A prominent avenue for radicalization comes through the intersection between the groups described in this report and the parallel mobilization across the country against “critical race theory,” or “CRT.” When wedded to the conspiracy theories that frequent these pages, such ideas can potentially morph into a particularly dangerous ideology that animates much of the far-right and white nationalism.

In reality, the anti-CRT effort has had very little to do with actual critical race theory, a legitimate and useful arena of academic study that examines genuine institutional and legal aspects of racism in American history and society. Instead, the anti-CRT mobilization, writ large, has targeted any efforts to address, or even discuss, the issue of broad, societal racism and inequality, even when carried out under such frameworks as supporting diversity, equity, inclusion, and cultural sensitivity. This mobilization has targeted such training, programs, and curricula as exist in federal agencies, the corporate world, state government, county commissions, school boards, etc. – that is, wherever people might be concerned and seek to address how our country’s legacy of racism and white supremacy continues to affect our lives and communities.

The ongoing mobilization against “Critical Race Theory” is also important because, in the world of actual racist politics, it displays an ability to bridge the gap between reactionary forms of racism and white nationalism. While the former tend to caricature critical race theory and cast it as causing racism by talking about its presence in our society, white nationalists tend to portray CRT as implicated in the mythical white dispossession that animates their virulently racist ideology.

As such, this mobilization has been supported across a broad range of groups, extending from conservative stalwarts such as the Heritage Foundation, the libertarian Goldwater Institute, and Koch brothers-backed entities; far-right nationalist paramilitaries such as People’s Rights; the racist Proud Boys; and white nationalist-led mobilizations, such as the “groypers,” and national socialists. The Facebook groups detailed in his report clearly provide a forum for facilitating the spread of this reactionary form of racism to a broader audience. By all counts, it is gaining a foothold.

A June 16 informal poll conducted in MICHIGAN Save Our Kids Open Our Schools(11,632 members) highlights this tendency. The poll posed the question, “Should CRT be taught in the schools?” In response, 380 people chose “No” and 172 “HELL NO!” Fifteen chose “There is room in public schools for fact based race history but if you involved CRT you are pandering to loud idiots with delusional opinions.” One respondent was “Unsure.”[118]

Examples of anti-CRT frames circulating in these forums are plentiful. A post in OpenAlaska (6,925 members) accuses the Alaska Coalition of BIPOC Educators (ACBE) of “indoctrinating children with controversial ideas associated with critical race theory.”[119] A member of the Washington State-based Unmask white River !!! (417 members) declared of a 2018 grade school-level book about racism, “PARENTS: Be aware of this book! It’s being read and infiltrated in Elementary Schools and it’s completely racist! All part of CRT indoctrination.”[120]

A member of OPEN AMERICA (29,681 members) demonstrates how conspiratorial brands of thinking found in these Facebook groups are mingling with the reactionary anti-CRT framing to produce a potentially volatile ideological mix:

“I have to say that we are in a battle and the only Country that is asleep and doesn’t realize is America. You have countries around the world fighting against Mask Mandates, Vaccines Passports, Critical Race Theory, and Fighting to keep the world Free. While America is just fueling the countries that hate freedom, Pushing Critical Race Theory, and Still calling this Chinese Virus a Pandemic to get a Power Grab and control the people. There are Americans fighting back but Majority of America is a Alseep and don’t really realize the path America is heading is Destruction. I believe America is slowly waking up but not fast enough. I can tell you that I didn’t flee from a Communist Country to only Go back to a Communist Country. America is worth fighting for. Let Fight Against Critical Race Theory, Let’s Fight Against Mask Mandates, Let’s Fight Against Mandated Vaccines, Let’s Fight for Freedom.”[121]

The mix of ideas here mirrors the middle American nationalism that animates a broad swath of anti-democratic and racist movements. This ideology depicts a middle American group squeezed by powerful and self-serving elites above them, and a group consisting primarily people of color below them – in the instance above, squeezed between elites manipulating COVID-19 to achieve a “power grab” and people of color and their allies attempting to address racial inequality by thinking and talking about broad patterns of racism.

Variations on the middle American nationalist ideology can be seen among white nationalists and national socialists, Christian nationalists, far-right paramilitary groups such as Oath Keepers and People’s Rights, racist groups like the Proud Boys, and so-called “constitutionalists” who build a narrow view of Americanness from distorted interpretations of the U.S. Constitution. It is also expressed in the halls of Congress by legislators like U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) and U.S. Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ), and recently in the office of the U.S. President.

