After watching American Insurrection, answer the following:
At 14:00, the then leader of the Indiana Chapter of the Proud Boys, Brien James, notes by ” focusing on political enemies, as opposed to racial ones, he has gained more support.” He also noted that he and his group found a ” powerful new ally” in the then President of the United States (Donald Trump). Saying himself, ” we’ve got a guy who’s at least 75, 80, or 90% on our side and he’s the President. There’s no reason at that point to be an extremist.”
· How does intentionally switching the explicit group focus to political rather than overtly racial focus relate to the modern symbolic racism and contemporary forms of prejudice that we discussed last week?
· Why do you think he gained more followers by doing this? How did it benefit the group’s overall movement? Do you believe that the group suddenly switched to only political causes?
For the overall documentary, Identify and clearly describe how you saw the concepts of threat to the group and national identity at play in the documentary. After watching the documentary, how do you think we can move forward from these issues?
Finally, reflect and identify at least one thing from the documentary that either surprised/shocked you or stood out to you for any reason and explain why.
