I see a lot of talk lately on Downtrend about the civil war that many seem to think is now inevitable. Along with that, I see a lot of people trivializing their would-be opponents if such a war were to occur. They say things like, “We have all the guns.” “They’re just a bunch of snowflakes,” etc. etc. But those things are only partially true. There are far-left groups that are taking this very seriously. For instance, a liberal organization calling itself the “John Brown Gun Club” is training up.
Via the Columbia Daily Tribune
Liberal John Brown Gun Club embraces working-class identity
They’re against racism and patriarchy and for the working class. And they have guns.
The table with nine people at Billiards on Broadway was indistinguishable from all the others.
At the table there were men, including a black man, a few women and a reporter. The only thing that distinguished a few members at the table was the red neckerchiefs they wore.
They are part of the Mid-Missouri John Brown Gun Club, an armed liberal group in Columbia that is part of the national Redneck Revolt network. They don’t have leaders. Only two members agreed to speak for this report, because they said there was a danger of harassment from right-wing groups. The group organized last year after the inauguration of President Donald Trump and ramped up after he began restricting refugees and immigration in what has been called a “Muslim ban.”
Please read, “Incorrectly called a Muslim ban.”
In broad terms, groups in the Redneck Revolt network might be considered part of the “antifa” movement, whose members are dedicated to combating fascist and racist ideologies, said Mark Bray, a lecturer at Dartmouth College who wrote “Antifa: The Antifascist Handbook.” But Redneck Revolt has a more specific mission.
“They engage in more open popular organizing,” Bray said. “The idea behind it is for working-class white people to reclaim the idea of a redneck working class that is anti-racist.”
I’m against racism too. Doesn’t sound so bad, right? But no, it’s much more than that. I went to Redneck Revolt’s website and looked under the “Principles” tab. This is what they are really all about:
WE STAND AGAINST THE NATION-STATE AND ITS FORCES WHICH PROTECT THE BOSSES AND THE RICH
Police, prisons, courts, artificial borders, and other systems of social control only exist to serve the rich. The nation-state project came into existence to protect the propertied classes and keep us working people poor and without power,
You sound like communists to me.
often using varying types of standing armies to enforce laws which disproportionately impact the poor. We have no interest in ideological utopian governments- we do not seek to merely replace one set of politicians for another. We know that our answers will always come from a community level, where every person should be allowed to participate in making the decisions that affect their lives. We believe in community power and community rights over the rights of any government body. Redneck Revolt stands with working class people of every country of the world against our common enemy: the rich and powerful, and will not allow arbitrary borders or boundaries to prevent us from unifying with other working class people.
Or maybe anarchists.
WE STAND AGAINST CAPITALISM
Capitalism is an economic system that methodically keeps the vast majority of people in the world impoverished while they labor to enrich a small minority of people. Since the very first arrivals of European settlers in what is now called the United States, the propertied classes established a serving class to maintain their power, and systematically murdered the native folks of this land for resisting their claim to ownership. We have nothing to gain by maintaining an allegiance to an economic system that has destroyed much of the natural world, committed countless acts of genocide, and ravaged our communities and natural resources in the name of profit. Our interests will never align with the interests of the rich. Redneck Revolt recognizes that we will always have more in common with other working people of all races and backgrounds than we could have with any rich person regardless of whether they share our same color of skin.
Yeah, yeah. Power to the people, comrades.
WE BELIEVE IN THE RIGHT OF MILITANT RESISTANCE
We are not pacifists. Redneck Revolt believes in using any and all means at our disposal to gain our freedom and true liberty, provided those methods do not violate our basic humanity or integrity. We believe in the inherit right of every individual and community to defend themselves from those who exploit or oppress them. We believe in empowering each other to participate in the defense of our communities with the knowledge and equipment to do so. It is our duty and obligation to defend our families and communities by all means from those who profit from our misery and destruction, or call for violence against any of us for our race, gender, religion, country of birth, or cultural background.WE BELIEVE IN THE NEED FOR REVOLUTION
Redneck Revolt believes that there will have to be a complete restructuring of society to provide for the survival and liberty of all people. We will fight for the end of predatory exploitation of our communities, and the creation of a world where no one is without food, shelter, water, or any other means of survival. We believe in a future without tyranny, and the political and social control of a small segment of society over the rest of us. We believe that the working class can unite across racial and cultural backgrounds and find we are much stronger with diverse perspectives. We believe in liberty. We believe in equity. We believe in the self-determination of our own futures.
