The White Nationalist group Patriot Front was confused by the turnstiles at NYC’s World Trade Center PATH station. It reminded me of this classic turnstile scene with Slim Pickens in Blazing Saddles.
But seriously folks, who is the Patriot Front and how can they be defeated once they figure out how to use turnstiles? In June I talked to Matt Binder on the Doomed podcast about Patriot Front, the Neo-Nazis group seen in this clip. They wear the same hats, khakis and gatherers on their faces when they go to Pride events, Juneteenth parades and other events.
The Patriot Front may appear dumb here, but they are very clever at avoiding being prosecuted for their use of threats online and in person. One organization that figured out how to fight them is the called
Task Force Butler Institute. Their tag line: Veterans Fighting Fascism
From the Task Force Butler website under What We Do
Hold Extremists Accountable
For far too long neo-nazi, white supremacist, and fascist organizations have been able to terrorize vulnerable Americans and erode our democracy without paying a price.
We provide the resources and support necessary to ensure that those who want to destroy our pluralistic society pay for the damage that they’ve done to targeted minority groups and our democracy.
Whether it’s providing courtroom-ready evidence for legal accountability, or providing reports for activists to use in community education campaigns, we’re working to make sure that Americans have the information that they need to fight back.
I saw Kristofer Goldsmith, the founder and CEO of Task Force Butler, on MSNBC and was impressed by his understanding of the group’s attacks. In the first part of this video with Nicolle Wallace he describes how the Patriot Front works and how to bust them. In this part of the clip he gives an example of how they threatened his mother and how law enforcement failed to act. This is really important. We have seen that the use of threats of violence is successful for the right wing. When local law enforcement and FBI ignore threats, they keep happening.
Task Force Butler is doing what needs to be done. They are working all the angles to hold these people accountable. They understand how RW groups use the law and law enforcement’s fear of prosecuting them. More people need to understand how to defeat RW extremists, and Task Force Butler shows people how.
Check out Task Force Butler’s Community Response Guide for people “just getting started in taking a stand against the fascist street gangs trying to spread hate in their neighborhood.“
Task Force Butler’s Street Teams Guide is “designed to improve the safety and effectiveness of coordinated anti-fascist research and action by established community groups who consider themselves experienced practitioners in performing work against organized, fascist street gangs.” That’s because they know that fascist groups will go after ANYONE who threatens them. So the Street Team Guide anticipates the tricks the fascists use and gives community groups the methods (and legal statutes) to bust them.) For example, this is from page 6.
What more can we say about the Patriot Front? I like how Gene Wilder described them to Cleavon Little in Blazing Saddles.
The men in Patriot Front are: “The common clay in the new West. You know, morons.”
From Blazing Saddles 1974. Written by Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor & Alan Uger
