Charlottesville: Parallels Between The White Supremacists and Antifa 

By Rev. Mark Christopher

The events of Charlottesville last Saturday have weighed heavy on my heart this week as I reflect on what was, but never should have been. Last Saturday cast a long dark shadow over the whole of the country, as it sent reverberations around the world. As if the bellicose actions of the white supremacists, Antifa (Antifascist), and Black Lives Matter weren’t bad enough, the ongoing misinterpretations and manipulated narrative of the media is adding further fuel to the fire. This is just as grievous and shameful as the tragic events of Saturday past. 

As various “progressive” entities posture to modulate the storyline for the sake of political advantage, one aspect of the story has been virtually eclipsed — the parallels between the two primary warring factions: Antifa and the white supremacists. There is as much that unites them as divides them. So, as I wade into these contentious waters it is for the purpose of highlighting some of these ironic similarities and then recounting the real solution for the racial disharmony that prevails. Thus, the following is a partial list of the common ground that these two opposing hate groups share:   

1.    Both groups loath the US Constitution and seek to undermine and flout it whenever it suits their agenda driven purposes. Antifa demonstrated its utter contempt for the 1^st Amendment in Charlottesville by denying the white supremacists their legal right to march on Saturday, even though the supremacists had a properly attained permit. In turn, the white supremacists would be quick to deny people of other races their equal rights as guaranteed under the constitution.

2.    Both evil scourges adhere to the utter mindlessness of identity politics. So, rather than promoting the unity of Americanism — E Plurbis Unum (out of many, one), both deranged groups seek to polarize and sow discord through the error of their satanic doctrines of anarchy and racism.

3.    Both groups claim membership in the ever-burgeoning club of victimhood. Antifa think they are “victims” of capitalism, economic inequalities, and draconian patriarchal structures. Meanwhile, the white supremacists claim that the current social justice diatribe against “white privilege” has sidelined them because of their pale pigment. They both sound like a whiny toddler in mom’s grocery cart at the store, squalling like a brat because mom wouldn’t buy gummy bears. The real victims here are those in the public who are subjected to their juvenile rants and murderous intentions.

4.    Both groups find their roots and identity in the soil of left-wing thinking and ideology. The KKK and white supremacists locate their genesis in the Democratic Party after the civil war. And even up through the civil rights era, many prominent Democratic US congressmen and senators, like Robert Byrd, were, or had been, members in good standing with the KKK. The Antifa movement on the other hand, is lionized by many mainstream left-wing voices today because of their emphasis on globalism and wealth redistribution. All of which explains the left’s refusal to place any blame on Antifa and Black Lives Matter for Saturday’s melee. This despite video footage that clearly shows Antifa charging the marching supremacists from the sidelines. Of course, a strong police presence would have done much to prevent the brawl that ensued.

5.    Based on their common heritage and lineage, both are really two peas of the same fascist pod. Even though Antifa stands for “Antifascists”, they hold to the same essential dogma and strategies of the fascists of old. Their tactics resemble the tactics of the Nazis prior to WW2 in their aggressive attempts to silence all dissent, by any means necessary. As an anonymous sage from the WW2 era predicted, “The fascists of the future will be called antifascists.” Ironically, the white supremacists have a similar Nazi-like modus oporendi. In fact, the confrontation in Charlottesville was reminiscent of the street battles between the communists and the fascists of Hitler, prior to Hitler’s ascension to power. Then, as now, both radical ideologies were simply a variant of one another resembling an intra-tribal conflict.

6. Given their shared lineage and the close similarities in dogma, it is not surprising that both groups must rely on Big Government to intervene on behalf of their respective platforms to ensure full compliance to their half-baked ideas. Whereas true conservativism and right-wing thinking, ardently promotes a smaller, decentralized form of government with limited powers that provide liberty and justice for all.

7.    Both miscreant groups are anti-Semitic and have little time for those of Jewish persuasion. The white supremacists were chanting anti-Semitic epithets as they marched in Charlottesville. Antifa claims to be the champion of Semitic bigotry, yet they denigrate the Jewish state of Israel.

8.  Both groups share the same fatally flawed view of sin (hamartiology). They both see sin as external and structural rather than inherent, individual, and personal. The social justice mantra of Antifa construes the free market structures of the west as prime evil. Conversely, the white supremacists view racial equality as original sin, because it supplants white dominance. Neither group has any sense of “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

9.  Both Antifa and the white supremacists have a similar external view of salvation (soteriology). If sin is structural, then salvation includes replacing said evil structures with more equitably perceived structures through revolution, to include anarchy and para-military actions. Antifa illustrates this well with their new website entitled “Redneck Revolution”, which espouses violent revolutionary means to accomplish their diabolical ends of ridding the world of white supremacists and free market values.

 10. In sum, both Antifa and the white supremacists look pathetically alike in their goals, methods, ideology, theology, and genealogy. This is not to say there aren’t any differences between them, or that they are identical in every way, but the similarities are uncanny and unmistakable. They are like proverbial birds of a feather. They are like long-lost twins that just haven’t found one another yet.  They are so blinded by hatred and the violence that is bound up in their hearts, that they haven’t figured out they are actually kissing cousins who are presently estranged. They probably never will. Each is as bad as the other. For this reason, they deserve each other more than most realize.

What is doubtlessly clear is that both of these subversive groups exacerbate the problem without having anything to offer in way of a solution. Of course, this applies to many others from the media to academics and politicians as well. There are any number of people who are ready to opportunistically use such a travesty for the furtherance of an agenda or ideology.

The haunting events of last Saturday indicate that there is a tremendous amount of hatred and bitterness about the past, surrounding Charlottesville, and concerning the way forward from here. And trying to lump one political party with all the blame will do little to quell the emotionally charged climate. We certainly can’t erase the past with its dark pastels, nor should we. Let us learn from the halls of history, but not live in those same halls, as some would have us do. Further, let us be weary of those, like the media and expedient politicians, who exploit this tragedy for their own evil purposes and the sake of personal gain.

 Instead, Bible-believing Christians should capitalize on this present darkness and point the confused and bewildered to the light of Christ. Make Christ the object of the rallying cry, not politics or some secular notion of social justice. After all, this is a spiritual and theological problem before it is a political or social problem. The church of Jesus Christ has an opportunity in this dark hour to be both light and salt — light that illumines the way to the only one who broke down that wall of partition that stood between us; and salt that arrests the creeping decay and rancor that contentious issues like this emit. It is up to the church, the blood-bought church, to remind those around us that God has made of all nations one blood, and that salvation does not come by revolution, legislation, or coercive polices, but by the blood of the Lamb! Therefore, if there is to be a revolution, may it be a redemptive revolution that is led by the redeemed on behalf of the Redeemer — Jesus Christ! 

Note: As a postscript to this article, I came across a headline today that highlights the real meaning of the oft used term "alt-right". It is a term coined by Richard Spencer who leads a white nationalist socialist supremacist group. His use of the term means "alternative to the right", which underscores the arguments above that the white supremacists have far more in common with left-wing ideology and thinking than they do with those on the right. Spencer admits that he is a socialist, abortionist, and white supremacist. His goal is to hijack the Republican Party and morph it into his way of thinking. For this reason, he has been reviled and rejected by the right even though he insists on hitching his wagon to the right-wing train.