Definitely terrorists, with some communism and anarchism mixed in for good measure. Here’s a few of them:
He said the adoption of the violent abolitionist John Brown is an important means of identification.
“His legacy has become a symbol of white, anti-racist activism,” Bray said.
His legacy is that he was a terrorist who saw what was a perfectly legal practice in the United States at that time, right or wrong, that he didn’t agree with so he went on a murder spree. That’s not “activism,” that’s just homicide and treason.
The “redneck” in Redneck Revolt doesn’t refer to country hicks, but instead to the red neckerchiefs striking mine workers wore in labor battles at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, according to network literature. The network claims more than 45 branches in more than 30 states.
The larger “antifa” movement has drawn critics on both the left and the right thanks to its commitment to violent tactics. Antifa groups have attacked peaceful protesters and used violence to shut down talks by conservative speakers. Officials at the University of California Berkeley in February estimated masked protesters using Molotov cocktails and physical attacks caused $100,000 in damage before a scheduled speech by Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos that had to be canceled.
However, the John Brown club has not used those tactics in Central Missouri, relying on more peaceful means in its activism.
Has not used those tactics would be better written as, “has not yet.” If they believe in the right to militant resistance and feel there’s a need for revolution as they state, then it’s only a matter of time until they start using violence to achieve their aims.
Rob Rasmussen is one of the members of the Mid-Missouri John Brown Gun Club. In 2016, he ran for a seat on the Columbia City Council, where he said he tried to inject radical ideas such as community policing into the campaign. Another member is Dirk Burhans, a local watercolor artist.
Should people consider them “antifa?”
“It’s almost not a useful term anymore,” Rasmussen said. “Too loaded … We don’t do anything illegal. We’re above-ground. Don’t cover our faces. We’re anti-fascist the same way America was anti-fascist when we liberated Fortress Europe during World War II.”
I need to re-read my history books then! I always thought the Americans who liberated Europe were uniformed soldiers, not a rag tag group of terrorists flouting the law.
Burhans said the group is anti-fascist, but not a so-called black bloc group in which members cover their faces and dress in black. He said he sees the Mid-Missouri John Brown Gun Club in the same mold as the Black Panther Party of the 1960s, which was committed to armed in defense of the black community, but also provided medical clinics, a breakfast program for children and other community services.
Well, gee that’s good. Because the Black Panthers of the ’60s were such a charming group of fellows. “Black Panther Party members were involved in many fatal firefights with police including Huey Newton allegedly killing officer John Frey in 1967 and the 1968 Eldridge Cleaver led ambush of Oakland police officers which wounded two officers and killed Panther Bobby Hutton. The party was also involved in many internal conflicts including the murders of Alex Rackley and Betty Van Patter.” At this point, I think you’d be better off associating yourselves with Antifa if you want to show how approachable you are.
“We try to make community service front and center,” he said.
Yes, they’re really helping the community. There was a part of this article that I edited out because it was so ridiculous about them holding a free brake light replacement clinic for their community because it’s racist. Yes, driving with a brake light out is racist because blacks can’t afford to replace them. The driver then gets pulled over and that “can contribute to a negative cascade of problems.” I suppose that’s true. The cop might then find the driver is intoxicated, has guns and/or drugs in the car, has warrants, etc. Then the officer goes to make an arrest and the driver more than likely runs or resists. Are those the types of cascading problems you are referring to?
The same week as the the happy hour at Billiards on Broadway, members gathered at a gun range for firearms practice.
Rasmussen said a lot of people have a gut reaction against firearms.
“We do try to represent working-class people,” he said. “We are members of the working class. Some liberal elites turn up their noses at gun ownership. It’s made the Democratic Party and urban liberals estranged from the working class, who have been alienated.”
