Who Are These New “Antifa?”

During the last election a new trend started happening, leading to new divisions in American politics.

During a recent online argument I was accused of being an "antifa" by someone offended by my comments.

"what the hell is an 'antifa?' I thought.

I had never heard the word until people defending white nationalists began Tweeting it out as an insult of sorts this past week.

Yes, I admit I have added to the anger on your social media newsfeeds. But I could not be the furthest thing from a self=proclaimed member of a new protest movement called "antifa."

According to what I found in online news stories, a combination of anti-fascist, antifa is what a new movement on the left side of the political spectrum. Where old civil rights movements were founded on the principle of using non-violence were met with the rise of the Black Panther movement, this generation has a new "any means necessary" group.

They fully believe it is okay to put on a mask and carry sticks to go protest.

These people aren't paid anymore than red-hat wearing Trump supporters, but they do carpool cause ya know, "the environment, bruh."

Those clashes during the election? The new "bro-testers" with misguided ethics decided that if one side could be violent, so could they.

This is what happens when neither side of the political spectrum has any knowledge of history, much less the history of civil rights movements in this country.

I thought the "violent" protest was a weird Seattle thing they only did on May Day for some dumb reason.

It pissed me off when I forgot about that annual moronfest and my trip to the Nike store took a really bad turn a few years ago.

Go stand next to a federal building and yell, but don't bash in windows. Nobody cares what you're whining about then. My next pair of shoes went up in price because of you, bruh.

Same thing applies when self proclaimed "antifa" hijacking legitimate protests.

Heather Heyer wasn't wearing a mask or carrying sticks.

She did pay the price when those who would showed up.

Nonviolent protest is a fairly new American standard by which all other countries aspire.

It should not be so easy to devolve from this. Can we no longer can depend on our collective behavior?

One thing is for certain, before you start throwing around words, know what they mean.

Another thing, if your political ideas aren't good enough to spread without wearing a mask, maybe you should do a little more listening than talking.