Shooting at Holocast Museum keeps right wing eliminationism in the news

Another week, another murder committed by a right wing eliminationist.

For those who haven’t heard, yesterday an eighty eight year old racist walked into the District of Columbia’s Holocaust Memorial Museum and opened fire on the security guard who let him in, Stephen T. Johns.

The shooter, James von Brunn, was immediately brought down by two other security guards who returned fire, critically injuring him. He was subsequently hospitalized and charged with murder. von Brunn, who has a criminal record, has previously authored white supremacist and anti-Semitic drivel.

He’s the kind of person that local author David Neiwert writes extensively about in his new book, The Eliminationists (How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right). Neiwert defines eliminationism as “a politics and a culture that shuns dialogue and the democratic exchange of ideas in favor of the pursuit of outright elimination of the opposing side; either thorugh suppression, exile, and ejection, or extermination.”

The murders of Stephen Johns and George Tiller clearly demonstrate that right wing eliminationism is a threat to public safety and the common good. It’s time we took action against those who enable this cancer on our society before it gets out of control. Nothing less than human lives are at stake.

Andrew Villeneuve

Andrew Villeneuve is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, as well as the founder of NPI's sibling, the Northwest Progressive Foundation. He has worked to advance progressive causes for over two decades as a strategist, speaker, author, and organizer. Andrew is also a cybersecurity expert, a veteran facilitator, a delegate to the Washington State Democratic Central Committee, and a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps.

Recent Posts

The really grim part about gas stoves: they’re poisoning the poor

"Lower-income people living in smaller spaces are especially affected by the toxic gases these ranges…

4 days ago

A failure of imagination about Trump

"American minds are not ready to think about how fast democracy could disintegrate," Tom Nichols…

2 weeks ago

Abortion rights groups have never faced a state like Florida

"Voters in states across the political spectrum have backed abortion rights since the fall of…

2 weeks ago

The dangerous rise of GPS attacks

"Thousands of planes and ships are facing GPS jamming and spoofing. Experts warn these attacks…

2 weeks ago

If Trump gets back into power, he plans to flout the Constitution and become a dictator

Time's Eric Cortellessa was granted multiple audiences with Donald Trump and wrote a chilling report…

2 weeks ago

Donald Trump hoped to sidestep abortion in this year’s campaign – Arizona’s near-total ban shows why he can’t

"While court proceedings are likely to delay implementation of the ruling, the political impact was…

1 month ago