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Aug 19, 20

This Week in Fascism #70: Far-Right Opens Fire in the PNW; Militia Attempts to Intimidate a Witness

Welcome, fellow antifascists!

This week, we’ve got the Proud Boys showing up in Michigan, neo-fascist crew Portland’s Liberation macing protesters and firing a gun, another attempted bomb attack in Portland and Stone Mountain, Georgia, protecting their community from a white nationalist rally, plus, new doxxes of Proud Boys.

Without further ado, let’s begin!

News

After Two Weeks of Far-Right Bomb, Gun, and Car Attacks – Far-Right Media is Trying to Pin Attack of Motorist on ‘BLM and ANTIFA Militants’

Over the past several weeks, we’ve watched in Portland, Oregon as there have been a continuous stream of attempted deadly attacks against protesters in the Downtown area. These have included:

  • On two separate occasions in the last two weeks there has been attempts to injure protesters with explosives. The first on August 8th, where a former Navy Seal and Trump supporter, Louis Garrick Fernbaugh, was filmed on camera after reportedly throwing pipe-bombs at demonstrators in a Portland park. Fernbaugh admits to being at the park and being filmed by journalists, but denies throwing the bombs.
  • Then, on August 15th following a far-Right demonstration, an explosive was thrown by assailants in a black SUV at demonstrators and livestreamers. The incident, which was caught on film, shows a vehicle pass and a person says, “the MAGA folks….,” only to then turn as people around them begin to run and scream, after which a loud explosion goes off. As the Willamette Weekly wrote:

“I couldn’t even react,” DefendPDX photojournalist Clementson Supriyadi recalls. “The vehicle revved up some and I caught a glimpse of the driver. And then there was a bomb in the middle of the street.” [One witness] describes the driver as a heavy-set white male in his 30s or 40s, bald with facial hair and wearing a black tank top.

The flag wave rally exchanged chants and taunts for approximately an hour with a group of Black Lives Matter protesters before Adams’ group embarked on a march through downtown Portland. Counterprotesters followed closely, and there was a small exchange of violence between the two groups: Flag wave protesters were seen Macing BLM protesters and shooting them with paintball rounds and hard plastic pellets. Counterprotesters returned fire with Mace and Silly String.

At approximately 1:35 pm, about 15 conservative protesters retreated into the SmartPark garage at Southwest 4th Avenue and Yamhill Street. Ten minutes later, three cars sped out of the garage and down 4th Avenue. The driver of one car—a blue Dodge Dart—fired two shots at a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters as he left but didn’t hit anyone. Some of the BLM protesters recovered a 9 mm casing at the scene of the shooting.

This reporter and two other eyewitnesses at the scene recognized the driver of the Dodge Dart as Skylor Jernigan: a well-known presence at far-right events, distinguished by his slight build and eyeglasses.

In almost all of these cases, while the local media was quick to report on these incidents, national media, which by mid-August has largely left Portland as the “story” in their eyes is over, as DHS agents have mostly left the streets, has been eerily silent. When these incidents have been reported, they often have lacked any context. For instance, a report by Fox News, says nothing about the explosion in relation to the protests, or that the explosive was thrown at Black Lives Matter protesters on the same day that a far-Right drive-by shooting took place. Unsurprisingly, the first comment on the article reads: “These violent Marxists and Anarchists are a disgrace to the nation. The Feds need to round them up and jail them.”

But then on Sunday night an incident took place that gave the far-Right media something to run with. Around 10:30 PM in Downtown Portland, several dozen people had gathered outside of a 7/11 on 4th Ave and Taylor Street – not an uncommon scene outside of this establishment. According to journalist and podcaster Robert Evans, who spoke with It’s Going Down, the area outside of 7/11 is notorious for fights and public intoxication. In January of 2019, The Portland Mercury even wrote that the store attempted to play classical music and a “high-pitched, ringing noise to keep homeless people from gathering on the sidewalk in in front of the store.”

The article goes on to state:

The 7-Eleven store sits at the intersection of SW Taylor and 4th, on a corner that’s regularly occupied by people who appear to be homeless or transient. Up until recently, the store was blasting classical music from its outdoor speakers. Within the last week, that music was replaced with a single piercing note, similar to the noise emitted by a security alarm system.

The building owner, Standard Insurance Company, did explain the noise in a statement to KGW: “Our goal is to protect the safety of our employees, tenants and guests in a location that has been consistently plagued by public drug use and menacing behavior. The sound is a safe tool to help address the problems that have persisted at this location.”

