Robert Futrell In The News
Downtown News Magazine
We have all seen them before – armed, military-like figures like those showing up at the state capitol building this past spring to protest the pandemic lockdown in the state, or in broadcast coverage of Black Lives Matter protests or counter-protests. Their numbers – both formal and informal – have vacillated over the years, often a bi-product of current day events. Today, these paramilitary organizations are on the rise again. Welcome to the militia movement.
Correio Braziliense
They are supported by the Second Amendment to the Constitution, a text that considers the right to possession of weapons inalienable. They also use the internet for an almost devotion to rifles, in addition to engaging in advocacy for violence and radical political discourse. So-called "watchmen" and "militias" have made headlines in the United States. On August 26, three days after Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by the police, anti-racism protests erupted in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Armed groups arrived from neighboring Illinois and clashed with activists from the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM, “Black lives matter”).
Greenville News
When hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters came out to a Confederate monument in downtown Greenville earlier this summer, men with guns who called themselves a "militia" showed up, too.