Examples of anti-CRT-frames in Facebook COVID denial groups are found in UnMask Maryland (994 members), MICHIGAN Save Our Kids Open Our Schools (11,632 members), WISCONSIN Liberty, Freedom, Community, Rally & Action Page (11,748), Washington-Resist a 2^nd Lockdown (7,101 members), Unmask Our Kids – Louisiana (9,817 members), the Missouri-based UN-MASK OUR CHILDREN -Rep Mo- (585 members), the Missouri-based Unmask Park Hill School District (300 members), Unmask our kids Washington, and the Texas-based Unmask Arlington ISD.[122]

These posts also make clear that these Facebook groups are used to mobilize on-the-ground action in the name of battling “critical race theory.” For example, a member of Unmask Michigan (2,914 members) called readers’ attention to a Haslett School Board meeting, declaring, “I will be attending…They will be discussing Critical Race Theory. If you live in the Haslett School district please join me!”[123]

A post in MICHIGAN Save Our Kids Open Our Schools (11,632 members) announced a Grand Ledge Public Schools meeting, declaring, “For ANYONE who believes in medical freedom & freedom of choice, PLEASE COME STAND WITH US!” The same announcement called attention to a “BoE [Board of Education] Meeting on DEI/CRT implementation in school immediately following at 6 PM. Please show up, bring signs & tell GLPS ‘OUR CHILDREN OUR CHOICE’”[124]

In Unmask NJ Students, one member recounted a recent board of education meeting that “had some great speeches. Sean Duffy wants to fight for us. He is against this crap, but their hands are tied. All they can do is write a letter to Murphy against it. They said it is up to us to write to our assemblymen and women and legislators to stop crt, M & mand8, and sex Ed. Let’s get cracking!”[125]

The anti-CRT frame is combined with anti-masker ideas to promote an exit from public schools and to homeschooling as an alternative. For instance, Susan Anne, the administrator for the Pennsylvania-based UnMa$k Chester County Facebook group (2118 members), offers advice to those considering removing their children from public schools and homeschooling “due to masking, CRT or any other reasons.”[126]

Anti-immigrant ideas, long a staple of far-right and white nationalist organizing in the U.S., also appear in the Facebook COVID denial Facebook groups, providing yet another axis along which participants may become radicalized on racial issues. In on-the-ground activism, such ideas have long been expressed by a range of groups, stretching from specifically anti-immigrant organizations, to Tea Party groups, to nationalist militias and white nationalists. The combination of nativism with conspiracy-driven ideologies, and an anti-elite framework, have persistently been an animating theme in middle American nationalism.

Several prominent themes deployed by anti-immigrant groups also populate Facebook COVID denial pages. In particular, and unsurprising in the context of the ongoing pandemic, at times, this takes the form of the age-old canard that immigrants bring disease to America (ideas recently espoused by the governors of Texas and Florida).

A comment in REOPEN NJ (49,720 members) is typical, blaming immigrants at the southern U.S. border, sans actual evidence, for an increase in COVID-19 cases:

“Maybe the CDC needs to tell this Ass Hat (Director of Homeland Security) and his Boss (Biden) they need close the Southern boarder (sic) to Illegals (sic) coming in. COVID cases are up 900% on boarder states, 50 Boarder Control Agents have COVID and about 10 are hospitalized.”[127]

A member of Buffalonians Against Excessive Quarantine (6,477 members) blends anti-masker ideas with the immigrants as disease-carrying frame:

“What is concerning, in the news every day they are crying again about the numbers going up dangerously high. Now they mandated masks in school…Now our City already poor is inviting Refugees in add who knows illegals who knows what illness they carry and you know they aren’t being tested until they get here to add to our numbers to add to the Agenda.”[128]

Similarly, a post in UnMask Washington – Be Brave! (1,117 members) speculated that a recent COVID-19 spike in Yakima County “might be due to the seasonal crop workers migrating from Mexico as they do every year? Or perhaps an influx of recent illegals being shipped by the government to communities there.”[129]

In Stop the Mandate (7085 members), one member wrote, again without substantiating data, “I know it’s been said more than once, but it’s amazing that the illegals cross the border and are shipped all over America spreading this virus and nothing is ever said about it. The democrats are going strong and the sheep are being lead to the slaughter house.”[130]

A member of Open Wisconsin Now (7,170 members) declared, “Our great leadership is letting illegals pour in through the open borders, yet not a word about the Covid they are bringing in.”[131] And a post in ReOpenPa (5,371 members) states, “If the democrats were so worried about covid or the delta variant…then why are they bringing in illegals who havent (sic) been tested or vaccinated but they are bussing them and flying them to destinations all over the country. ‘SECRETLY’”[132]

