The Associated Press (AP) took a reflexively left-wing approach in its selection of language in describing two groups at the center of a violent conflict in Sacramento, CA, on Sunday. Seven persons were stabbed at what The LA Times described as a marching demonstration led by “skinheads” and “neo-Nazis” on the state Capitol’s grounds.
Led by the Traditionalist Worker Party and joined by the Golden State Skinheads, the planned protest’s participants were countered and “vastly outnumbered” by left-wing “anti-fascists.”
Below is the AP’s lede and introductory sentences (emphases added):
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on a clash between a (sic) right-wing protesters and counter protesters that left at least seven people with stab wounds (all times local):
Authorities say a total of 10 people were taken to the hospital after counter-protesters clashed with members of right-wing extremist groups outside the California state Capitol building in Sacramento.
Note how the AP describes the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) – an ideological group based on racial nationalism and communitarianism – as “right-wing.” Given the TWP platform’s fusion of classically right-wing and left-wing values, the group cannot be accurately labeled as either belonging to the right or the left.
The TWP pushes for a form of group-enforced racial and ethnic separation, aligning itself with racial nationalists such as Jared Taylor of American Renaissance and the Council of Conservative Citizens.
Israel and ostensibly pro-Zionist groups such as the America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) are described as parasitic in their relationship with the US, steering American foreign policy towards “wars of choice.” TWP pushes conventional anti-Semitic narratives of malevolent Jewish influence over American politics that are common among leftists and Muslims.
Paramedics rush a stabbing victim away on a gurney Sunday, June 26, 2016, after clashes outside the California state Capitol building in Sacramento. Sacramento Police spokesman Matt McPhail said the Traditionalist Workers Party had scheduled and received a permit to protest at noon Sunday in front of the Capitol. McPhail said a group showed up to demonstrate against them.
Left-wing “anti-fascist” demonstrators, however, are described by the AP as generic “counter protesters.” With its Orwellian name, the “anti-fascist” group is an amalgamation of communists, varied socialists, and racially based solidarity and nationalistic movements such as La Raza and Black Lives Matter.
To the AP’s credit, it does place quotes around its description of the left-wing melange as “anti-fascists,” leading its readership to raise an eyebrow.
Drawing from the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center for a description, the AP extends efforts towards describing the TWP that it does not similarly extend towards the “anti-fascists.” In other words, the AP believes the TWP warrants some digging and description via a third-party leftist group. The admittedly far greater number of “counter protesters,” however, do not warrant any similar third-party description.
In the final analysis, left-wing “anti-fascists” are cast as ideologically ambivalent reactionaries provoked by “right-wing extremists.” Given the linkages between authentic right-wing politics and grassroots Republicans, the AP’s attempt to connect white racial and ethnic nationalism with the GOP is clear. No such implicit link is made between left-wing groups – including communists, socialists, and racially-driven solidarity and nationalistic movements – and Democrats.
Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter.