Propaganda or free speech? White nationalist group becomes more active in the metro-east
News that two young men from Freeburg, Illinois, and Florissant, Missouri, had been arrested in Idaho with 29 other members of a white nationalist group this month was no surprise to civil-rights organizations.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League already knew that the group, called Patriot Front, was operating in the St. Louis area.
The Anti-Defamation League had documented nearly 50 incidents of “propaganda” being distributed by Patriot Front in the metro-east since last July and more in the city of St. Louis and its suburbs.
The Southern Poverty Law Center had published information in March about the Freeburg and Florissant men in its Hatewatch blog, linking them to Patriot Front and each other. One was charged in connection with recent vandalism of a Washington University mural that depicted famous Black Americans.
“Patriot Front, in particular, is responsible for the vast majority of white supremacist propaganda incidents nationwide,” said Jordan Kadosh, regional director for the league’s Heartland office, based in St. Louis.
“It’s over 80%. They actually have a quota in order to be a member of the group. But it our area, the numbers are higher.”
Packed in a U-Haul
Some 31 men wearing Patriot Front clothing and hats were arrested Saturday, June 11, in the resort city of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and charged with misdemeanor conspiracy to riot after police alleged that they were planning to disrupt an LGBTQ pride event in a downtown park.
Authorities had been tipped off by someone who observed the men packing into a U-Haul truck in a hotel parking lot, equipped with masks, shields and a smoke grenade.
Those arrested from 10 states included Garret J. Garland, 23, of Freeburg, and Mitchell F. Wagner, 24, of Florissant, according to the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department booking report.
Garland is a 2017 graduate of Freeburg Community High School, where he was a starter on the baseball team. Attempts by the BND to reach him, his family and his former coach were unsuccessful.
School district Superintendent Greg Frerking declined to comment on the arrest but acknowledged that Garland was a student.
“We had no issues with him,” Frerking said. “He wasn’t a trouble-maker or anything.”
Garland posted a $300 bond, according to Kootenai County District Court records. His arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 1. He had no defense attorney listed as of Friday.
Free speech argument
Michael Kielty, an attorney in St. Charles, Missouri, who’s representing Wagner, called the Kootenai County prosecutor’s case “ridiculous” and “as thin as a wet paper towel” on Friday.
Kielty described Patriot Front as a peaceful organization whose members are exercising their First Amendment right to free speech while using civil disobedience as a tool in some cases.
“These guys are not radical white supremacists,” Kielty said. “They have their ideology, OK? It’s non-violent, and in this country they have the right to peaceably assemble and peaceably protest.
“They weren’t going to incite a riot. Do you know why they had protective riot gear? They’ve done this in the past peaceably, without riot gear. They have been beaten with ball bats, with bike chains with locks on them, with bricks, with rocks, with anything that people can get their hands on.”
According to Kielty, some residents of Coeur d’Alene had the opposite reaction, offering to buy Patriot Front members drinks at a local tavern after they got out of jail and complaining about lewd behavior in front of children by people at the pride event.
‘Revolutionary spirit’
Patriot Front formed in Texas by splitting off from the neo-Nazi, white supremacist group Vanguard America after the “Unite the Right” rally in 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia, according to civil-rights organizations.
An in-depth report by the nonprofit news organization ProPublica estimated membership at 300 mostly young men three years ago. They’re known for wearing khaki pants, navy shirts and white neck-gaiter-style masks during public demonstrations.
Patriot Front’s main slogans are “Reclaim America” and “Life, Liberty, Victory.” The group’s website calls on people born of the “European race” to revive a “revolutionary spirit” and fight for “cultural independence” and the end of “tyrannical rule.”
The group’s manifesto quotes U.S. presidents and military leaders, references patriotic themes and displays red, white and blue graphics.
The group’s most commonly used logo is a circle of 13 stars with an upright fasces, a bundle of rods with an ax blade, which is an ancient symbol of collective power that has been used by fascist movements at times.
“The previous era has been spent diluting the definition of what an American is,” the manifesto states. “The coming era will refine the definition of an American.
