The American Myths of the ‘Black Wrecker’ and ‘Outside Agitator’

Joshua Collins
6 min readJun 9, 2020

Government response to Black Lives Matter shows not much has changed since the 60’s

“The Anarchist” design by Belle Deese (open use)

“We have never had a problem in the South except in a few very isolated instances and these have been the result of outside agitators.” — George Wallace, 1964

George Wallace penned those words in response to the civil rights movement. It was the beginning of a valiant and glacially paced but inexorable march toward unkept promises of universal justice, promises of an American dream available to all that had long been withheld from black communities — many of which remain unfulfilled to this day.

Just as Trump now cannot fathom what is happening today before his eyes and citizens rise up, Wallace could not accept the possibility that blacks suffering injustice could possibly have the determination and bravery to take their destiny into their own hands. To Wallace, his racism ran so deep that African-American organizers, protesters and their allies who resisted the tyranny of the state could not possibly have self-determination or autonomy, they were incapable — the only explanation that made sense to him was that the movement had to be led by white agitators.

As the citizenry take to the streets of every American city to protest police brutality, this tool of division and distraction from those who supported segregation is being dusted-off and re-deployed by a panicked administration in the throes of civil uprising.

Across borders and throughout history, the tactics of discrediting, demonizing and de-legitimizing social movements have always been the primary response of government when citizens take to the street to clamor for justice, but in the United States two specific variations on this strategy have historically been employed with grave consequences; that of the “Black Wrecker”, painting blacks as dangerous criminals intent upon destroying and looting white communities and the “outside agitator”, an imaginary and shadowy cabal of anti-American provocateurs bent on destruction of the American way.

John Ehrlichman, Nixon’s aide on domestic affairs, who would eventually get convicted in the Watergate…

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Joshua Collins

A reporter on immigration and world affairs, based in Cucuta, Colombia. Bylines at Al Jazeera, Caracas Chronicles, New Humanitarian and more