Michael Harriot | The Root
The white supremacist suspected of murdering two men and wounding another screamed and shouted his way through an arraignment hearing Tuesday.
“Free speech or die,” Jeremy Christian yelled to a courtroom audience that included Micah Fletcher, the surviving victim of what authorities say was Christian’s brutal knife attack aboard a Portland, Ore., train, CNN reports. “You’ve got no safe place. This is America. Get out if you don’t like free speech.”
Later, the unhinged white nationalist blurted out, “Death to the enemies of America. Death to antifa [anti-fascists]. You call it terrorism. I call it patriotism. Die.”
Authorities say he faces several charges, including two counts of aggravated murder, attempted murder, two counts of second-degree intimidation and being a felon in possession of a restricted weapon.
Christian is accused of killing fellow commuters Taliesin Namkai-Meche and Rick Best and stabbing Fletcher in the neck during a racist tirade on Portland’s MAX train. According to court documents, Christian was drinking purple sangria (because … irony) and shouting, “Go home. We need American here,” “I don’t care if you are ISIS” and “Free speech or die,” among other things. Passengers tried to get him to calm down, but the Jesus of NaziMeth lookalike pulled out a folding knife and attacked the victims, USA Today reports.
A police car video after his arrest shows Christian bragging, “I just stabbed a bunch of [expletive] in their neck. … I can die in prison a happy man,” according to a police affidavit. “That’s what liberalism gets you.”
If you made a bunch of stereotypical, racist assumptions about a white nationalist who went on a stabbing spree after drinking purple drank on the train, well—you’d probably be right. Christian lived with his mother, dropped out of high school and spent time in jail for robbing a convenience store because “the guy there doesn’t sell any winning lottery tickets,” Christian confessed.
Christian’s Facebook page is filled with white nationalist rhetoric, Nazi salutes and, strangely, a lot of posts about circumcision (because, in my limited research, white supremacists are always obsessed with penises):
