With a name like Redneck Revolt, one
“paramilitary” group named in a lawsuit filed in the wake of the deadly
Charlottesville protests sounds like the classic alt-right, gun-toting
militia many blame for the August incident that sparked a national
debate on race and guns.
But Redneck Revolt is a
sometimes-armed militia that left-wing protesters have apparently
started calling on for security, and critics say it represents a growing
group of heat-packing, far-left social justice warriors who are
“willing to take on personal risk to defend those in our community,”
according to the group’s website.
The lawsuit,
brought by The Georgetown Law Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and
Protection (ICAP), could shine a light on groups like Redneck Revolt by
lumping them in with not only
admitted fascist groups
like Vanguard America, but also the conservative militias whose leaders
say they came to safeguard participants in the Aug. 11 Unite the Right
rally that exploded into violence.
"All it takes is one jumpy person pulling a trigger."
- Left-wing protester
Many fear the bitter climate surrounding race, free
speech and politics, combined with the presence of guns, is creating a
combustible situation – and the potential for deadly violence to break
out at events featuring protesters, counter-protesters and
self-appointed amateur armed guards.
"If you get into an arms race with a bunch of scared
people who have little or no experience of gun violence—I’m talking
about antifascists as well as the alt fascists, we’re scared too—you’re
creating an extremely volatile situation," a counter-protester who
claimed to have been at Charlottesville told the website CrimethInc.
"All it takes is one jumpy person pulling a trigger."
The more prominent defendants targeted in the suit
include Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler and a handful of fascist
groups that attended. But ICAP is also taking aim at left-leaning
paramilitary organizations that turned out that day, militias that claim
their members were only on scene to keep the peace.
"Private armies" caused "irreparable and incalculable
injuries" to the city as well as various local businesses and
neighborhood groups, the lawsuit claims. Damages include loss of revenue
and a general negative association with businesses in the city, the
plaintiffs argue. The suit suggests these “unauthorized” militias
undercut the local government's "authority to protect public safety,”
and aims to "prevent defendants from returning to Virginia organized as
military units and engaging in paramilitary activity."
Redneck Revolt and other armed militias that were
present say they were keeping the peace – regardless of who they were
defending. Christian Yingling, a defendant and commanding officer of an
organization called Pennsylvania Light Foot Militia, argued in a lengthy
Facebook post that his group, which he said was there to provide
security for Unite the Right protesters, coordinated with the
Charlottesville Police Department prior to the event.
"I don't think it's ludicrous that if white supremacists are
carrying guns that anti-fascists might want to carry guns, too," Mark
Bray, a visiting Dartmouth professor
(Associated Press)
Not only did police know they were coming with weapons
to defend participants, Yingling wrote, police “escorted us personally
to the park... the Charlottesville police told us it was perfectly fine
for us to be there, and perfectly legal for us to be armed." The
Charlottesville Police Department did not immediately respond to
requests for comment.
New York Light Foot militia commander George Curbelo,
also named in the suit, posted a photo to Facebook that he said proves
his militia was escorted by members of law enforcement, and that his
group was “in Charlottesville as a neutral, non-violent group.” No one
seems to be disputing that members of groups like The Light Foot
militias, the Virginia Minutemen and Redneck Revolt were legally
carrying firearms. The dispute is whether they made things safer, or
more dangerous.
Members of Redneck Revolt have said they were sought by
counter-demonstrators to provide safety. Yet, the group’s relationship
to the left-wing protesters appears to be absent from ICAP’s suit.
"Just as they had anticipated and indeed desired, these
[white-nationalist] groups encountered significant resistance from
counter-protestors within the so-called Antifa and other movements," the
lawsuit states. It goes on to suggest that those counter-protesters
"fought back with comparable intensity, though without the hallmarks of
private armies that characterized the Alt-Right Defendants’
contributions to the day’s violence."
While there is no evidence of any Redneck Revolt
members being involved in violence, the lawsuit’s suggestion that the
left was without a private army of its own - especially since Redneck
Revolt is named as a defendant – seems a glaring omission.