“To the American people our movement is revolutionary, yet familiar. We bring forth the traditions of our past imbued with new vigor to bring us closer to our grand vision. Our tradition is revolution, and our land is where tyrants come to die.”
National database
The Anti-Defamation League maintains an online database and map of incidents of “hate, extremism, antisemitism and terrorism” reported by citizens and verified with photos and other evidence.
“Not all of the incidents are crimes,” Kadosh said. “They’re just the incidents we track. Some of them are protected speech, but they are still hate incidents. And some of them are crimes.”
The database lists 402 incidents in Illinois from January 2020 through March 2022. That includes 49 in the metro-east, all classified as “propaganda” and all attributed to Patriot Front.
Most propaganda takes the form of flyers placed on car windshields or passed out in parking lots, as well as banners, stickers or posters.
Only one of the metro-east incidents dates back to 2020. The other 48 have been reported since July 2021. That’s consistent with a upward national trend, according to Kadosh.
Incidents were reported in Mascoutah, Glen Carbon, O’Fallon, Belleville, Edwardsville, Freeburg, Red Bud, Columbia, Waterloo, Granite City, Swansea, Collinsville, Maryville, Smithton, Fairview Heights, Alton, Madison, Cahokia, Roxana, Wood River, Troy, Litchfield, Chouteau Island and elsewhere in Madison County.
It’s believed that more incidents occur but they aren’t reported.
Graffiti on overpass
One of the metro-east incidents in the Anti-Defamation League database, reported in November 2021, was classified as Patriot Front propaganda, but it took the form of vandalism.
Specifically, vandals stenciled graffiti on concrete bases of an Interstate 270 overpass at St. Thomas Road on the northern edge of Granite City, east of the highway’s intersection with Illinois 3.
The words “REVOLUTION IS TRADITION,” “UNITED WE STAND” and “PATRIOT FRONT.US” were spray-painted in red and blue on a white base coat, along with images of a hand clutching a bundle of arrows.
When asked if anyone had complained about the graffiti, an Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman reported Thursday that workers had covered it up that day.
A check on Saturday showed that workers left “US,” “TRADITION” and “UNITED.”
Other common Patriot Front messages identified in the database are “Better dead than red,” “One nation, against invasion,” “America is not for sale,” “Reclaim America,” “Life of our nation, liberty of our people, victory of the American spirit” and “Not stolen, conquered.”
The messages refer to the group’s belief, as described on its website, that people descending from Europeans who “conquered” North America in the 1500s and 1600s have a right to take back power from those with different heritages and values who migrated later.
Vandalized mural
In March, St. Louis County prosecutors charged Wagner with felony first-degree property damage related to vandalism of a mural on a Washington University underpass in December. The mural depicts famous Black Americans such as U.S. Rep. John Lewis and Olympian George Poage.
Vandals spray-painted red and blue Patriot Front messages on a white base coat, according to the Student Life newspaper.
Prosecutors reported that surveillance video showed Wagner and three other people vandalizing the mural and driving off in a car, whose license plate number led them to Wagner’s home.
According to his attorney, Wagner is being summoned to St. Louis County court this week for a hearing on a prosecution request that he be required to post $75,000 bond in the property damage case due to his Idaho arrest.
Kielty called that “absurd,” arguing that Wagner has no criminal record and the mural damage was minimal.
“The campus police got there, and before maintenance could even show up, the local students had taken fingernail polish remover and wiped off the spray paint,” he said. “There was nothing to repair.”
Student Life photos taken after graffiti-removal efforts showed white paint still obscuring images of Lewis and actor Chadwick Boseman.
Kielty noted that Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell ran for office in 2018 on a platform that included support for reducing bonds for people who weren’t flight risks or threats to the community.
“I don’t understand how violent criminals can get out with no bond,” Kielty said. “And then somebody who’s accused of property damage and (in Idaho was) simply exercising their right to free speech ... They are asking the court to impose a $75,000 bond.”
This story was originally published June 21, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
