With the election coming just 24 hours from now, I am ready to fight fascism with fascism no matter the outcome. I will join my comrades in the nation’s capital on election night to make sure the fat Cheeto man in the White House leaves office once and for all.
In the last week, I participated in a series of online seminars with Shut Down DC on implementing our “Strategic framework for action following the 2020 election.” During the training on de-escalation, I learned in what circumstances it is permissible to “punch a Nazi in the face.”
“If a black woman in a wheelchair wants to punch a Nazi in the face,” the training coordinator said, “It is not your job to stop her. It is her God-given right to punch a Nazi in the face.”
“Nazi” is just another term for “Trump supporter,” by the way.
Our instructor continued, emphasizing that even under adverse circumstances, it was our duty to protect a black woman in a wheelchair’s right to punch Nazis.
“If a black woman in a wheelchair wants to punch a Nazi in the face, and the Nazi has a whole bunch of friends who are going to attack all of the black people in the area,” the teacher said:
You will want to, like, let the other people know that ‘Hey, this situation is escalating. If you don’t want to be involved you should probably leave’ and try to create like, physical space around. Again, the black woman in the wheel chair, the best thing we can do is protect her autonomy, which means if she decides to punch a Nazi in the face, we do not stop her from doing that. Stopping her from doing that, it gets into white saviorism.
Got it. Protect the right of a black woman in a wheelchair to punch a Nazi (Trump supporter) in the face at all costs. Nothing is more important than protecting the “God-given right” of a black woman in a wheelchair who wants to punch a Nazi in the face.
If “a white guy is surrounded by a bunch of trans-sex workers and he decides to punch a Nazi in the face,” however, “that’s when you go, ‘hey, hey, hey, hey buddy, I know it’s really really tempting to punch Nazis in the face but think about the other people you are putting in danger.'”
During the seminar, we were also instructed to “respect the diversity of tactics” if we didn’t believe in the violence set to erupt.
“While we may disagree with certain people’s tactics or how they handle certain situations, at the end of the day what matters most is fighting back against our violent society,” the instructor said. “A commitment to non-violence isn’t necessary of the de-escalation tactics we are teaching.”
Following the trainings, I also now fully understand that “law enforcement is inherently violent,” and “the only way to avoid getting harmed by law enforcement is to not be out protesting.” Even if that means I’m in the middle of burning down a black-owned business in the name of social justice, because we must “acknowledge we live on stolen land.”
