In May of 2020, the streets across North America and Europe erupted with protests condoning police brutality and embedded racism at the societal core. Triggered by death of George Floyd inflicted by law enforcement during an arrest undertaken in Minneapolis on the grounds of a suspected counterfeit bill distribution and continuously reignited by the casualties that followed within the Black American population and across other communities, resulting in not only a societally complex situation, but considerable reciprocal radicalisation. Along with the peaceful protests, solidarity, and creative flares America seen the efforts of the leftists and the far-right to propel their agendas with vandalism, particular to the shared grievances speeches, and violence.

Citizens took to the streets to defend the American and human values with continuity and innovation in mind. The Black Lives Matter movement gained momentum pushing against the history of slavery, discrimination, police brutality, and the administrative treatment. African American, Jamaican American, and even Hispanic American minorities onboarded the struggle for the future conceptualisation of the American citizenship condition. Heritages intermixed in the essence of solidarity. Visibility sensed as the only denominator differentiating them from the “American” in its uttermost non-controversial understanding.

The diverse experience of American-ness as an identity comes in variety of shapes and forms. Some perceive their necessitated Blackness as their identity and others notably retain their ethnic heritage informed character as an additional component. Some experience their identity as historically experienced or narrative driven multigenerational immigrant, almost inseparable from the very conception of American nation without reinventing their ancestral connection, while others actively participate in discovery and transmission of the cultural and ethnic variety of their ancestry through for example such activity as Kwanzaa candle lighting invented in 1966 after the Watts riots as an African American holiday celebrated annually around Christmas and New Year, 26th of December to 1st of January. Some are the new Americans joining the American society retaining or shedding their ancestral connections with an outlook at a diverse identity of an American citizen, or individuals participating in the society of refuge to either eventually integrate into the American future or have an ability to return and reintegrate into the country and society of their initial residence or another society of their choice.

As other countries and societies throughout history the United States admitted numerous peoples in numerous historic contexts and resulting trends. The United States admitted refugees consequential from the World War II with quotas overflown leaving German Jews and Romanians stranded on a waiting list. To understand the contextual failure of the quota design that arose from the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and the Immigration Act of 1924, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum details that the Romanian quota in wait for a visa was equivalent to 43 years long wait. The time is bleakly remembered in the Jewish history for the insufficient admission of the European Jews. United States and Canada both later remembered for turning away the German ocean liner St. Louis that carried 937 passengers, almost all of whom were of Jewish decent. Prior to further border closures within Nazi German Europe, in June of 1939, St. Louis attempted to approach the port of Miami. The years of 1945 and 1948 are however marked by the expedited admission of displaced persons and refugees within the existent immigration law framework. Facilitated was the entry of 40,000 persons under existing quota regulations. Displaced Persons Act of 1948 – that expired in 1954 – came into being to facilitate admission of another approximate 350,000 displaced persons. The end of the Vietnam War is marked by the 300,000 Southeast Asians who are noted to have, “entered the U.S. through the attorney general’s parole authority between 1975-1980” according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Refugee Timeline. Notable spike is observed in 1975, 1979, 1980. The period throughout 1976-1978 however is seen as a time of decreased admission of refugees into the United States. The period following the emergence of the post 9/11 era is also marked by the significant decrees in admissions. While according to the Pew Research Center’s Jens Manuel Krogstad and Jynnah Radford, years 1990 to 1995 are marked by the approximate 116,000 refugees per year with notable flow from the former Soviet Union. Average of 67,100 refugees arrived per year throughout 2008 to 2017 highlighting on the map such geographic areas as Iraq and Burma. Average of 76,200 refugees been admitted during the entire 2017 to 2019 years period with annual admission unevenly occurring throughout those years in part due to renegotiation of the refugee admission cap. The year of 2020 set additional complications for resettlement and admissions across the globe resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The refugee admission ceiling is based on numerous considerations such as national capabilities, security, as well as political drivers. Migration Policy Institute informs that the United States can be noted for its worldwide leadership in the formal refugee resettlement, accepting a significant number of refugees on the global arena annually with decrease in refugee admissions since Trump administration making Canada the top resettlement country in the world. The quota systems attempt to grapple with the overall stagnant amount of the displaced individuals across the globe. USA for UNHCR – The UN Refugee Agency – states that as many as 79.5 million people are forcibly displaced worldwide primarily due to conflicts, social injustices, and violence. Leaving the world to contribute to the best of its abilities to the humane efforts amid the refugee crisis.

The tensions within the United States led in part to further highlight of the divisions and escalations within the societal fabric. The leftists and the far-right clashed in the culmination of the ever-growing concerns over national and political violence from the far-right, with notable caveat that arose from the left. The distinct characteristic of the ignited left and the far-right is their extremist tendencies. The commonality that raises concern.