He said he doesn’t want people to think they are “gun nuts.” The group has contacted the Redneck Revolt network to allow it to remove “gun” from its name, though members will continue to have guns. Not all of the group’s literature refers to it as a gun club.
The group is opposed to the National Rifle Association. It has a position paper titled “F— the NRA” and claims the NRA is racist.
Yes, the NRA is racist.
Whatever.
“When a gun owner of color is murdered by the police, the NRA attempts to ignore the situation instead of speaking out immediately like it does when a white gun owner is mistreated by police,” reads a section of the paper.
“The NRA is trying to sow fear and make people feel less secure,” Rasmussen said.
The NRA didn’t respond to requests for comment on this story.
Because why should they respond to lies? I wouldn’t respond either.
The group has set up information tables at events including the local Earth Day festival, MidMo PrideFest and some gun shows.
Rasmussen said at gun shows, people challenge the group’s use of John Brown in its name. The club also has a position paper on John Brown, who murdered five pro-slavery settlers in Kansas before leading the unsuccessful raid of the armory at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, meant as the first step of a slave rebellion.
“The ‘John Brown’ part is more important than the ‘gun’ part of the name, as far as I’m concerned,” Rasmussen said.
The Redneck Revolt network has organizing principles the Mid-Missouri John Brown Gun Club follow, including standing against white supremacy, capitalism and patriarchy. Those principles include a belief in “organized defense of our communities” and “the right of militant resistance” as well as a commitment to “the need for revolution.”
“I tend to think of it as an ongoing process,” Burhans said of the call to revolution. “We’re not advocating treason.”
Rasmussen also said the group isn’t advocating overthrow of the government. He said activism is required of everyone at some level.
Yes, you are. See the your Redneck Revolt principles above. ” WE STAND AGAINST CAPITALISM,” “WE BELIEVE IN THE RIGHT OF MILITANT RESISTANCE,” “WE BELIEVE IN THE NEED FOR REVOLUTION.” You put those three things together at is sure sounds like advocating the overthrow of the government to me.
“People need to realize that what we’ve done before wasn’t working,” he said. “People can’t just sit around and expect things to change. We have to do the work even if it makes us feel uncomfortable.”
What work? Like killing a bunch of folks? That does tend to make people feel uncomfortable.
Traci Wilson-Kleekamp, president of Race Matters, Friends, a racial equity group in Columbia, said she supports the group and has no problem with their guns. The groups’ activism work often overlaps — the John Brown Gun Club has promoted Race Matters’ community bail fund, for example.
“My suggestion is people go back and do research on John Brown,” Wilson-Kleekamp said. “He is a hero to black people. His mission was to take up arms to fight slavery and oppression.”
She said the brake light clinic is no small thing.
“They’re providing a solution while our policy-makers are doing nothing,” Wilson-Kleekamp said. “It sends a message to the city council that people are aware of this, so what are we doing about it? It’s an act of resistance against oppressive practices. It’s another group saying ‘we have a problem.’”
What the hell? Are our policy-makers supposed to fix brake lights for people now? Why not just add them to the items that can be purchased with food stamps? Dear Lord.
In the end, the left is riddled with snowflakes, soy boys, sissies, trannies, and other cowardly souls. But not all of them are of that sort. Groups like Antifa have already shown us they are willing to commit acts of violence in support of their cause. They’re willing to take on police, get shot in the nuts with tear gas canisters, pepper-sprayed, etc., and come back for more. I’m not praising them, I despise them with all my soul, I’m just trying to illustrate my point. And there are other groups like this one who are training with firearms to “defend their communities.” Sure, it’s easy and fun to mock them, like the decrepit old lib in the title picture. He looks scared to death and needs to get his booger hook of the bang switch . . . but he’s trying. Who knows how often he and other libs like him are practicing? If he keeps it up, he’ll get better at what he’s doing. They are out there training. Are you?
The last thing in the world I want is a civil war, but should it happen, it would be unwise to underestimate the enemy.
Originally published at Fleeting Freedom on June 25, 2018.
