The ‘Second American Civil War’ (SACW) started in May as a rural-urban divide, with Trumpian rural voters on one side and Democrat-leaning urbanites on the other. It is a conflict fuelled by differing responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in which conservative (mostly Republican) states have backed Trump’s calls to open up the economy and Democrat-majority states have generally acted on public health advice. Armed white militia members began acting out in earnest at the end of April when they stormed into the Michigan State legislature demanding an end to the state’s coronavirus lockdown. Two weeks later, they were back protesting “stay-at-home” orders.
Right-wing, mostly White and heavily-armed, militia gangs have been on the move since the beginning of the year. In January, a mob gathered in Richmond, the state capital of Virginia, to protest against gun control measures. In one respect, this is nothing new. Large gatherings of armed White militia have been a feature of the Trump presidency, almost from the get-go, but their size, intensity and frequency have increased significantly this year.
This ramping up of gun-toting White extremists forming up to harass and intimidate people and politicians is definitely linked to the resurgence of Black Lives Matter in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor and countless other Black men and women at the hands of police officers.
- Taylor, a 26-year-old Black emergency medical worker, was shot five times by officers who entered her home using a no-knock warrant during a drug investigation March 13. The warrant was connected with someone who did not live there, and no drugs were found during the search. The use of no-knock warrants is now banned in the city. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer declared a state of emergency and announced a 72-hour curfew starting at 9 p.m. The Louisville Metro Police Department announced it was putting barricades around the downtown perimeter where protests have been concentrated. The Kentucky National Guard was also deployed in the city.
US President Donald Trump has said that the federal government is ready to involve itself in Louisville, Kentucky, where two officers were shot amid protests over the lack of murder charges in the Breonna Taylor case.
