Supremacists, nationalists, Antifa: What it all means

North Idaho state Rep. Heather Scott made headlines this week with a post to her personal Facebook page in which she accused the media of confusing the term "white nationalist" with "white supremacist" in the wake of riots in Charlottesville, Va.

"The way the media has this set up, the mention of white nationalist, which is no more than a Caucasian who (sic) for the Constitution and making America great again, and confusing it with the term, 'white supremacist' which is extreme racism," reads the post, which quotes from a website called TheCommonSenseShow.com.

University of Idaho history professor Dale Graden, however, said Scott's comments emulate the media with the same dangerous simplicity President Donald Trump uses in his speeches.

"I just see it as a very simplistic response to something far more complex," Graden told the Daily News on Wednesday.

Graden, whose studies include the transatlantic slave trade, was blown away by the number of people he saw carrying tiki torches in videos of the march, which centered around the proposed removal of a Robert E. Lee statue from a park in Charlottesville.

Trump declared Tuesday that "there is blame on both sides" in regards to the event, in which one woman was killed and 19 others were injured after an apparent white nationalist sympathizer ran over counter-protesters with a vehicle.

With confusion surrounding terms like "white nationalist," "white supremacist" and "Antifa," Graden and another local historian gave their input to the Daily News to define the terms, their origins and how the events in Charlottesville relate to the rest of history.

UI history professor Richard Spence believes the titles mostly exist in people's heads, but their meanings tend to differ depending on how one identifies.

"The one thing those terms basically have in common is they are names people call each other," Spence said.

By his understanding, a white nationalist is a person who views being white as an ethnicity or as an identity - and by embracing a certain identity, you are declaring what you are not, he said.

"You can make the 'white' category pretty much whatever you want it to be," Spence said.

Still, just because one defines his or herself as something does not necessarily mean he or she is antagonistic, Spence said.

The difference between a white nationalist and a white supremacist, arguably, Spence said, is that supremacists demand whites hold the position of dominance. To see an example, just look back to the Jim Crow laws of the South.

The term Neo-Nazi includes people who have called themselves Nazis since the end of World War II, or, as Spence puts it, "Hitler fanboys." They buy into the symbolism of Nazism, Spence said, though not necessarily national socialism.

Graden suggested all white supremacists are white nationalists and many nationalists are supremacists.

Most are young, angry men, both professors said.

Then there's Antifa, widely understood to be the other side referenced in Trump's "both sides" statement.

The term goes as far back as 1930s Germany, Spence said, when a movement called Antifaschistische Aktion (Anti-Fascist Action in the United Kingdom) was formed to counter the Nazi party. The movement was later disbanded.

But by the '70s and '80s, Spence said, a new punk movement had emerged in its place after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and with it, a skinhead subculture. That subculture split in polarizing directions, some emulating neo-Nazis, some anti-fascists.

Today, Antifa is not necessarily an organized group with a headquarters, Spence said, though individuals identify as members.

Many are left-wing, anti-capitalism and anti-patriarchy, Spence said. Often associated with anarchists, they may be violent or pacifist.

Both Antifa and white supremacist groups claimed to be present at the Charlottesville riots. So who was in the wrong?

Spence would not pick a "bad" side, but said both were capable of violence.

"The bad guys are the guys that do bad things," Spence said.

To Graden, the answer to whether Antifa members equate to white nationalists is more clear-cut.

"No way," Graden said. "I find it outrageous that (Trump) would somehow equate the left ... with these folks who showed up with their helmets on, with their torches."

Graden advocates for deeper education on matters of history so individuals can engage with issues such as Charlottesville head-on.

"When you let this stuff go and do not stand up and say something, it snowballs," Graden said.

Graden said he believes that is what happened both in Nazi-Germany and Charlottesville.

Both Graden and Spence were unsure how the events in Charlottesville will look to history, but both agree the violence is nothing new and that the events are symbolic for both sides.

Graden believes the current president fuels it.

"I really do think we have a cancer on our hands," Graden said.

Taylor Nadauld can be reached at (208) 206-5943, by email to tnadauld@dnews.com and on Twitter @tnadauldarg.