Another REOPEN NJ member folded the equally spurious equation of immigrants and crime in with “mask and vax mandates”:

“[W]e (sic) need to pressure our representatives to get a bill passed that makes all politicians PERSONALLY responsible for harm they cause thier (sic) citizens. ie…..illegal immigration and crimes committed by illegals, mask and vax mandates which are poisonous, eviction moratoriums, ……then maybe they would think first before making laws and mandates.”[133]

In Arizona Mask & Lockdowns – “Never Again” (11,137 members), one individual mixes “illegals pouring over the borders” and “maskless elitist snobs.”[134] Another member of the same Facebook group declares,

“Communist Biden administration let’s (sic) all the illegals in our country and drops them off in cities around the country and it’s warning people about the Delta Variant of Covid?…Forget being afraid of Covid the Biden Administration is way more dangerous. This administration is destroying our country and here are the American people doing nothing.”[135]

A member of Resist the Mandate (5,731 members) mixes attacks on immigrants with anti-CRT rhetoric, fear-mongering about Muslims, and other far-right themes:

“The US border has an invasion coming across it. Federal administration is helping other countries with pipeline and increasing oil production while shutting down US production… Christians are being labeled as terrorists. Churches are being shut down. Fear of COVID has run amok. Vaccines are killing people. Russia and China are taking over… The election laws are being disobeyed!.. 5 Muslims are trying to run the US congress. A socialist is gaining influence. The US debt is getting larger by the second. They are teaching race theory to our children. The colleges are overrun by the Woke and Liberal professors.”[136]

In WISCONSIN Liberty, Community, Rally & Action Page (11,761 members), one member posted links to an article referencing Afghanistan, commenting, “This is so despicable I don’t know where to start – we have a WIDE OPEN door at the southern border, we are spending HOW MUCH $$$ as to all those illegals coming into the country.”[137]

A member of REOPEN AMERICA (29,676 members) circulated an article from The Sara Carter Show titled “Hospital in McAllen overwhelmed with COVID-positive migrants.”[138] A Fox News contributor, Sara A. Carter, won a 2006 journalism award from the anti-immigrant Center for Immigration Studies.[139]

Another REOPEN AMERICA post raised the specter of the Biden Administration “not doing anything to protect the Americans from getting to the Airport in Kabul” even as it “literally puts America Last and makes sure that Americans are killed while Protecting Criminals, Drug Lords, Predators, and Illegals.”[140] The same REOPEN AMERICA member folds immigrants and refugees into a middle American nationalist-style “One World Government” conspiracy also referencing alleged unfair elections and a white nationalist-style concern with racial demographics:

“This post is to educate people on what’s really happening and there (sic) intentions of the Anti American Party.  This could have..not illustrated it better with the crisis going on…the Southern Border and with Bringing in Refugees from Afghanistan. This crisis America is in could have been handled very easily by continuing the building of the Wall, and Not Enforcing the Catch and Release. There is no reason why we are bringing in Thousands and Thousands of Refugees from Afghanistan… There (sic) Goal is; If You can’t win a Fair Election Or Pass Your Climate Change Then you Have Demography Change America In the Name of Covid Per-say. If you stand up against it or disagree your (sic) a Racist… . So what’s really happening is that when Illegal Immigrant or a Refugee come to America.

They are not screened for anything like a criminal background or etc…So the Immigrants and Refugees are exempted from being tested for Covid or any other diseases that they may carry.

Administration he (sic) ordered that they are placed or housed across Swing States in order to change the Voting Demographics…This is something that Each American should be upset and this is absolutely tyrannical what the Government doing. Even your local government how they are willing to destroy your communities so that they can make money or align with the One World Government.”[141]

A meme circulated in #reopenWA (7,317 members) depicted White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki going door-to-door offering vaccines and a man responding, “WELL, YOU CAN JUST ‘CIRCLE BACK’ AFTER YOU’VE VACCINATED ALL THE ILLEGALS YOU’RE ALLOWING IN.”[142] And a post in DO NOT COMPLY (18,885 members) stated, “Housing illegals in Michigan with your tax money.” The NJ Knuckleheads [formerly Open New Jersey May 1, 2020] (5,633 members) urged people to oppose the voting rights-centered “We the People” act and the infrastructure bill, warning that the latter “will give 8 million illegals path to citizenship.”[143]

