Saturday, February 02, 2008

The Real Way to Fight Racism/Fascism

I've long suspected that it isn't hate speech, nor is it even really Neiwert's work, as incredible as it is.

No, I suspect that it's one thing: prison reform.

The most vicious, virulent, and fastest-growing prison gang in the United States is the Aryan Brotherhood, and it's (no surprise) also the source of the most virulent and violent racists in the country. Yet, because of the realities of prison and the thing that America has with locking up every young black male in sight, the growth of the group makes a lot of sense; whites on "the inside" are going to band together for mutual support like any other group, and the nature of prison life is going to create a lot of angry, hateful men.

And once they get out, of course, they're perfectly poised to turn young minds with their tales of the "savagery" of the various minorities they met in prison. (It's prison. They won't have to elaborate much.) And they're also able to build up a large support network of various whites who have required their protection in the past, or have had friends and family members who need protection currently.

(That said "protection" is usually a scam doesn't enter into things. It's not like these guys can join MS-13 or the Crips. There generally aren't too many options.)

Change the prisons, gut the Brotherhood. Gut the Brotherhood, rip away one of the best recruitment tools that the fascists have.

But, of course, that would require some political courage. Far easier to just let the hate fester underground and in the cells, by squashing it from above with speech codes.

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