In today’s political climate one cannot predict much, but we are still going to say not to expect the neo-fascist Proud Boys running around trying to play their games over the next year or so as much as they are now. Afterthe fight at the Republican Clubrecently, they became the crew that everyone wants a piece of, and everyone will have their piece, you can bank on that. Even the right-wing New York Post – which is owned by News Corp, which also owns Fox News, who once employed Proud Boy founder Gavin McInnes – called them out as a “far-right hate group” in an articleabout right wing activists harassing Nancy Pelosi during a visit to Florida because someone in the crowd of activists beating on the windows repped the group.
Well, Philly is going to get their shot at them. AFacebook event pageis up for something called the “We the People Rally” which is being organized by two groups, Patriot Events and Sports Beer and Politics, whose own Facebook page has two Proud Boys as administrators. As of now, the page is particularly benign with a disclamer saying the following:
We at Patriot Events and Sports Beer and Politics do not condone the use of violence by any party at this event. This event is to allow the people to make their voices heard. Any violence, racism, or display of hate by any group or individual is extremely prohibited. Any group or party violating these conditions will be removed from this event immediately.
The hosts, planners, security, speakers or their affiliates, members or family will not be held liable for bodily injury or personal damages to anyone in attendance. All civil claims, attorneys costs for the aforementioned will be paid by the claimant.
There is a reason for that. Just before the Proud Boys made asses of themselves in NYC, they were boasting on this page that they were going to come to this event with the purpose of fighting people:
After NYC, these postings were scrubbed from the event page, but too late. Somebody already saw them. This is what people will be mobilizing against, despite the usual tapdancing from the organizers that they don’t condone violence and be vigilant against it. Folks are used to that tapdancing and are not buying into it. The Proud Boys also are good for the “I’m not racist” routine and their supporters point to their members of color. Well, they repped at both Unite the Right rallies in Charlottesville last year and Washington, DC this year, the DC outing featuring a Hispanic Proud Boy. So folks stopped giving them quarter, and are going to do something about them before they really cause innocents to be hurt.
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“For the next 30 days, every day, we will be profiling/exposing a member or supporter of Keystone United (KU) and Keystone State Skinheads (KSS). We will be largely concentrating on Pennsylvania fascists, with a few exceptions.”
Philly Antifa not only followed through, but they even threw in a few bonus boneheads. Local jags include Josh Martin, Terrence Raymond Stockey, and Shane Michael Dilling. Click HERE for the complete list of fascists, read on to check out Philly’s closing thoughts, which we’ve republished here for its insights and because spread that shit.
We hope that the info we’ve collected is helpful to comrades around Pennsylvania and elsewhere. We will be copying all the Keystone United Exposed articles to a stand-alone blog so, as time passes and new content is published here, that info remains easy to find.
Keystone United Exposed effectively identified the major players within KSS, as well as many of its foot soldiers and supporters. It provided a start in mapping out the distribution of KU/KSS around the state and region, so we can know where they are really strong and when they are swelling numbers with out-of-town support.
From l to r: Unknown, Joe Phy, Scott Costa, Jason Cunningham, Ian McCorts, Unknown, Bob Gaus, Bryan Vanagaitis, AJ Olsen and Nunzio Pellegrino of Keystone State Skinheads. All except unknowns were profiled as part of KU Exposed.
Keystone United members. From l to r: Steve Smith, Unknown, Bob Gaus, Joe Garvey, Bryan Vanagaitis, Cody Haulman, Ryan Wojtowicz, Scott Costa, Ian McCorts, Travis Cornell (rip lol), Chris Croumbley, Josh Martin and Shane Dilling. All but the one unknown were exposed during our series.
Having identified this many members and associates of KU/KSS will also lead to us identifying future associates more easily. We exposed many bones at their jobs and to people who live in their communities. However, one drawback of a project like this is such a flood of information can make it inevitable that people will begin to slip through the cracks. It’s possible that by focusing on a smaller number and really campaigning around, for example, getting Steve Smith fired from Gertrude Hawk’s Chocolates warehouse in Dunmore, we could have had a larger impact. The good news is there’s no reason why we can’t still do that.