Redneck Revolt's website describes it as "a pro-worker,
anti-racist organization that focuses on working-class liberation from
the oppressive systems which dominate our lives,” inspired in part by
violent abolitionist John Brown.
The mission statement goes on to say, “In states where
it is legal to practice armed community defense, many branches choose to
become John Brown Gun Clubs, training ourselves and our communities in
defense and mutual aid."
Redneck Revolt boasts more than 40 chapters nationwide,
and various branches have reported membership increases since the
Charlottesville incident. Attempts to reach the group’s communication
arm were unsuccessful.
One member of Redneck Revolt, who was not in
Charlottesville and asked not to be identified, told Fox News "we're not
Antifa... we're not going to be hitting people." Yet at rallies
including one in Phoenix earlier this year, members have threatened the
property of people who merely attempt to video or photograph them.
Like some of their conservative counterparts, Redneck
Revolt has apparently captured the attention of the FBI. According to
one law enforcement source, warnings have been distributed to agencies
across the country regarding their group and others.
Members of the John Brown Gun Club and Redneck Revolt protest
outside the Phoenix Convention Center, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2017, in
Phoenix. Protests were held against President Trump as he hosted a rally
inside the convention center. (AP Photo/Matt York)
(Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
In an e-mail to Fox, a spokesperson for the FBI’s
national press office suggested they couldn’t comment on the existence
of such a bulletin, before adding that the bureau “does not track
membership in domestic extremist groups as membership in a group is not
illegal… The FBI may only initiate an investigation based upon
information or allegations that an activity constitutes a federal crime
or a threat to national security.”
A self-described Redneck Revolt member who said he was
in Charlottesville for the protests told the "Feminist Killjoys, PhD"
podcast that while there may be historical parallels with organizations
like the Black Panthers, the presence of “armed leftists on the streets
of an American city [preserving and protecting] human life... was kind
of a historical shift."
In a podcast on Redneck Revolt’s website, another
alleged member who was on the ground in Charlottesville admits that the
use of firearms was a point of serious debate, but that “when we came up
to the day, the extremity of the situation was realized by all
involved.”
"I don't think it's ludicrous that if white supremacists are carrying guns that anti-fascists might want to carry guns, too."
- Mark Bray, Dartmouth professor
“Folks realized that there needed to be armed security
because the fascists were absolutely coming in swinging,” he said,
adding that members were showered with gratitude by the protesters they
came to defend.
Left-wing groups carrying legal guns at demonstrations have is a notion that’s seeing some support in academia.
"I don't think it's ludicrous that if white
supremacists are carrying guns that anti-fascists might want to carry
guns, too," Mark Bray, a visiting Dartmouth professor and author of
"ANTIFA: The Anti-Fascist Handbook," told a
New York gathering in September.
Dwayne Dixon, who is listed as a faculty member on the
UNC Chapel Hill Asian Studies Department, is allegedly a member of
Redneck Revolt, and was arrested in August for bringing a gun to a
public place in anticipation of a white supremacist rally in Durham – an
event that never wound up happening.
Dixon did not respond to Fox News requests for comment.
But in an interview with a local newspaper, he said he acted out of
"real concern” about “a kind of tone that I had never heard by citizens
of this city." He added that he was not trying to "play Rambo."
Dwayne Dixon stands for a portrait at the skate park on Monday,
Sept. 4, 2017, in Durham, N.C. He is a UNC-Chapel Hill anthropology
lecture and a member of the Silver Valley Redneck Revolt, an
organization promoting community armed self defense. Dixon joined in
2016 and was recently charged with two misdemeanors in connection with
having a semi-automatic rifle as people took to the streets in Durham to
protest a rumored KKK march on Friday, Aug. 18. (Casey Toth/The
Herald-Sun via AP)
ICAP’s lawsuit doesn’t attempt to separate militia
groups by their alliances, saying all of the armed groups “terrified
local residents and caused attendees to mistake them for authorized
military personnel.”
Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law
Center, a group often derided for harboring a bias for left-wing groups,
reportedly also disagrees with the tactics of armed militias.
“We just don’t need volunteers with guns coming to public rallies,”
Cohen said in an interview. “It’s a recipe for disaster."