Like many nights before, an incident erupted outside the store. As the Portland Mercury wrote:

Videos taken of the incident show [a] woman arguing with a group of people on the sidewalk outside 7-11, then someone grabbing her skateboard and backpack. She is hit and shoved by several others in the group. It’s not immediately clear what initiated this assault…Other videos capture a man attempting to deescalate the assault, but being told to leave.

According to Oregon Live, it appears this man, later IDed as Adam Haner, was the driver of the truck that later crashed:

Police said the driver may have been trying to help someone who had their things stolen outside the convenience store. Another video, published by Drew Hernandez, a videographer who runs the YouTube channel “Lives Matter,” showed a woman in a blue tank top being tackled to the ground near the 7-Eleven.

Some in the crowd came to the woman’s aid. And the truck — surrounded by people, some kicking it or pulling on its doors — pulled into the intersection against the light and sped away west along Taylor Street toward the intersection where it crashed.

The truck was then seen reeving its engine and speeding away – running a red light, before it crashed seconds later only several blocks up the street. In other videos posted to social media, Haner is then seen being pulled from the car and sat on the ground. Multiple journalists, from Robert Evans to Jorge Ventura of Tucker Carlson’s The Daily Caller, all noted that the man appeared to be intoxicated.

Again, Oregon Live:

Several people kicked, punched and pushed the man to the ground after his white Ford slammed into a light pole about 10:30 p.m. near Southwest Broadway and Taylor Street, just blocks from a rally outside the Multnomah County Justice Center, videos show.

Some among the crowd tried to hold the assailants back during the clash, while others began to rifle through the man’s truck, video shows.

As the driver sat on the ground, a person wearing a vest with “SECURITY” written on the front and back ran from behind and kicked the driver in the face, apparently knocking him unconscious, according to witnesses and multiple videos. The driver remained still on the ground with his eyes closed.

Haner was then moved out of the street and several street medics from the protest rally that was taking place several blocks away came over after hearing the crash and begun to tend to injured man until the paramedics arrived.

It should also be noted, that before these altercations took place, there were reports of someone driving recklessly in the Downtown area. As Oregon Live wrote:

Multiple social media posts allege that someone had been driving erratically downtown and had tried to run over protesters several times, though those accounts could not be independently verified.

They went on to write that the couple who had been assaulted were also seen earlier in the night:

…loudly arguing with each other about 7 p.m. when the woman grabbed a gas canister from the man and took off in a separate car, said Pape, who works at Church. The man went back to his white Ford truck, which was parked nearby, and proceeded to drink several bottles of Miller High Life he had stashed away over the next half hour.

At one point, the man got into a verbal altercation with another person on Northeast Sandy and pulled out a hatchet from his truck, Pape said. He also yelled several racist slurs at the person, according to Pape.

As soon as the news of the altercations hit social media, the far-Right and subsequent media reports began referring to those involved in the assaults as “protesters.” This reporting seems to come directly from the police, who on Monday reported that they had “received a report of protesters chasing the truck before its driver crashed,” referring to the chase that people gave outside of 7/11 to the truck, which then crashed only a few blocks away.

Far-Right conspiracy blogs, such as The Post-Millenial, went even further, writing:

After a civilian crashed his car during riots in Portland last night, what was reported to be a leftist mob dragged the man out of his vehicle and can be seen on video beating him. The victim was left bleeding and unconscious in the street.

The streets were occupied by Black Lives Matter activists and Antifa rioters and agitators, that were reportedly blocking traffic from exiting the area.

Such a statement contradicts police and media reports that clearly state that the nightly Black Lives Matter demonstration was in fact happening blocks away from both the 7/11 and where the crash occurred. According to a statement from the Portland police:

At about 7:00p.m. protesters gathered in Chapman Square and Lownsdale Square parks began entering Southwest 3rd Avenue at Southwest Main Street, blocking vehicular traffic. There was a peaceful rally and speeches. A march began around the building to the 2nd Avenue side, which is the main entrance to Central Precinct. The crowd mingled in the streets for several hours, blocking traffic on Southwest Main Street and Southwest 2nd Avenue.

