- Don’t ignore them. The idea that white supremacists are attention-seekers who will go away if you ignore them is not supported by history. Public attention can help groups recruit but it can also lead to members being arrested, fired for their jobs, dumped by girlfriends, or socially pressured to leave certain communities, which in turn reduces the energy and resources they can devote to their cause. Sharing information about white supremacists also warns their neighbors who might be at risk. When extreme ideas are expressed in public and not challenged in public, they become mainstream ideas.
- Continue seeking info about hate groups and sharing it with your community, especially people who could be in danger: people in interracial relationships, Jewish people, BIPOC, queer people, and disabled people.
- When sharing info about these groups online, avoid sharing content that could function as propaganda, such as fully readable pictures of their flyers/banner, especially URLs/e-mail addresses/QR codes.
- If you see fascist of white supremacist graffiti/flyers/posters/banners, take pictures and send them to fashalertma@fashalertma.info so they are documented. Then tear them down or cover them up.
- If you see fascists or white supremacists demonstrating in public, confront them if you feel safe doing so. Be non-violent but don’t be civil. The point is not to change their minds but to make it clear to them and any bystanders that this is not acceptable in your community. If you don’t feel safe confronting them, share info online ASAP about their location (and contact us at fashalertma@proton.me) so that others can confront them. For many reasons, having civilians confront them, when it can be done safely, is more effective than calling law enforcement.
- If you would like to be alerted when these groups demonstrate in public, follow the social media accounts listed on our “stay informed” page.
- Online or in public, challenge people who express bigoted or anti-democratic attitudes. You probably won’t change their minds, but it’s important for anyone else listening/reading to see that not everyone thinks that way.
- Get involved in your local community. Don’t assume that hate groups are not a problem in your city or town, and challenge your neighbors who assume that. Make sure your local schools are educating kids appropriately about racism and genocide, and addressing bullying appropriately.
- Get involved in antifascist and antiracist activism. Check out the groups on our “stay informed” page.
Solidarity Against Hate – Boston (Coalition of community groups mobilizing against fascism in Boston)
https://twitter.com/Bos_Solidarity
https://www.instagram.com/bos_solidarity/
Red Pine Community Defense(Antifascist community defense in New England)
https://linktr.ee/redpineap2p161
https://twitter.com/baystatejbgc
For journalists and editors:
- Thank you for covering these groups.
- Avoid sharing content that could function as propaganda for a hate group, unless it is absolutely necessary to document the situation. Avoid sharing images in which:
- Text from banners/posters/flyers is fully readable, especially URLs/e-mail addresses/QR codes
- Faces of counter-protestors or people assaulted by the group are visible, unless you have permission from those people
- Group members appear tough or powerful (even if it also makes them look like racists and bullies- remember they are recruiting racists and bullies)
- If you post an article with a cover image that includes a banner with a readable slogan such as “Keep Boston Irish,” online discussion of your article will focus on the slogan and not the important info in your article.
- Include info about the group’s local presence, instead of just providing info on the national group from SPLC or ADL.
- Avoid framing fascists and people who counter-protest them as two opposite extremes. Fascism should be considered extreme in America and protesting fascism should not be.
- Feel free to contact us at fashalertma@proton.me if we can be helpful. Members of our team have helped with stories for The Boston Globe / Boston.com and GBH News.