New Nativist-‘Patriot’ Coalition Formed
The head of a notorious anti-immigrant group has announced the formation of a coalition that further indicates major elements of the nativist movement are morphing into a new wing of the resurgent antigovernment “Patriot” movement.
Declaring “Revolution is Brewing!”, San Diego Minutemen (SDMM) leader Jeff Schwilk earlier this week dispatched a mass E-mail to followers heralding the dawn of the so-called SoCal Patriot Coalition. “It’s a new beginning, at least for our very strong movement in SoCal, the front lines of the invasion from Mexico and the socialist takeover,” he wrote. “Let’s roll! Let's take our country back now! Strength in numbers.”
According to Schwilk’s April 13 E-mail, the coalition has 23 member organizations. Along with the SDMM, they include tax-protest groups like Stop Taxing Us and the Taxpayer Revolution Committee; several gun rights organizations; eight rogue Minuteman factions, including the Mountain Minutemen, the group that produced a faked video purporting to show the murder of a Mexican immigrant by a border vigilante sniper; and two anti-immigrant organizations listed as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center — Save Our State and the California Coalition for Immigration Reform.
A press release subsequent to Schwilk’s E-mail described the common cause of the various groups in the new coalition under the motto “Secure Borders, Constitution, and Rule of Law.” It stated that “Patriotic and Constitutional American grassroots groups” had formed to “fight the growing threats to our region and to the taxpaying American citizens.”
The SoCal Patriot Coalition is taking shape amidst what appears to be a spike in antigovernment Patriot activity. The Department of Homeland Security earlier this month warned law enforcement agencies nationwide that widespread rumors of pending gun control legislation, the recession, and Barack Obama’s presidency, among other factors, are fueling a rise in antigovernment extremism.
Simultaneously, conservative media figures from Internet radio to FOX News are giving credence to antigovernment conspiracy theories and using violent rhetoric to express their opposition to the Obama administration. For example, during a discussion of Obama’s economic policies on the March 31 edition of Fox News’ “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” Fox News contributor Dick Morris said: “Those crazies in Montana who say, ‘We’re going to kill ATF agents because the U.N.'s going to take over’ — well, they’re beginning to have a case.”