Local Black Lives Matter organizers have also weighed in. In an interview with The Portland Mercury, members of Moms United for Black Lives, stated that the individuals outside the 7/11 that engaged in assaults were “not associated with the main movement.” In an interview with It’s Going Down, journalist Robert Evans went further, stating that he was surprised that far-Right grifters hadn’t taken footage from outside of the downtown 7/11 sooner in an effort to attack the Black Lives Matter movement by taking out of context footage of any number of light-night drunken brawls. “Anyone who has been to these protests knows that something like this was going to happen,” Evans said, speaking on the tendency of far-Right media to take an incident out of context in order to push a broader narrative.

And push a narrative they did. The next day, far-Right social media was running with the story that Haner, after being taken to the hospital, had died, a claim which police had to walk back in the media, announcing on Tuesday he had been in fact been sent home. According to the Post-Millenial, another far-Right conspiracy website, The Gateway Pundit, even reported on the main suspect’s name and identity after Alt-Right trolls on 4chan doxxed him. This information was then spread to others on the far-Right, leading to washed up grifter Joey Gibson showing up at the suspects’ home on Monday morning.

The main goal of the far-Right on social media and on blogs is to attack the social movements on the street as a whole; painting a picture in people’s heads that ‘protesters’ were rampaging through the city looking for white motorists to attack. The Daily Caller refers to the small group which was seen on video involved in the assaults as “protesters” and “the mob.” The New York Post went even farther, proclaiming, “A mob of Portland Black Lives Matter protesters forced a white man to crash his truck,” while Kalen D’Almeida of Scriberr News Tweeted, “BLM & Antifa militants then pull[ed] him from the car and violently assault[ed] him.” Meanwhile, politicians like Lindsey Graham called on the Department of Justice to prosecute the man suspected in the assault, of which there is now a “manhunt” underway, according to Fox News. From 4chan, all the way to Lindsey Graham. 

Interestingly enough, the clearest refutation of such narratives came from Haner’s girlfriend, Tammie Martin, herself. According to Fox 12 who spoke with Martin:

[T]he couple was driving together in Haner’s truck when he saw someone being harassed whose backpack had been stolen. She said he stopped and got out of his truck to help.

Haner was pushed back into his truck by a group of people and Martin was jumped on by another person. She then left to go get her car, while Haner sped off and then crashed only a few blocks away. Martin went on to say:

“This little group was not a protesting group,” Martin said. “They were just looking for a fight. They were trying to fight people driving by. They were just looking to fight somebody.”

While we are learning more about what happened on Sunday night by the day, one thing is for sure: the narrative painted by the media that ‘BLM and ANTIFA militants’ went hunting for a random white man to attack is simply false and one rejected not only by the facts but also in the statements of Haner’s girlfriend.

We also can’t remove from the context that Haner is also white, and the suspect police are looking for in his assault is Black. In short, this incident has all the right sweet spots for the Right, who for years have attempted to push conspiracy theories that “white people” and “Trump supporters” in “the suburbs” will soon be murdered in the millions by “ANTIFA supersoldiers” and Black Lives Matter rioters.

This incident also shows the very different reactions from the State and mass media to different incidents. When far-Right Trump supporters attempt to murder Black Lives Matter protesters with their cars, with bombs, and with guns – engaging in indiscriminate violence to the point where it threatens to hurt members of the public – the response from the mass media and police is one largely of indifference. However, when a Black man is seen kicking a white man in the head, even clearly outside of the context of a Black Lives Matter protest, demonstration, or riot – there is instead a push for a massive “manhunt” in order to apprehend him.

We need to remember that indeed, “we keep us safe.” The politicians, far-Right grifters, and corporate media are all attempting to cash in, gain votes, and spread fear to benefit their own projects, bank accounts, and egos. It’s up to us to reject this, while developing real lines of spreading news, communication, and support. Let’s push back against the narratives designed to attack our movements and look at the big picture, while we continue forward in the work of building a different and better world.

Proud Boys Show Up in Kalamazoo, Attack Protesters, Get BTFO’d, But Cops Only Arrest Protesters & Local Black Journalist

On Saturday, August 15th, 2020, a group of approximately 100 Proud Boys and American Guard members swarmed the town of Kalamazoo, Michigan, many driving in from out-of-state.

American Guard co-founder Brien James (former KKK and Outlaw Hammerskins) attended, promoting the event to his Telegram channel as “Next on PornHub. 100 guys gangbang the entire city BTFO #Kalamazoo.”

The Proud Boys attempted to charge a group of protesters blocking the streets, hitting them with mace and fists, but were forced to retreat after the protesters fought back. Video from Samuel J. Robinson, a reporter for MLive, shows one Proud Boy attempting to throw a protester to the ground, but fell after the protester fought back, knocking himself out on the curb.

