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Friday, June 19th, 2020

As protests spread to small-town America, militia groups respond with armed intimidation and online threats

Author:     Isaac Stanley-Becker
Source:    
Publication Date:     June 18, 2020 at 3:00 a.m. PDT
 Link: As protests spread to small-town America, militia groups respond with armed intimidation and online threats
Stephan:   Here is another take on what I see as a very dangerous trend. I sense that enough Black, Brown, and young people are going to turn out to defeat Trump, but it is not going to be that simple. Trump cares only for himself and he has been stimulating and provoking the low-income insecure males obsessed with guns to make them feel powerful, who are drawn to these militia movements. The whole Republican propaganda campaign against Antifa, an organization that doesn't really exist, but which creates just the kind of invisible target these dim White men can focus on, is all part of this strategy. Trump and the people around him don't like democracy, they want an authoritarian kleptocratic government. at the same time the majority of people in America are fed up. This is a classic situation for civil violence.
Armed civilians Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Credit: Kathy Pionka/The Spokesman-Review/AP

In Omak, Wash., a city of fewer than 5,000 located in the foothills of the Okanogan Highlands, plans for a peaceful demonstration began in a private chat on Facebook Messenger.

But public threats poured in when Sinai Espinoza, a 19-year-old student at a local community college, joined other young women in promoting their Peaceful March for George Floyd. The violent messages on social media included a vow that “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” echoing President Trump’s rhetoric on Twitter. Another characterized the upcoming gathering as “free target practice.”

When the march unfolded earlier this month, bringing more than 400 people to a park opposite the public library, an armed militia stood guard — at ground level but also atop nearby roofs, as if ready to act as snipers.

“Honestly, it was terrifying,” Espinoza said. “They claimed they were there to protect the city from outsiders, but it felt more like preparation to kill.”

The demonstrations against racial injustice and police brutality that have convulsed major metropolitan areas, from Minneapolis to Miami, have also […]

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