USA’s SA Troops

History is repeating itself

https://www.bu.edu/articles/2022/is-patriot-front-march-in-boston-sign-of-new-kkk/

In these days of alternative facts, it is possible to find seemingly credible counter information on anything. Rather than try to dissect one website vs. another website, I look for patterns.

About six months ago, my Mastodon feed had a video of white men dressed in brown pants, blue shirts, white scarf, sunglasses, and brown baseball caps. I pegged this video as a possible replica of the Sturmabteilung (SA) of Nazi Germany. This group did all the dirty work to put fear into the general German population during the rise of the Nazi Party.

Going to the 1930s

Somewhere in Vienna, I encountered an art exhibit of that time. A young Austrian teenager sees a crowd on the street. She works her way into the front of the crowd. She sees her family doctor and other men scrubbing the street with toothbrushes. The SA troopers are barking orders at the men.

The doctor has taken care of her family’s medical needs for years. He was Jewish.

The scene drags on for a little longer. Then the SA troopers, the humiliated men, the crowd, and teenager disburse as if nothing ever happened. But something did happen.

This scene has haunted me for years. I’m not sure I could do the right thing. Especially now that I have a son to raise.

Returning to 2025

I was reluctant to comment on that first video I saw on Mastodon. But I kept seeing similar posts about once a month. Today I saw another post. I have become convinced that this group is indeed real. The brownpantsblueshirts are neither only a local movement nor the work of a left-wing storyteller with great multimedia skills.

I did a little internet searching, and indeed this group has been getting some attention. The mainstream media needs to pick up on this story.

If interested, I encourage you to click the link under the photo. These people know more than I know about this group.

My apologies as I did not get official permission to use that photo. I believe institution behind the photo would prefer to me to move this story forward rather than wait for its lawyers to contact me. And I am a bottom writer on Medium with not many royalties to share.