Police were not present at the initial attacks from the Proud Boys, but arrived 20-30 minutes later, despite having over 100 officers on duty, some drawn from other jurisdictions, in preparation for the Proud Boys event.

MLive reported that nine arrests were made, all from anti-racist protesters, with the exception of Samuel J. Robinson, a Black MLive reporter who was arrested for “impeding traffic.” Robinson’s charges were dropped on Sunday. Despite clear video from Robinson showing the Proud Boys attacking protesters, the police did not arrest any of the Proud Boys from out-of-town, despite having both the opportunity and the person-power to do so.

As MLive reported:

Soon afterward, as the Proud Boys began to leave — most in vehicles without license plates — law enforcement officials arrived in numbers and came between exiting Proud Boys and counter-protesters, some of whom were throwing rocks at the Proud Boys’ cars. That is when [MLive reporter Samuel J.] Robinson was arrested.

Thomas was questioned Sunday as to why no Proud Boys were stopped on their way out of town as they exited the ramp. She said the goal was just to get them out of town and it “was not realistic” to do traffic enforcement at that point, despite having enough officers to seal off the exits on scene at the parking garage.

Antifascists soon set to work identifying the Proud Boys present that day, which chapters they came from, and their places of employment.

Vigilant AFA identified Zachary Guiles of Wyoming, Michigan, and RuthlessWe identified Nathaniel Brown of Peru, Indiana as being present at the attack. For more information, and for their places of employment, see the Doxxes section below.

Proud Boy Cole Scott Arrested for Firing Gun, Ramming Car into Other Vehicle

On Saturday, August 15th, members of the Proud Boys held a corner rally in Oregon City, Oregon. Following the rally, Proud Boy Cole Scott was arrested after firing a gun and ramming another vehicle following a fight.

Scott was last seen in June, when he and a group of Proud Boys, including Tusitala “Tiny” Toese, attacked random people in Seattle’s autonomous zone, and stole a phone.

Haley Adams’ Crew Goes Wild, Maces People, Fires Gun

On Saturday, August 15th, Portland’s Liberation, a far-Right offshoot created after the Patriot Prayer split between Haley Adams and the Proud Boys, rampaged in downtown Portland, attacking and macing people on the streets.

The group was ostensibly rallying as part of a “flag wave” event organized by former Patriot Prayer associated Haley Adams, and included disgraced Proud Boy Alan Swinney, who was caught in 2019 attempting organizing a violent rally in Providence, Rhode Island; Drew “Black Rebel” Duncomb, who participated in the 2017 Unite the Right rally; and local incel Skylor Jernigan, who has a history of making violent threats against antifascists.

The group was ostensibly on-site for a pro-police rally, but their real goal may have been to attack protesters. In 2019, leaked chats from an Alan Swinney-led group show a group of Proud Boys, American Guard, and militia members planning to stage a rally as an excuse to attack counter-protesters.

The group brought a paintball gun and used it to shoot protesters, before spraying them with what appears to be bear mace. After leaving the rally, while pulling away in their cars, video shows the group firing two rounds of live ammunition. Video stills analyzed by antifascist researchers appear to show Skylor Jernigan with a handgun as he drives the group away from the rally. Willamette Week also identified the driver as Jernigan.

Shortly after the rally, independent journalist R3volutionDaddy captured a pipe bomb going off on a livestream. Willamette Week described the bomb as being thrown from a “moving vehicle.” The driver was a “heavy-set white male in his 30s or 40s, bald with facial hair and wearing a black tank top.”

This echoes an August 8th incident in Portland, where Louis Garrick Fernbaugh, a former Navy SEAL and ex-CIA contractor with a history of spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories online, was caught on camera throwing pipe bombs at anti-police protesters in Portland, and quickly identified by antifascist researchers on Twitter. Police have not arrested Fernbaugh, but have named him as a “person of interest” in connection with the August 8th bombing.

Some Portland protesters expressed dismay to this reporter, saying that indifference from the police would continue to give a green light to the wider far-Right to continue to engage in acts of violence and terror in the Pacific Northwest.

Stone Mountain Shows Up, Has Bonfire With Confederate Flags

On Saturday, August 15th, anti-racist protesters gathered to counter a white nationalist rally held at Stone Mountain, Georgia, the 1915 site of the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan.

