NORMALIZE RADICAL
The Hill Street Country Club presents recent works
by Johnny Nguyen
What happened socially which made it apparent you wanted to create this exhibition?
After Trump was elected, we started seeing a lot more blatant racism and white supremacy and fascism. Groups like proud boys, patriot prayer, and far right characters like Milo Yiannopoulos and Joey Gibson and all these other pro Trump characters were gaining mainstream popularity. We even saw white supremacist/neo-nazi rallies like the one in Charlottesville, Virginia which left one protester dead. On this date, the Patriot Prayer far-right group organized a free speech, anti-Marxist rally in Berkeley California. Protesters showed up to ensure that this rally was not going to happen.
Depicted in this photo is a pro Trump character who is known to spew this white supremacist rhetoric online and in-person. He is recording, and his intent is to trigger people so that things can become violent so that he can push a violent agenda upon the protesters. Instead, the protesters fight back with words and with gestures.
This debate is so interesting because it poses the question, ‘can hate speech be free speech’? It’s a double edged sword.
