KOJO NNAMDIYou're tuned in to The Kojo Nnamdi Show on WAMU 88.5, welcome. Later in the broadcast, the effect on the tech community of Amazon's arrival here. But first white supremacists have surfaced in local D.C. again. On Saturday the Chevy Chase Bookstore Politics & Prose hosted Jonathan M. Metzl, author of the book "Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America's Heartland."

KOJO NNAMDIThat event was interrupted by a protest led by white nationalists chanting statements like, "This land is our land," that upset attendees and Washingtonians, who later learned about the incident. Joining us now to understand what happened and why is Will Sommer. Will Sommer is a Tech Reporter at The Daily Beast where he authors "Right Richter." It's a newsletter about right wing media. Will, good to see you again.

WILL SOMMERThanks for having me.

NNAMDIWill, what was the scale of this protest? Approximately how many people were at the event and how many white nationalists came to protest it?

SOMMERSure. So in terms of people at the event it looks like roughly about 100 based on the video. In terms of the protestors it may be a little more than a dozen, maybe 20 people perhaps.

NNAMDIThe decision to stage this protest at this book event in particular was apparently no coincidence. What was the author discussing and why did the white nationalists find fault with it?

SOMMERYeah, Jonathan Metzl was discussing -- he has this book about how this kind of malignant racism has hurt the Midwest and hurt unemployed communities by, you know, apparently making them less open to new ideas that kind of stuff.

NNAMDIHow did the bookstore staff respond to this incident and how did the attendees of the event respond?

SOMMERSure. So, you know, judging by the video it seems as though essentially the Politics & Prose staff decided to basically let these protestors sort of yell themselves out and do what they wanted to do in terms of -- I believe they had a megaphone. They were yelling and then they essentially just kind of marched out.

NNAMDII guess as I was reading the owner -- the co-owner of Politics & Prose says they've been kind of preparing their staff for protests like this. But how did news of it spread online and what was the response beyond people who were at the bookstore?

SOMMERSure. So, I mean, I think the news spread based on videos that people who were at the event had taken of this happening. And, you know, from there the videos went viral.

NNAMDIHow have local officials responded to what happened? Have there been calls to respond in certain particular kinds of ways?

SOMMERYou know, I think the answer here is sort of just solidarity and, you know, support for both Politics & Prose. And, you know, obviously this was not a violent group; although, its aims are ultimately violent. And, so, you know, it's a difficult thing. I mean, there was a story in The Post just a few days ago about how these groups are increasingly targeting bookstores, cultural events. Just yesterday another neo-Nazi group targeted an art event for protest. So this is something we're seeing more and more of.

NNAMDIThis is not a random group. It's an organization that's been newly branded as the American Identity Movement. I noticed that in their poses they were shouting, "AIM. AIM. AIM," the American Identity Movement. That's a very broad name under which to organize. Is that the point here?

SOMMERExactly. So we're dealing with basically the rebranding of this group called Identity Evropa, which is this white nationalist movement really across the world called Identitarians and they're like not -- they don't brand themselves like brownshirts, what we would think of as Neo-Nazis, although their goals are very similar. They are sort of like suit and tie Nazis essentially. And so in this case Identity Evropa, they were involved in the Charlottesville 2017 rally and basically they realized their brand was not great. They were -- a bunch of their chat logs leaked. A bunch of their members were getting docked. They were having their real names revealed.

SOMMERSo in March they rebranded as the American Identity Movement, which as you say is a little vaguer. It kind of sounds like, "Oh, we just love America." And then that way they're able to infiltrate conservative media in a way that I think when they were branded as sort of this like quasi Nazi movement, they weren't able to.

NNAMDIAre they local? To they have ties to other white nationalists' organizations or figures?

SOMMERSo they appear to have a good number of members in the Mid-Atlantic region and really, you know, across the country. I mean, we're ultimately talking about, you know, at most maybe 500 to 1,000 people. But, you know, it only takes a few of them to do these events. You know, they're very fond of putting up stickers and flyers around local universities. I mean, I was just at Georgetown a few weeks and I saw some of their stickers.

NNAMDIThere's sometimes the sense that people who hold extreme white nationalist's views are a part of fringe movement, but more and more stories like this are cropping up. What is white nationalism's reach now in this region?

SOMMERRight. So it's, you know, obviously this can be a difficult thing to gauge, because so often the people are essentially hiding their involvement in these movements. On the other hand I think, you know, we've seen an increase in hate crimes nationally. And we've seen plenty of incidents here. I mean, you know we saw in D.C. these two brothers, the Clark brothers, who were allegedly inspired or in contact with the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting suspect. And, you know, one of them killed themselves. The other seemed to have prepared to go on a rampage before he was arrested. You know, additionally we had this Coast Guard Captain, who was arrested relatively recently with a big cache of weapons.

NNAMDISilver Spring.

SOMMERAnd a hit list essentially of media figures and democratic politicians.

NNAMDIWe got a tweet from Nelson, "It's nuts that white nationalists were in Ward 3." Is it nuts? What perceptions do people have of Ward 3 in this part of upper northwest? Are some places more or less surprising to see a white nationalist rally? Because, of course, Politics & Prose is right down the street from Comet Pizza where a young man entered with a gun and fired a few shots there a few years ago and was the center of a whole lot of white nationalist's conspiracy theories.

