![]() They’ve overlapped with the neo-Nazi universe not just in Portland, but also with the 211 Bootboys in New York, with the Holocaust denier Augustus Invictus and others in Charlottesville, with Keystone United in Philadelphia, with “ Resist Marxism” in Providence, Rhode Island, and with Identity Evropa in Berkeley.īack at the parking lot, Alan Swinney smoked a cigarillo as the Proud Boys dispersed. During the most recent rally, Tarrio, an Afro-Cuban and Florida director of Latinos for Trump, hugged members of the American Guard, hard-core white supremacists with ties to neo-Nazis. ![]() Tarrio was referring to an article in which I described him as an example of “ multiracial white supremacy.” In 2018, at a rally in Portland that drew neo-Confederates and neo-Nazis, Tarrio said the reason police killed young black men in disproportionate numbers was because all black people listened to hip-hop, which “glorifies that lifestyle . . . of selling drugs, shooting up,” leading to higher crime rates among blacks. The size of a tank, in body armor, a combat helmet, and a tattoo on his right arm that read, “ Proud Boy West Is the Best,” Oakman asked me, “You call him a white supremacist?” As he left, Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio, who was also in Charlottesville in 2017, pointed at me, saying, “He called me a white supremacist.” Standing near “ violent extremist” Christopher Ritchie, who participated in the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Biggs said, “There are psychos on both sides.” In fact, all fifty of the extremist murders in 2018 had a link to the far right, and this year there have been four foiled far-right plots since El Paso.īiggs said, “Please leave me alone” before heading across railroad tracks. The FBI also perked up after El Paso, with Biggs claiming that an agent visited him in Florida, warning about “threats from both sides.” Biggs then called on his followers to “ tone down rhetoric” and not bring weapons to the Portland rally. Only after the massacre did police in Portland arrest six members of the white nationalist–friendly Patriot Prayer, including leader Joey Gibson, for attacking antifascists at a cidery on May Day - even though extensive video evidence of the attack had been available for three months. ![]() That the day ended with only minor skirmishes seems to be due to the El Paso effect: the massacre of twenty-two people on August 3 by a gunman on an anti-Hispanic rampage who echoed Trump’s racist language appears to have finally goaded law enforcement into pressuring far-right extremists. He spewed threats such as “DEATH TO ANTIFA!!!!!!” and “I’m ready to go hunting,” advised followers to bring guns, and displayed a spiked MAGA bat that he said would be put to “good use.” Others on the Right were even more graphic, posting images of antifascists’ throats being slashed and issuing dozens of terroristic threats, including naming specific Portland activists to be shot. Leading up to August 17, Biggs had worked overtime to spread fear. However, when asked if the rally was a success, Biggs said, “Yeah, Donald Trump wants to declare Antifa terrorists.” Biggs was referring to Trump’s tweet earlier that day: “Major consideration is being given to naming ANTIFA an ORGANIZATION OF TERROR.” Trump, who said there were “ very fine people” among the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville two summers ago, has a preternatural ability to turn reality inside out. A local official said the Proud Boys were “so outnumbered, they wanted to get out of town.” The Portland police escorted them over a bridge closed to all other traffic and into a parking lot on the East Side, where most participants piled into their cars to leave town. Joe Biggs hustled away from the scene, the bill of his baseball cap pointed backward, reading, “ Make Frogs Straight Again.” A former Infowars staffer, Biggs was abandoning his “End Antifa” rally in Portland, Oregon that he had been hyping for weeks and which lasted half an hour.Ībout five hundred participants, many in Proud Boy uniform - black-and-gold Fred Perry polo shirts and red MAGA caps - gathered in a waterfront park, sang the national anthem, and filled the air with chants of “USA! USA!” and fruity vape juice emissions.īut boxed in by concrete barricades and armed riot police and nearly a thousand antifascists having a dance party, the far right quickly called it quits. ![]()
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