White nationalist attacking police with U.S. flag at the Capitol on Jan. 6

The contradiction and irony between what these groups say and do.


White supremacy is defined by Oxford Language as “the belief that white people constitute a superior race and should therefore dominate society, typically to exclusion or detriment of other races and ethnic groups, in particular Black and Jewish people.”

Hypocrisy is defined by Cambridge Dictionary as “a situation in which someone pretends to believe something that they do not really believe, or that is the opposite of what they do or say at another time.”

The FBI’s investigation into the suspected insurrectionists is revealing that those who stormed the nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6 overwhelmingly consisted of far-right, white supremacist, white nationalist extremist and militia groups. The Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, QAnon, which is not a white supremacist group but has been appropriated by far-right groups, and Nazi organizations all conspired to disrupt the certification of the results from the United States’ general election.

These groups call themselves “patriots,” and they proclaim to love this country, the American flag, the military, and police. However, the white supremacists who attacked the Capitol building, waving Confederate flags, and flags with Nazi and white supremacy insignia, were the same people making vile threats and statements regarding Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel during the national anthem in protest of racial injustice and police brutality. They claimed he disrespected the American flag and our military, yet many who participated in the insurrectionist attack on the Capitol were retired police and members of the military. They are the people who labeled Black Lives Matter (BLM) as a violent group; the irony is astounding. 

They brutally beat the Capitol police, they spat on them, bludgeoned them, sprayed them with toxic bear repellent, and even gouged the eyes of the fallen officers. The worst offense was using the American flag as a weapon; the same flag they claimed to love and worship. The American flag that they said Kaepernick disrespected by kneeling was used as a weapon to brutally attack the police they claimed to support. They said Kaepernick was un-American, yet the same white supremacists tried to overthrow their own country’s election process, which is a part of the Constitution of the United States of America 1789 (rev. 1992).

These groups represent white supremacy to the fullest, in that they believe that “white people constitute a superior race and should therefore dominate society.” They truly believed that their and only their votes should have been counted, and not the votes of the majority who voted to remove their leader. 

Here is the hypocrisy of these far-right hate groups as defined by Cambridge dictionary: They pretended to care about the American flag when Kaepernick kneeled. They pretended to care about the police when BLM was protesting. They pretended to be patriots until their white supremacy was challenged. Their violent insurrectionist attack against this country and the police with the American flag was evidence that what they accused Kaepernick of doing was executed through their own actions. The hate groups and individuals with closely aligned beliefs pretended to care only when it was convenient for them to attack Kaepernick, a Black man, and BLM.

These far-right hate groups are antithetical to patriots; they are hypocrites.

Disclaimer: Elm Voices & Opinions articles reflect the thoughts or opinions of their individual authors, and may not represent the thoughts or values of UMB as an institution.

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