theguardian.com
A dialogue has been established between the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club (PSJBGC), an armed leftist community defence group, and Three Percent of Washington (TPW), a rightwing pro-gun patriot movement group. In January, in the wake of a coordinated drop of racist leaflets in and around Tacoma, Washington, that dialogue bore tangible fruit.
The group that dropped the leaflets, Patriot Front, was formed in the aftermath of the murder of a leftwing counter-protester in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. It split from Vanguard America, the group with whom the murderer marched, following prolonged infighting and feuding.
PSJBGC and other anti-racist groups collected the flyers and dumped them on the doorsteps of Patriot Front members and a local tattoo shop with far-right sympathies. As they did so, TPW posted a surprising and supportive message to its Facebook page.
It read: “ATTENTION PATRIOT FRONT!!! III% is coming for you. Apparently you missed the part about WE WILL DEFEND OUR COMMUNITIES.”
The message also said: “Racists like you deserve no platform. You disgrace the word patriot.”
The TPW leader, Matt Marshall, said the post attracted angry comments and threats from white nationalists.
“It was removed after it was reported due to some of the comments,” he said. He also claimed that the FBI called him regarding the threats and said his group was planning an updated and expanded statement which would include other white nationalist groups.
Duke Aaron, spokesman for the self-proclaimed “big tent” leftist PSJBGC, said he had known the TPW statement was coming.
Before the statement went up, he said, he got a text from a TPW member. When he saw what it said, including the part about no-platforming fascists, he said he “was pretty happy with that. It’s a big shift.”
