White supremacist groups, emboldened by political rhetoric and policy, are part of an old tradition that isn’t going away, UB history professor says

BUFFALO – The photos and videos coming out of Charlottesville, Virginia – heavily armed individuals, antisemitic and racist chants, torch-lit rallies – are all images this country has seen throughout its history, says Carole Emberton, associate professor of history at the University at Buffalo.

So when Emberton saw what was unfolding over the weekend in Charlottesville, she was certainly disturbed, but not all that surprised. These images are not only reminiscent of history, she says, but are also likely to continue again, long after the vigils and memorials in Charlottesville.

“The removal of the Robert E. Lee statue might have ignited the rally this weekend, but I think that was an excuse in many ways,” Emberton says. “White supremacists are emboldened now and are more vocal and aggressive and see a moment when people who are echoing their sentiments are in positions of power – in the Trump administration. That gives every day citizens who might be inclined to act out in that way a stamp of approval to do exactly what we saw this weekend.”

Emberton studies the Civil War era, the history of race and wrote the book “Beyond Redemption: Race Violence, and the American South after the Civil War.”

So while the attention this weekend focused on Charlottesville, it has been in many other places before and will be in other places again, she says.

The election of Donald Trump empowered white supremacist groups, she says. We saw it earlier this year in Berkeley, Portland, New Orleans and in Charlottesville before this weekend. The groups’ hateful rhetoric is steeped in history, Emberton says, and it is only getting more vocal and aggressive since the election of Trump.

White supremacist groups want to invoke chaos, she says – it justifies what they are doing. Their goal is to paint themselves as an attacked minority group. Throughout history these groups have dressed in camouflage, heavily armed, Emberton says, in an effort to look like the National Guard or other military or law enforcement groups.

“We have a long history of conflict in this country and it isn’t going to go away, especially as political divisions deepen,” she says. “It happened in Virginia this weekend, but it could happen anywhere. This won’t be the last time we see something like this.”

Editor's note: The spelling of antisemitic was corrected on Feb. 10, 2022.