Recently the “Justice for Floyd” message became hijacked by the far-right attack on the Minneapolis police precinct. What initially could have sounded as the act of leftist extremism was to be discovered as an act of far-right violence by the representative of the Boogaloo movement that is noted by Cynthia Miller-Idriss – Director of Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL) in the Center for University Excellence (CUE) at the American University in Washington, DC – to while not be classified as far-right by the Department of Homeland Security, maintain its actually mainly far-right membership. The left showcased its extremes as seen through the chaos of the Antifa ascribed vandalism and property damage with some violence mainly seen in encounters with the law enforcement representatives attending to the situation and cheered on by the Blue Lives supporters with White Lives or All Lives resonating on the background. The range of participants can be outlined as much as intentional and calculated as spontaneous, driven by their surrounding, based on the combination of preceding beliefs and experiences. While the Black Lives Matter protests are remembered for their peaceful action, murals, and support for Black owned businesses, they are also remembered by the store break-ins, crude graffities, defaced sites of worship, and overturn of statues and monuments that were seen as glorification of slavery and racist history. Notably remembered are the mixed messages from the law enforcement representatives who took the knee in solidarity and simultaneously used force against the members of the media. Overall eruption met with complex and perplexing attention from the American government leading to the discussions of need for better leadership, compassion, and resolutions that are to meet the needs of all members of the American social fabric. Discussions turning heads toward contemplation of authoritarianism and generally far-right concerns with “Stand back and stay by” as the slogan of the season during the presidential election process. Trump supporters observed to caravan the Joe Biden campaign bus followed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s inquiry into the incident that resulted in numerous cancellations as campaigning under the circumstances raised safety concerns that while coincided were an unlikely Halloween themed scary of the weekend.

Nonetheless, while the extreme lines seem clearly outlined the makeup of leftist resistance can be quite mixed from the devoted leftists, proponents of Antifa, to otherwise disconnected legitimately concerned citizens. Citizens who joined to the mass action behind their windows and the concerns over governments’ response to the grievances. As well as people whose lives accidentally became entangled into the broader political notions, but who were found to be individuals of all walks of life who ended up on the street during the uneasy nights of the riots. Such recently highlighted in connection to the Kenosha shooting. The journalistic work annotated as “Reporting beyond the first headline” in Nieman Storyboard by an award-winning journalist Chip Scanlan and noted by The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma contemplates the lives of the victims of the Kenosha shooting on the night of the vigilant efforts in part upheld by the 17 years of age civilian who traveled across the state lines to a night – that was part of the unrest that resulted from the shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29 years of age African-American, during an arrest by a law enforcement officer Rusten Sheskey – in Kenosha in late August of 2020 were not at all the expected left protesters whom the imagination drew in many minds as the news came through. While vigilant efforts became upheld by groups of armed civilians who claimed their interest in protection of property from damage during the protests, some business owners were noticed to have boarded or otherwise stood guard to assure their business’s lack of attraction to the hooligans and marauders taking advantage of the unrest or to the ignited protestors ready for the old fashioned brick riot, the extreme left took to defence of the Black Lives Matter movement. The Not Fucking Around Coalition (NFAC) became observed as an exclusively Black armed militia in the areas ready to march the streets, check up on the social justice for the Black people, escort protestors, assure security, and as the voice calling out the far-right Boogaloo for a face-to-face conversation. The Not Fucking Around Coalition is simultaneously known for the much more solidified interest and proposition of a resolution by means of the ethnostate agenda. Polarisations resulted in the notion where the left and the right could be contemplated as much alike should they appear in reverse. Another notable example of Black resistance is the New Black Panther Party described by the SPLC Southern Poverty Law Center as rejected by its 1960’s and 1970’s left leaning members of the initial Black Partner Party since the New Black Panther Party is noted to be racist, antisemitic, and an overall hate group disconnected from the representation approaches of the earlier years. What could have been seen as libertarian and authoritarian concerns would make as much of the same sense whoever then takes hold of the power dynamic. Once again reinforcing the establishing notions for the culture of non-violent engagement and diversity driven outlook as key to building domestically, regionally, and internationally sustainable nations and their maintenance.

The radicalisation preceding and furthered by the unrests forces to actively reconceptualise the societal culture to uphold the first and foremost interests of national security hindered by conflicts, social injustices, and violence. The divisions and escalations within the societal fabric in part outlined in the grown and extensive threat of the domestic far-right terrorism portray the perplexing developments that require attention and attendance through decisive national continuity and innovation resolutions with best practices in mind.