PERSPECTIVE: ExtremismEmboldened Far-Right Groups Challenge Cities, States

Published 13 October 2020

Last month, when wildfires threatened rural Oregon communities, another unwelcome phenomenon accompanied them: armed vigilantes blocking entry to outsiders, based on false rumors that protesters had not only started the fires, but also were there to loot the evacuated homes. White supremacists represent the top and most lethal domestic terror threat to Americans, the Department of Homeland Security said Oct. 6, when it released its first-ever Homeland Threat Assessment. “I am particularly concerned about white supremacist violent extremists who have been exceptionally lethal in their abhorrent, targeted attacks in recent years,” wrote Chad Wolf, the acting homeland security secretary, in the introduction to the assessment.

Last month, when wildfires threatened rural Oregon communities, another unwelcome phenomenon accompanied them: armed vigilantes blocking entry to outsiders, based on false rumors that protesters had not only started the fires, but also were there to loot the evacuated homes.

Erika Bolstad writes in Pew Trusts’ Stateline that throughout the West and beyond, in a summer marked by protests seeking racial justice, armed vigilantes also have shown up at Black Lives Matter events in small towns and big cities alike. “Their presence in some places has the tacit support of law enforcement or even local elected officials,” Bolstad writes, adding:.

Now, experts who monitor right-wing vigilantes and White nationalist organizations are on even higher alert for the possibility of violence at political rallies. They also fear vigilantes or armed groups might show up at ballot drop-off locations and outside of Nov. 3 polling places to intimidate voters and increase paramilitary activity afterward if election results are disputed or seen as illegitimate. 

“We’ve been worried about paramilitarism and vigilantism around the election,” said Amy Herzfeld-Copple with the Western States Center, a social justice nonprofit that studies the far right in the West and helps local and state governments find ways to combat the rise of hate groups. “We know that we may not have results on election night. It may take days or weeks, and that creates an opening for chaos.”

White supremacists represent the top and most lethal domestic terror threat to Americans, the Department of Homeland Security said Oct. 6, when it released its first-ever Homeland Threat Assessment.

“I am particularly concerned about white supremacist violent extremists who have been exceptionally lethal in their abhorrent, targeted attacks in recent years,” wrote Chad Wolf, the acting homeland security secretary, in the introduction to the assessment. The government report warned that violence would stem from “lone offenders and small cells of individuals” who have “capitalized on increased social and political tensions in 2020.”

Bolstad notes that Western states have struggled to manage the emboldened far-right groups, particularly those who say they’ve shown up to keep the peace and protect property. “States haven’t been doing nearly enough and have not been taking advantage of the tools that they have,” said Mary McCord, legal director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law Center.