fear.
can we please start to call this man what he was a “terrorist”