You're either profa or antifa. There is no room for middle ground or nuance on this.

Good Afternoon Charles,
My regrets on the loss of your friend.

Hmm? I'm not sure I agree with you. Briefly, I believe many white people are demonstrating because the political narrative has swung so far to the Left in cities like Portland that many whites that predominate that town WANT to do something/anything. They may or may not be Antifa. But, they want to participate even if it seems superficial "virtue signaling".

That's my take. Most unfortunate for both victim & shooter in this tragic case.

"How can a white person sympathize with people who are stuck in history? "
Fascinating observation there.
Being born into affluent white America affords you the luxury of being either ignorant of our shared history or willfully misunderstanding it.
Side note- one of my good friends is German, and Germans are afforded no such luxury. It will come up constantly in any serious discussion.

@3 And these same white people are stuck in a history of their own. The people who wonder why Black people can't get over slavery are still fighting the Civil War in their minds. You see the flags at every Trump Klan rally. These are the people who "just want to back to a simpler time," like the 1950s, before POC and their allies started a concerted fight for their civil liberties.

See, the thing is, the only "security" our society allows one to provide is for the property of old white males.

(checks self)

Oh, that explains it.

I oppose police brutality against black people and ICE crimes against humanity against brown people for the same reasons. I am aware there are people in leadership positions in America, persuading others to carry out these crimes against minorities, whom would love to start treating people like me the same exact way. Nobody should feel safe, or protected from such horrid treatment based on their whiteness, legal status, etc. You allow it to be done to “others” and before you realize it, it’s you and your children being rounded up and put in separate cages. It’s your white son or brother whom is murdered by cops with impunity. Basically, YOU ARE NEXT. That’s how these things always go.

As for antifa, it’s just another word for “protester who votes Democratic.” Did you march against the Iraq war at Westlake in the 00s? Congrats, you’d qualify as antifa. I have no problem with being against fascism. I won’t join the protests, as I have no idealism left, but I appreciate those who do. I bet if I were living in Warsaw in the 30s and 40s, I’d sure appreciate knowing an entity like antifa existed.

The haters would never risk their necks to help someone else or better their community, so they can't conceive that anyone else would. They have to start looking for secret ulterior motives.

Meanwhile:

Michael M. Karmo and Cody E. Smith were separately charged and ordered to be temporarily detained until their bail hearings on September 8 at 10:30 a.m. in front of Magistrate Judge Stephen C. Dries.
Karmo, 40 and Smith, 33, were roommates for a month, worked together and were members of the 417 Second Amendment Militia, a pro-law enforcement group, according to the criminal complaint.
They traveled by car to Kenosha to "see for themselves" what was going on at the protests, attended a "Make America Great Again" rally and planned to go to Portland to "take action" if police were defunded, according to Karmo's criminal complaint.

"Kenosha Police Department advised FBI that a law enforcement agency in Iowa had received a tip that Karmo and an unidentified male were in possession of firearms and traveling from Missouri to Kenosha, Wisconsin," prosecutors said in a statement Thursday.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/04/politics/militia-members-kenosha/index.html

speaking of Right Wing* Terrorism
here's cartoonist Tom Tomorrow's
brilliant 'Here to Help'

https://thenib.com/here-to-help/

*the right wing's pretty much got the Market
Cornered on the Terror here in the Homeland.

"Nobody should feel safe, or protected from such horrid treatment based on their whiteness, legal status, etc.

You allow it to be done to 'others' and before you realize it, it’s you and your children being rounded up and put in separate cages.

It’s your white son or brother whom is murdered by cops with impunity.

Basically, YOU ARE NEXT. That’s how these things always go."
--@lollipopulist

BINGO
& thnx!

@1: Sure there is. An antifa and a profa walk into a bar ...

There's no antifa. Just an anti-fascist position. Anyone who tells you there is such a thing as antifa is lying or ignorant.

“ In recent years? There have been other antifa shootings in the not-recent past?”

Yes, CHAZ’s “security” killed a black teenager. Why are we still overlooking this? There’s angry white men with guns on both sides of this.

Another great analysis. Thanks, Charles. It remains a mystery how anti-fascist can be seen as a pejorative. There is a whole genre of mainstream films that were done in the 30's and 40's in the U.S. that promote anti-fascism. Many ending with a large credit, 'BUY WAR BONDS!"

A lot of white protestors and BLM supporters are ardent activists who genuinely believe in the cause. However there are some who are just using the movement and civil unrest as cover for their own agenda, committing petty crimes which do nothing to help the cause.

Ironically when I, a brown dude, mentioned in a majority white "Seattle BLM" chatroom that smashing ATMs and getting in shouting matches on Broadway wasn't helping any oppressed or disenfranchised people, I was promptly banned from the chat. Some of these white protestors are doing nothing but making a volatile situation worse by giving right-wing pundits ammunition.

Keep writing Charles, I appreciate your perspective.

@20 -- first they jailed the Jews and then all Socialists (ironic, eh?) and commies and gays and the infirm -- they were a Master Race -- what other Choice did they Have?

Good one, Garbby.

Truly sad for the passing of David Graeber. Rest in Power, DG.
His fresh perspectives and consistent support of egalitarian humanity were unique, principled & powerful. Emblematic, even, of anarchism in some ways.
~Debt~ is a true gift.

AnotherWorldIsPossible

.

@6 - ""I bet if I were living in Warsaw in the 30s and 40s, I’d sure appreciate knowing an entity like antifa existed.""
Uh, there was. The Polish Resistance had guns & communications, and fought the Nazis as well as anyone. Until they were thrown under the tank by the British & Russians.
After the Soviet Army arrived on the east side of the Vistula River to liberate Warsaw, the P.R. antifa rose up en masse & fought pitched battles against the Nazis.
While the Reds just camped... and waited... until the Nazi's had crushed the Resistance uprising. And only ~then~ they moved in and proceeded to wipe out the rest of the occupying Germans.

Let that be a lesson to us.

@25: What lesson? FDR and the world already knew that Stalin and communism were evil but still had to deal with him.

@19 Your problem is that while they understand Fascism quite well, you Trumpies refuse to admit that you are Fascists supporting a corrupt and authoritarian regime.

A few months back there was a BLM protest in Omaha that got ugly - a white douchebag bar owner killed a black guy, supposedly in self-defense (his bar's big thing was that they played "The Rush Limbaugh Show" every day or something). As a result of that, my hometown across the river went a little nuts - they were sure "Antifa" was coming to riot, which is hilarious because 1) there's literally nothing to loot and 2) the town is sufficiently spread out so that there's not really even a center of town anymore - there's no place to really gather, and certainly no place to march to. But they were taking it deadly seriously - what stores that are left were boarding up their fronts, men swearing to "defend their property" - the usual nonsense.

Nothing came of it, of course, and a few days later they plywood came down. But of course they didn't learn their lesson - that there is not such thing as "Antifa" - at least not in the context of an organization that exists to loot - and that no one cares about their tatty little town.

Good Evening Charles,
Why did you change your posting title?
Seems strange.

@26 - What lesson? That if you are a relatively powerless revolutionary fighting clearly insane assholes (Nazis), that people ostensibly "on your side" (the British) will likely sell you out, and the power that is "coming to rescue you" (Russians) will probably just let your blood soften up the enemy so their invasion is easier (for them) and when they take over you won't be a thorn in THEIR side.