14 | JANUARY 21 • 2021

M

ost of us have had
barely a chance to
collect our thoughts
about the horrific events
that occurred in our Capitol
on Jan. 6. The
Michigan ADL
has been busy
fielding many
inquiries from
our concerned
community, and
there has been
a great deal of commentary
from others about the
terrible challenge to our
nation’s democracy. On Jan.
8, the ADL made history by
calling for the removal of the
president.
In our 107-year-old record,
our organization has never
even come close to such an
action. What is baffling is
the fact that — only now —
have many people started to
take white supremacists and
far-right extremists seriously.
For years, we have talked
about the rise of extremism
and ADL’s concerns over
the far-right. I’ve personally
given briefings, presenta-
tions, delivered research,
and conducted media inter-
views about the dangers of
domestic extremism. More
than a year ago, I served
on a National Governor’s
Association Task Force
on Preventing Targeted
Violence, and a large part of
our effort focused on domes-
tic terrorism.
Some people have listened
and have added their voices.

Some have accused the ADL
and others who monitor
extremists of exaggerating
the dangers. The active dis-
information and conspiracy
theories promulgated on dig-
ital platforms like Facebook
and Twitter, including from
President Trump’s own feed,
have been frightening. And
it continues, even after we
know people were tram-
pled and hurt, offices were
trashed, the Capitol building
was damaged and people
died.
Astonishingly, some elect-
ed officials — those who
have been actively pushing
misinformation and stoking
the flames — have now come
out with forceful rhetoric,
pretending they can some-
how erase the stain of their
complicity. But we must hold
people accountable for their
actions.
For several months —
under the moniker “Stop
Hate for Profit,” ADL —

along with others like Color
of Change, Common Sense
Media, Free Press, LULAC,
Mozilla, NAACP, National
Hispanic Media Coalition
(NHMC) and Sleeping
Giants — have repeatedly
called for digital platforms
to create policies about hate
speech and guidelines for
these companies to enact.
Last week, we issued a state-
ment demanding digital
media organizations remove
Donald Trump from their
platforms and permanently
ban him from participating.
By Friday evening, plat-
forms were rapidly removing
Donald Trump’s account or
accounts affiliated with pro-
Trump violence and conspir-
acies, such as QAnon and
#StoptheSteal. Mainstream
platforms like Twitter,
Google, YouTube, Facebook,
Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok
and even Pinterest had
removed him; it’s about time.
I want to be very clear

about a few things:
• No one who stormed
the Capitol on Jan. 6 was
radicalized overnight. They
were extremists with a com-
mon cause who were animat-
ed by a conspiracy theory of
a stolen election. But make
no mistake: People were rad-
icalized. And the fires were
fueled by years of dangerous
misinformation and hateful
rhetoric.
• There is zero evidence
that “antifa” followers cre-
ated violence. Our experts in
ADL’s Center on Extremism
have already begun to iden-
tify far-right individuals and
extremist groups involved
in the events. We immedi-
ately began working with
law enforcement and identi-
fied members of the Proud
Boys, Oath Keepers, QAnon
adherents and other far-right
extremist groups.
• This is not political.
Holding the president
accountable for inciting
violence and hate is not a
partisan issue. Actions have
consequences.
• Extremist ideology
often quickly accelerates
toward hatred of the Jewish
people. The notion of
antisemitism as the “canary
in the coal mine” rings true
because we see some of the
same age-old tropes and
commentaries spewed in
publications from the early
1900s as we saw on digital
platforms last week. In ADL
offices all across the U.S.
we’ve seen this rhetoric fos-
tered in outrageous propor-
tions. When it comes down
to it, fearmongering and
blame are key ingredients for
antisemitism.
So where do we go from

VIEWS

Guest column
Taking Extremism Seriously

Jan. 6 was a watershed moment for the far-right.
So where do we go from here?

Carolyn

Normandin

A scene from the Capitol rioting, Jan. 6, 2021.

ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES VIA JTA