Chapter 65: New Knights Templar

261      constructed . . . the same way enslavers, Ku Klux Klansmen, and German Nazis did Paul B. Sturtevant, “Race, Racism, and the Middle Ages: Tearing Down the ‘Whites Only’ Medieval World,” Public Medievalist, February 7, 2017, publicmedievalist.com/race-racism-middle-ages-tearing-whites-medieval-world/.

261      was “a pure, white, Christian place . . .” David M. Perry, “What To Do When Nazis Are Obsessed with Your Field,” Pacific Standard, September 6, 2017, psmag.com/education/nazis-love-taylor-swift-and-also-the-crusades/.

261      for almost all of Europe’s . . . history . . . did not identify . . . military forces were . . .  Recent archaeological and scientific evidence suggests that humans first arrived in Europe as many as 54,000 years ago. Europe was not predominantly Christian until about 1000 AD, and modern conceptions of race have their roots in Gomes Eanes de Zurara’s account of Portugal’s human trading of Africans in the fifteenth century. “First Modern Humans Arrived in Europe Earlier Than Previously Known,” Stony Brook University News, February 10, 2022, news.stonybrook.edu/newsroom/first-modern-humans-arrived-in-europe-earlier-than-previously-known; Julia M. H. Smith, Europe After Rome: A New Cultural History, 500–1000 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 295; Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, rev. ed. (New York: Bold Type Books, 2023), 22–25. Find Europe After Rome (search.worldcat.org/title/794856056) and Stamped from the Beginning (search.worldcat.org/title/1340743269) at a library near you.

261      “Fuck Muslims. Go back to Saudi Arabia. Kill yourself.”  Court testimony of Walia Mohamed quoted in Alex Zielinski, “Defense Attorney Says Jeremy Christian Acted in Self-Defense in 2017 MAX Slayings,” Portland Mercury, January 28, 2020, www.portlandmercury.com/news/2020/01/28/27893267/defense-says-jeremy-christian-acted-in-self-defense-in-2017-max-slayings. See also Thacher Schmid, “The Target of a Hate Crime, She Was Labeled as a Witness,” New Lines Magazine, January 17, 2024, newlinesmag.com/reportage/the-target-of-a-hate-crime-she-was-labeled-as-a-witness/.

261      ranted at . . . sitting nearby on the train  Schmid, “The Target of a Hate Crime, She Was Labeled as a Witness,” newlinesmag.com/reportage/the-target-of-a-hate-crime-she-was-labeled-as-a-witness/.

261      raised his Bible . . . stood up to move away from him  Schmid, “The Target of a Hate Crime, She Was Labeled as a Witness,” newlinesmag.com/reportage/the-target-of-a-hate-crime-she-was-labeled-as-a-witness/.

261      got up too . . . attacked and stabbed . . .murdering . . .injuring  Schmid, “The Target of a Hate Crime, She Was Labeled as a Witness,” newlinesmag.com/reportage/the-target-of-a-hate-crime-she-was-labeled-as-a-witness/.

261–262 identified as a defender of “Vinland”  David Perry, “White Supremacists Love Vikings: But They’ve Got History All Wrong,” Washington Post, May 31, 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/05/31/white-supremacists-love-vikings-but-theyve-got-history-all-wrong/.

261–262  a region on the coast of North America . . . explored around the year 1000 Perry, “White Supremacists Love Vikings: But They’ve Got History All Wrong,” www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/05/31/white-supremacists-love-vikings-but-theyve-got-history-all-wrong/; and Christopher Crocker, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Vínland: History, Whiteness, Indigenous Erasure, and the Early Norse Presence in Newfoundland,” Canadian Journal of History 55, no. 1–2 (August 2020), doi.org/10.3138/cjh-2019-0028.

262     invoke Vinland  Perry, “White Supremacists Love Vikings: But They’ve Got History All Wrong,” www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/05/31/white-supremacists-love-vikings-but-theyve-got-history-all-wrong/.

262     “Vinlander racists like to claim that whites are ‘indigenous’ . . .”  Perry, “What To Do When Nazis Are Obsessed with Your Field,” psmag.com/education/nazis-love-taylor-swift-and-also-the-crusades/.

262     paraded around . . . and spray-painted . . .on mosques Perry, “What To Do When Nazis Are Obsessed with Your Field,” psmag.com/education/nazis-love-taylor-swift-and-also-the-crusades/.

262     a new Knights Templar . . . “a pan-European indigenous rights movement” Anders Breivik, “2083: A European Declaration of Independence,” manifesto, July 22, 2011. The manifesto is unpaginated, but this quote appears on page 820 of the PDF.

262     admired the Knights Templar too  Ibrahim Al-Marashi, “Opinion: The New Zealand Massacre and the Weaponisation of History,” Al Jazeera, March 24, 2019, www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2019/3/24/the-new-zealand-massacre-and-the-weaponisation-of-history.

262     eighteen references . . . including Christian crusaders  Gillian Brockell, “The Accused New Zealand Shooter and an All-White Europe That Never Existed,” Washington Post, March 16, 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/03/16/accused-new-zealand-shooter-an-all-white-europe-that-never-existed/.

262     repeatedly invaded . . . between 1099 and 1291 . . . failed to permanently . . .  Mark Cartwright, “Crusades," World History Encyclopedia, October 12, 2018, www.worldhistory.org/Crusades/.

262     presenting . . . as defending Europe from Muslim invaders  During a speech in March 2011, Geert Wilders warned, “The situation today could be worse than it was when the Roman Empire fell. The Germanic Barbarians who overran Rome were not driven by an ideology. After having sacked Rome, they eventually adopted the Judeo-Christian civilization of Rome. They destroyed Rome because they wanted its riches, but they realized and recognized that Roman civilization was superior to their own Barbaric culture. Having destroyed Rome, the Germanic tribes eventually tried to rebuild it. In 800, the Frankish leader Charlemagne had himself crowned Roman Emperor. Three hundred years later, the Franks and the other Europeans would go on the Crusades in defence of their Christian culture. The Crusades were as Oriana Fallaci wrote—I quote—a ‘counter-offensive designed to stem Islamic expansionism in Europe.’ Rome had fallen, but like a phoenix it had risen again. Contrary to the Barbarians which confronted Rome, the followers of Muhammad are driven by an ideology which they want to impose on us. Islamic Shariah law supervises every detail of life. Islam is not compatible with our Western way of life. Islam is a threat to our values.” Geert Wilders, “Speech: Geert Wilders in Rome, 25th of March 2011,” GeertWilders.NL, www.geertwilders.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1740.

262     misrepresented Jews as the invaders of Europe  See, for example, “Jews ‘Terrorized’ German Culture, Hitler Tells Nuremberg Congress,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, September 8, 1938, www.jta.org/archive/jews-terrorized-german-culture-hitler-tells-nuremberg-congress.