WILLIAM FINLAY: This is Wild Bill for America wearing the cross and shield of the New Crusaders. Reductive medieval imagery and language shows up in posts by contemporary Islamophobes. Racists online have adopted a crusader rallying cry, deus vult. ULABY: Social media teems with homemade videos glorifying a time when heavily armored Christians fought for Europe against swarthy infidels. This fantasy not only hurts people in the present, it also distorts the past. It says the Middle Ages were complicated and diverse.ĭAVIS: (Reading) By using imagined medieval symbols or names drawn from medieval terminology, they create a fantasy of a pure white Europe that bears no relationship to reality. ULABY: The statement was signed by more than 24 organizations representing over 5,000 people. After Charlottesville, Davis and her colleagues published a statement on the Medieval Academy blog.ĭAVIS: (Reading) As scholars of the medieval world, we're disturbed by the use of a nostalgic but inaccurate myth of the Middle Ages by racist movements in the United States. Maurice, revered during the medieval period. And I suspect the gentleman carrying the shield didn't realize that.
He's an African saint who carries that standard.
LISA FAGIN DAVIS: There was one young man who was carrying a shield with a black spread eagle that was clearly co-opted from either the Holy Roman Empire or - there's actually a saint. ULABY: On so many levels, says Lisa Fagin Davis, the white supremacists recorded in this video have gotten history completely wrong. NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: The head of the Medieval Academy of America was horrified when she saw dozens of Charlottesville demonstrators brandishing white shields with crosses that looked a lot like crusader flags. And as NPR's Neda Ulaby reports, those historians are angry. Professional historians have noticed this, too. If you've watched videos of white supremacist rallies and marches across the U.S., you may have noticed people dressed up as crusaders from the Middle Ages or waving banners with medieval insignias.
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