A widespread form of bigotry throughout the COVID-19 pandemic is the repeated stress on the Chinese origin of the virus, often accompanied by conspiracy theories. Early in the pandemic, then-President Donald Trump frequently referred to COVID-19 as the “China virus.” A study published in the American Journal of Public Health pointed to the real-world consequences of such terms, finding that while 19.7% of Twitter posts using the hashtag “#covid19” expressed anti-Asian sentiment, 50.4% of tweets with the hashtag “#chinesevirus” included such bias.[144] Given such findings, it is unsurprising that the pandemic has been accompanied by more than 9,000 anti-Asian incidents, according to Stop AAPI Hate.[145]

These themes also exist in COVID Denial Facebook groups. In its most developed form, Chinese origins of the virus are stressed as part of a far-right conspiracy theory. For instance, a member of Idaho Patriots [formerly Kootenai Residents Against Mask Mandates] (4696 members) offered up a mish-mash of misinformation about COVID-19 and electoral fraud in a “new world order” conspiracy rooted in China and said to be causing American national decline – the latter in keeping with the generally nationalist character of far-right conspiracism:

“WHAT WE KNOW- THESE ARE NOW FACTS…The COVID 19 virus came from Wuhan, China…In Wuhan, China there is a coronavirus medical research center…2 scientists from this lab have testified that this virus was in fact genetically engineered and man made through trials and research to supply a virus that would be as harmful to humans as possible, in other words the definition of a bio-weapon…Because of the following mandatory lockdowns most ballots were cast through mail in voting. This caused massive voter fraud and unbiased sources are finding the fraud to be gigantic in some states.  THIS IS MY CONCLUSION I HAVE DRAWN FROM READING THE FACTS Anthony Fauci, Bill Gates, and the deep state created a bio weapon in Wuhan China paid for by our tax dollars. They released this bio weapon before the elections to lockdown our country and drive us into a state of fear and panic. This virus was less lethal than the seasonal flu, yet the mainstream media pushed the world into a state of chaos. Any other credible treatments for this virus were shunned by mainstream media outlets and the Democratic Party, only vaccines were told to be the cure. The vaccines are not FDA APPROVED. THEY ARE EXPERIMENTAL. This virus was used to take power back and to take back control of the country…They are pushing the new world order agenda as they have been for many years. Donald Trump knew this and fought against it but the corrupt media and politicians, what he called ‘the swamp’, unfortunately won…We are losing our country and it is going downhill faster than you can imagine.”[146]

A member of Open Up Kansas! (11,319 members) deployed the “Wuhan flu” epithet in the context of a public health/left conspiracy: “The truth about the Wuhan flu! The current panic is all about public health lackeys and leftist fear mongers hanging on to power.”[147] A member of Washington State citizens against the MRNA injection mandate (35,253 members) asks, “When are we going to confront China and the NIH for creating this virus?” One commenter adds, “Not going to happen. China owns Biden AND the NIH,” eliciting the response, “Exactly.”[148]

A post in Reopen Texas (16,355 members) coupled the epithet “ChiNA virus” to a Biden Administration conspiracy theory, anti-immigrant frames, and the spurious claim that Donald Trump is the “legitimate president”:

“Joe Biden. You are not a ligitimate (sic) president…You disenfranchise my vote and endanger our lives by resettling millions of illegal aliens into conservative areas, many you know are infected with ChiNa virus!!! An action we consider treason. Then you pretend to be concern (sic) about a spike in ChiNa virus infections when if (sic) fact you and your administration are fully responsible for this re-infection of our country…I will support your removal from office and your prosecution for treason and manslaughter for all those who died at the hands of illegals and the ChiNa virus brought in by illegals. I also support President Trump as our legitimate president NOW!!”[149]

A member of Reopen Wisconsin (7,173 members) offered a conspiracy “theory” placing National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci in cahoots with “BigPharma” and China:

“#BigPharma, #Fauci, and #China all worked together to create a virus only they had the “cure” for 2) corrupt government officials and the FDA worked together to push it through safe or not, while the media and #BigTech played defense in hiding all the side effects, deaths, and the fact it doesn’t really work 3) countries around the world are now at the mercy of covid vaccine manufacturers who are all owned by the same people who also happen to own most of the media (Black Rock/Vanguard) and 4) corrupt politicians across the globe are having a field day backdooring all the fascist policies of their dreams, and taking away people’s rights to gain more tyrannical power all under the guise of ‘public safety’ over the ‘advice’ of the same damn people that caused all this in the first place.”[150]