The rally was organized via a neo-Confederate Facebook page called “Protect the South,” run by neo-Nazi turned neo-Confederate Adam Wesley Sitton. The far-right coalition promoting the event included Chester Doles, a self-described “third generation Klansman” who attended Unite the Right in 2017 with the Hammerskins and is now attempting to rebrand with a front group called American Patriots USA, and Jan Dupree, who attended the white nationalist rally Unite the Right 2 in August 2018.

The rally was countered by a coalition of groups working under the banner of the Frontline Organization Working to End Racism, or FLOWER.

The community defense took a two-pronged approach. Community members armed with long guns were stationed at the perimeter of the counterprotest to defend against possible live fire and vehicular attacks, which have become increasingly commonplace since the outbreak of this summer’s anti-police protests. Other elements of security coordinated with the medic team inside the perimeter. The goal was to use firearms responsibly, and only in the case of a potentially lethal threat.

The defense was a rousing success. Not only did the white nationalists fail to attract support, but those who did show up had their Confederate flags snatched and burned in front of them.

“There are only 10 to 15 patriots and the antifa just burned the flag,” reported one panicked white nationalist on the event’s public Facebook page.

Witness Intimidation from the Far-Right in New Mexico

Nick Estes, host of The Red Nation podcast, revealed on Friday that a man calling himself as “Daniel,” a member of the far-Right Three Percenter militia, arrived armed at the home of a local activist, asking if he was “antifa.”

The activist is a witness in the trial of Steven Baca, who attacked protesters and shot one of them in the back at a June protest calling for the removal of a conquistador statue in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“Daniel” claimed that he would return with others, presumably members of his militia.

As reported by Bella Davis for the Daily Lobo, the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office issued a press release asking for the public’s help in identifying “Daniel” in a possible witness tampering case.

Estes, who attended Baca’s preliminary hearing, tweeted that at the proceeding, “the defense asked a witness to name other witnesses. They said they feared retaliation against others. The judge said that fear was ‘ridiculous.’”

This is a clear failure of the State, both legally demanding the participation of witnesses and then not only refusing to protect them from reprisal, but ridiculing them for expressing that fear.

Doxxes

Nathaniel Brown, Proud Boy in Peru, Indiana

Antifascist activists RuthlessWe were able to identify one of the Proud Boys in attendance at the Proud Boy March in Kalamazoo, Michigan as Nathaniel Brown of Peru, Indiana. Brown was open in discussing his participation at the event on his Facebook profile, even posting video evidence. As one can imagine, Brown’s social media is full of typical Proud Boy posts, like selfie’s of him using the okay symbol, and posts featuring Pepe the Frog.

Brown works for Borg Warner and folks who are interested are asked to contact Brown’s employer and ask them why they employ a member of an SPCL-designated hate group.

Website: https://www.borgwarner.com/contact

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BorgWarner

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BorgWarnerInc/

Phone: Contact Western Reaman Industrial at 1-765-472-2002

Zachary Guiles from Wyoming, Michigan (via Muskegon)

Vigilant AFA was able to identify another Michigan Proud Boy who attended the Kalamazoo Proud Boy March as Zachary Guiles of Wyoming, Michigan. Guiles is a 25 year old Fabricator working for Light Metals Corp. Vigilant AFA was able to track down his social media accounts and captured screenshots of Guiles talking with Stefanie Rachelle Redding about how the events in Kalamazoo unfolded.

It appears that after Guiles was supposedly cheated on, his social media posts became exceedingly more xenophobic, transphobic, islamophobic and generally problematic. Action items include sharing the dox around and contacting Light Metals Corp by either calling them (616-538-3030), their website contact page, or leaving a comment on their Facebook page.

Gregory Wheeler, Proud Boy in Sacramento, California

Antifa Sacramento identified Proud Boy Gregory Wheeler in Sacramento, California, dropping his information on Twitter and flyering his neighborhood to alert his neighbors that he belongs to a violent hate group.

In social media postings dating back to 2017, Wheeler expressed support for violent anti-immigrant hate group the Soldiers of Odin, and posted images featuring the lightning bolts used by the Nazi SS.

Wheeler works at Galls, a police supply store in Sacramento, California. You can contact the company via their online webform, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, or by calling (916) 567-7877.

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A weekly roundup of the latest and greatest happenings in the anti-fascist world. Each column features a roundup of news, actions, doxxes and current calls to action.

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