SOMMERExactly. And, of course, just this year, you know, someone tried to burn it down.

NNAMDIYep.

SOMMERRight, you know, for the same reason. So, yeah, I mean, it is interesting that that's all happening on that one block. But, you know, I mean it's -- I think what we're seeing is this kind of -- whether it's conspiracy theories, whether it's these white nationalists groups, this sort of internet fueled hate and anger, you know, can really strike anywhere.

NNAMDII want to talk with Emily in Washington D.C. Emily is a representative of the group SURJ, Showing up for Racial Justice, a local chapter of a national network of groups and individuals organizing white people for racial justice. Emily, thank you very much for joining us.

EMILYOf course. Thanks for having me.

NNAMDIEmily, what did this incident say to you and to SURJ?

EMILYI think this said to us -- it confirmed what we've already known that white nationalist groups are out there recruiting. And that they are building power and developing people in their organizations. And so that's one of the reasons that we are out reaching out to white communities to try to speak to people about white supremacy as we know that these movements are growing.

NNAMDIYou said as we know that these movements are growing. These movements have clearly been emboldened. What is your tactic to resist them?

EMILYYeah, so I organize on a project called Deep Canvasing. And what we do is we go out into white communities and meet people at their doors. We knock on their doors and talk to them about white supremacy and what it means to support black people and black organizing in this moment. And we know that it's really important for us to approach white people in a way that is not shaming and that breaks down the isolation that so many white nationalists say was a factor in their joining white nationalist movements. But we also know that it's way past time for white people to take a stand in this moment. So we go out and have these conversations and try to help people reckon with where they stand.

NNAMDIHave you or anyone else in SURJ seen or been involved with this AIM organization before? When I say been involved I mean in opposition to specifically. Have you encountered them any place?

EMILYNot that I know of as far as like the specific group. I think that in general, SURJ organizers have pushed back against white nationalist mobilizations both in Charlottesville and other places. So we have a variety of tactics in SURJ that include both trying to reach out and connect to white people where they are and also really pushing back and taking a strong stand against avowed white nationalist rhetoric and mobilization.

NNAMDIHere is Comoy in Germantown, Maryland. Comoy, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

COMOYThank you, Kojo, for taking my call. One thing I wanted to -- I see the difference between the treatment of the white nationalists and say, when the Black Panther party was established, they were -- FBI was constantly monitoring them. I wanted to know if the FBI is monitoring these people. Are they being put on terror watch lists? Because clearly they are a terrorist organization and we keep talking to them like -- that we're supposed to treat them equally or have some type of sympathy towards them, we need to eradicate them quickly as other groups have been in the past.

NNAMDIAnd I know the Anti-Defamation League has been monitoring the group's activities and there have been several statements from the FBI in the past year or so that says that they too are monitoring these white nationalist groups.

SOMMERSure. So there really is federal law enforcement, you know, keeping an eye on these groups. And we've seen federal charges against the more extreme white supremacists white nationalists. At the same time, I think there's this larger -- or at least until recently there's been -- I think the federal government has been relatively slow to this issue. You know, in the case of Charlottesville there were people on video beating people up, you know, committing violence and it was only after some news organizations like got these people's names and everything that the FBI finally investigated them and had charges pressed.

NNAMDIIs this the first in person protest this group has staged, this AIM group?

SOMMERNo, and certainly not previously as Identity Evropa. I mean, they're very into these kinds of confrontations. There was this thing where they showed up a at drag story hour where drag queens would read books to children in a library. And they dressed clowns, which is a whole other kind of like reference to some neo-Nazi terminology.

NNAMDIMost people see these extreme white nationalist groups as part of some kind of fringe movement, but with all of the stories that are cropping up, it does seem to be growing in this region. And the group is using this protest to advertise itself and recruit on a national level based on previous events. What do we know about the relationship between their in person efforts and the numbers of their supporters?

SOMMERSure. I mean, I think we're seeing, you know, that they're using these big events to recruit people. So, you know, it's difficult to know how many people are, you know, just not showing up, because they don't want to have their identities tied to this group. You know, the leaks of their chat logs, I think revealed a couple hundred people, disturbingly, I think many of whom were active members of the military. So, you know, I think it can be very disconcerting when you see who some of the members of these groups are.

NNAMDIPatrick Casey, the founder of this group says that the media covering this event is basically free publicity for them. You cover right wing figures and right wing media. How you would you characterize your work? How should these events and figures be covered given that point about the free publicity they feel they're getting?

SOMMERYeah, you know, it's a good point and I think it's one that I think we in the media have been grappling with, you know, for going back a couple of years now. You know, certainly when I cover this stuff, you know, I'm sensitive of the possibility of giving it exposure. On the other hand, you know, a lot of times these are real things that are happening. You know, and I think it's unfair to the public and to our audience not to cover things when it's a real life thing.

NNAMDIWill Sommer is a Tech Reporter at The Daily Beast where he authors "Right Richter." That's a newsletter about right wing media. Will, good to see you again.

SOMMERAbsolutely. Thanks for having me.

NNAMDIGoing to take a short break. When we come back, the effect that Amazon is coming and they're coming sooner than anticipated is likely to have on the tech community in this region. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.