Experts Available: Attacks on US Capitol

In light of last week's attack on the US Capitol and the heightened threat of further violence this weekend or during the Inauguration next week, SSN has compiled a list of experts who are available to provide commentary and analysis on the history of racial violence, the religious right, and the ongoing threat of white supremacist groups in America. 

University of Iowa
Howard

Howard is an expert on urban rebellions and social movements, the history of racial violence in the United States, and African American history.

 

Quote: "Forgetting our considerable violent history is America’s national pastime.  This erasure is not accidental, it serves the social hierarchies violence maintains.  Until this nation has an honest accounting of that violence, in all its forms, oppression and injustice will be impossible to dismantle." 

Vanderbilt University
Sophie Bjork

Bjork-James is an expert in the US based religious right and white nationalist movements, and the ways white nationalist ideas have moved from the margins to the center of a broader conservative movement, particularly their opposition to democratic practices and ideals. 

 

Quote: "White nationalists and other authoritarian groups seek to defend white power and male power, thus often see democracy as a barrier to their goals. What we saw on January 6th is an acceleration of these goals."


 

Yale University

DiBranco is an expert in far-right, white supremacist, male supremacist organizing (online and offline), the relationship between authoritarian/supremacist movement organizing and the presidency/political leaders, rhetoric and dangerous speech, and the history of the development of the US right over the past half-century.

 

Quote: "The violent mobilization of the far right is not a spontaneous eruption, yet we see many expressions of surprise. This ignores ongoing threats, warning signs, and serious prior incidents—particularly last year’s armed invasion of Michigan’s capitol. Now, violence has stepped up from a state capitol to the U.S. capitol."

George Mason University
Wesley_McCann_Prof1.jpg

McCann is an expert on domestic terrorism/extremism in the US, countering terrorism/extremism, the prosecution of terrorism/extremism in the US, national security/criminal justice policy, and the First Amendment.

 

Quote: "The system is blinking red- again. The violent behavior and rhetoric that horrified the nation last week is not going to subside just because Donald Trump leaves office. Federal and state governments need to focus more on countering domestic extremist groups to prevent mass casualty events moving forward. A step in the right direction would be actually enforcing laws against militias."

Loyola Marymount University
Rebecca Sager

Sager is an expert on how the religious right has influenced policy and politics over time, how this has been a growing and dangerous movement for decades, how the violence might manifest itself.

 

Quote: "Regardless of whether or not Trump is impeached, the move towards violence against our democracy by the radical religious right (or white christian nationalists) will continue."