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Black, Brown and extremist: Across the far-right spectrum, people of color play a more visible role
The social science evidence is overwhelming that ideologies, political and economic interest groups, subcultures, personality types, and psychological frameworks are replacing traditional categories (race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, religion, etc) as the basis of conflict in the US. The traditional categories still exist, and they are still an element of conflict, but they are being blended with, consumed by, or superseded by these newer types of conflicts. And the more diverse the wider society becomes, the more diverse conflict will be.
“This one lady — she was Asian — she said, ‘Darling, you don’t look like a domestic terrorist. It’s a mistake,’ ” Rapolla recalled. “I said, ‘Nope, I am. That’s what I’m labeled as.’ ”
Rapolla, a 46-year-old former Marine, has participated in four armed standoffs with the federal government, including the “Bundy Ranch” episode in 2014. He was active in two far-right factions — the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters — and co-founded the Pacific Patriots Network to boost cooperation. His trajectory, he said, shows how people of color are carving space in movements that are generalized as exclusively White in membership and racist in ideology.
