Imagine walking through the streets of any major city and seeing a crowd of people blocking the road, shouting, and assaulting others. The protestors are wearing black from head to toe with bandannas and sunglasses—all while wielding a plethora of weapons, from baseball bats to metal clubs. This is Antifa.

Antifa is a far-left, anti-fascist, anti-racist, anti-hate group that protests against fascism and individuals they believe are “Neo Nazis”.

Antifa’s original cause of opposing fascism was respectable, especially in Germany when the Nazi regime was gaining power, but they have since become a hateful group who pushes their political agenda by using violence and scare tactics. It is time to label them for what they are: a domestic terrorist group.  

Antifa checks all the boxes for being defined as a terrorist organization. In fact, the FBI defines domestic terrorism as “Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.”

Antifa first gained ground and attention early in August 2017 in the Charlottesville protests over the removal of the Gen. Robert E. Lee statue, in which members of Antifa condemned far-right-wing protesters while verbally and physically assaulting them and police.

However, since then, the primarily liberal media has failed to cover their rallies and criminal activity extensively, leading to misconceptions and misunderstanding among citizens.

In reality, Antifa is ironically a hateful group that “protests” by vandalizing property, harassing, and physically assaulting anyone who doesn’t agree with their political ideology.

For example, last summer, conservative journalist Andy Ngo was brutally attacked by Antifa members for merely covering an Antifa protest in Portland, Oregon. Protesters threw milkshakes on him as he was repeatedly punched in the head. Videos of the attack quickly flooded twitter. 

“I hope Andy Ngo is okay. Journalists should be safe to report on a protest without being targeted,” former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang tweeted.

Last July, Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen.  Bill Cassidy introduced a resolution to label Antifa as a domestic terror organization. 

“Antifa is a group of hateful, intolerant radicals who pursue their unhinged agenda through aggressive violence. The hate and violence they spread must be stopped, and I am proud to introduce this resolution with Sen. Cassidy to properly identify what Antifa are: domestic terrorists,” Cruz said in a press release.

Cassidy claims Antifa has turned into the very thing they hate.

“Antifa are terrorists, violent masked bullies who ‘fight fascism’ with actual fascism, protected by Liberal privilege. Elected officials must have courage, not cowardice, to prevent terror,” Cassidy said.

Considering there have been talks of classifying far-right white groups, like the Proud Boys, to be domestic terrorists, it is time to do the same with the far left.

Regardless of where individuals lie on the political spectrum, it’s time to call it like it is and consider Antifa a domestic terrorist organization. No one is above the law in our country, and Antifa is no exception.