More common than such conspiracy theories, members of these groups simply use terms such as “Wuhan flu” or “China virus” to characterized COVID-19. In addition to their use in the conspiracy “theories” described above, a search of a subset of COVID Denial Facebook groups found such practices in REOPEN AMERICA (29,613 members), Reopen Clallam County (1,477 members), Recall Bob Ferguson and #ReopenWA (2,700 members), We The People Against Mandatory Covid-19 Vaccinations (2,253 members), NO MAS(K) (8,176 members), Reopen Washington Action Network (1,358 members), Reopen Arkansas (3,249 members), ReOpen Wyoming Action Group (3361 members), Open Oregon (36,049 members), REOPEN MA (13,375 members), Arizona Masks & Lockdowns – “Never Again” (11,145 members), Patriots for Delaware (11,670 members), ReOpen Utah (69 members), Reopen California…NOW! (11,683 members), Unmask And Unmuzzled Parents of Monroe County Georgia (704 members), Unmask our Kids – Douglas County Schools (3,302 members), Unmask Iowa (1,334 members), The state of WA State schools (1,922 members), We are against Medical Tyranny (1,043 members), HealthCare workers for Freedom (7,812), and Reopen Tri-Cities (6,913 members).[151]

A more in-depth set of searches would undoubtedly find these practices widespread in these COVID Denial Facebook groups.

Anti-Muslim bigotry has become a common feature of American far-right nationalism, showing its ugly face among Tea Party, militia groups, and racist groups like the Proud Boys.

The idea of a sharia law takeover of America, a common anti-Muslim canard and conspiracy theory in the far right, is also found in Facebook COVID denial groups. A member of NO masks in KY schools! (15,617 members), for instance, asked, “With what’s going on in Afghanistan and the total lack of guidance or help from our own government, anyone wonder if the masks are their way for preparing us for sharia law??”[152]

A member of DO NOT COMPLY (18,895) recirculated a post putting former President Barrack Obama at the head of a conspiratorial sharia law takeover of America:

“I agree with this: Obama is running this country!! I think this (the allowance of the Taliban to take over Afghanistan) was absolutely intentional, in order to ‘allow’ another massive influx of Islamic refugees into America, just as Obama did with (his red line “debacle”) he let Assad continue to assassinate the Syrian people, which he ‘finally’ shuttled in thousands of Syrian ‘refugees’. They were brought here and strategically placed in large groups in Minnesota and Michigan… This is exactly how we got “the Squad” in our congress! They want to allow the more of these countries to be at war, so that means more ‘refugees’ will get sent here to America to vote in the Marxist/Islamic/democratic/Socialists. It is atrocious that these people don’t realize that Sharia Law (which was reinstated in the 70’s by the Taliban) is a horrendous barbaric law created by these demonic terrorists to control people and allow murder, rape of women and girls, also child marriages to old men. But they are brainwashed by Islamic religious leaders to believe these ‘laws’ are “of God or Allah i.e. Muhammad” It is sickening that so many of people don’t get it!!! BTW, I’m not against allowing refugees fleeing terrorists in to America but when it is created intentionally to create a new voter demographic that is treason!”[153]

In a particularly convoluted form of anti-Muslim bigotry, a post in Re-Open California (4,339 members) manages to combines a sharia law Muslim invasion with a global conspiracy carried out by the Illuminati. After starting that, “We have no idea how many sharia law Muslims are coming through our open borders,” the letter linked it to a global conspiracy allegedly spun in an 1871 letter by author and the Confederate States army officer Albert Pike. The crux of the conspiracy is “Three World Wars have been planned for many generations by the Illuminati,” an 18^th-century liberal group and common bugaboo for far-right conspiracy-mongers.[154]

The administrator of UNMA$K CLINTON COUNTY [Michigan] (1,071 members), and a member of ReOpen Kitsap (1,960 members), reposted a statement depicting mask mandates as Arab and Muslim-derived means of social control:

“DID YOU KNOW THAT…2300 years ago, long before Islam, Arabs discovered that forcing people to cover their nose and mouths, broke their will and individuality, and depersonalized them. It made them submissive. That’s why they imposed on every woman the mandatory use of a fabric over her face. Then Islam turned it into the woman’s symbol of submission to Alah (sic), the man owner of the Harem, and the King…The mask is the beginning of deleting individuality. He who does not know his history is condemned to repeat it.”[155]

In a twist on manipulatively using the actual religious rights of both Muslims and Jews to their own narrow ends, a post in Washington State citizens against the MRNA injection mandate (33,689 members) sought to coattail rejecting mask mandates onto religious rights. The group member argued that requiring masks through a “governor’s health order” would be “would be similar to the university asking a Muslim to remove the head covering for entry, or a member of the Jewish faith to remove the yarmulke as a condition of entry.”[156]