While preparing these articles, we learned several things that had to be considered and reconciled with our subjects’ associations with a violent white supremacist gang; filled with men who glorify Hitler and Colonialism, who promise “Freedom Through Nationalism” but practice racial terror. Including the frequency that Keystone United members and associates had successfully either totally hidden or sanitized the group’s image for many people in their lives. This sort of “low-intensity,” year round outreach work (aka being fake friendly) is insidiously effective in minimizing the eventual impact once they are eventually exposed. “Oh no! Not Bob… He’s never said anything offensive to me! Well, a few jokes…” is what some will say. Nazis collect these “friends” as an insurance policy against future exposure.
KSS rallying along with their friends in the PA State Militia for anti-refugee “Overpasses Across America” protests From l to r: AJ Olsen, Joe Phy, Ryan Wojtowicz, Steve Smith, and Pat Rogers. All were profiled in KU exposed.
Keystone United has largely maintained their course during the Trump era. Unlike Heimbach and the TWP or the NSM, KU/KSS did not overreach early or open up the gates to any potential murderer they could slap a white polo on. Keystone United abandoned publicly using language about “Racial Holy War” (RaHoWa) or overthrowing the “Zionist Occupied Government” of the U.S. long before Trump. What has changed, though, is that now KU/KSS has a new PR tactic at their disposal, the label of “Trump Supporter.” KU/KSS uses that aforementioned outreach work to reinforce the notions being pushed by right wing media that a) anti-fascists are indiscriminately describing as nazis and attacking all trump supporters or anyone who disagrees with far left politics and b) all actions against trump supporters are being done by Antifa crews or organizations. Both of these claims are patently false. But now, with many major media outlets pushing similar narratives, they have a more receptive audience.
We know that we convey to everyone as to the level of threat KU/KSS represents. This is disheartening, both as Anti-Fascists and as people who, largely, have experienced direct violence from this group or groups allied to them. And ultimately, the conclusion is that white conservatives generally, (and some POC conservatives) don’t really dislike Nazis very much at all. It would seem, that for many of them, the biggest concern is being lumped in with them, and a frustration with nazis not being able to keep their racist rhetoric in the coded language that is popular among “white america.” That said, we hope that this series has made it clear that KSS has not gone away, and their influence and support network extends far beyond their membership.
Keystone United rallying in Harrisburg. A: Scot Costa B: Travis Cornell (rip lol) C: Shane Dilling D: Ian McCorts G: Ryan Wojtowicz H: Steve Smith I: Bob Gaus J: Bryan Vanagaitis K: Chris Croumbley L: Cody Haulman. All were profiled in KU exposed.
When members of the Golden State Skinheads (a crew allied with KSS), wearing TWP shirts,attacked and stabbed anti-fascists in Sacramento in 2016 before being driven off the streets, TWP spokesman Matt Parott attempted to frame it to the media as a fight between “pro and anti-trump groups.” Because of the spiteful mentality of Trump supporters in the face of ever-increasing evidence of his incompetence, narcissism, and corruption, they will defend anyone willing to still publicly identify as a pro Trump. Anti-Fascists need to be aware of this dynamic and begin formulating new strategies to wedge groups like KSS and Blood and Honour from the GOP base. The evidence of what happens if we fail is in the increasingly Fascist rhetoric and tactics being used by pro-trump sectors of government and law enforcement, not to mention all the recent dog whistles to nazism coming out of those sectors.
Pat Rogers of KU/KSS repping support for Golden State Skinheads after word of possible charges for their members stabbing several Anti-Fascists in Sacramento in 2016.
Exposing a nazi is crucial. It can largely neutralize their crossover political organizing, add a tremendous social cost, and makes them think twice about attacking someone, knowing that they will be identified immediately by Anti-Fascists. For KU/KSS, public exposure also undermines the generous amount of effort they put in to distancing their group from its more openly neo-nazi past. However, it is the follow-up that gets the goods. The people who contacted workplaces, passed out flyers around the homes of KSS members, pushed for their expulsion from social clubs and sports teams, and took other actions have done just as much as us to make this a success.
One area we did not touch on during this series as much as we’d like is KU/KSS’ involvement in the “Anti-Antifa movement.” Anti-Antifa Pennsylvania shirts are printed and sold by KSS members, and they are involved in running an Anti-Antifa blog and website that publishes information on Anti-Racists and Anti-Fascists. KU nazis are very encouraging of the Anti-Antifa label as a stand in for more openly nazi imagery and as a unifying point between white nationalists and other far right nationalists who conflict with antifa because of our left and anarchist politics. Pushing Anti-Antifa as a brand within the larger pro-trump right is likely to be a strategy for KU/KSS over the next few years, and the groundwork has already been laid by media outlets, Trump, and 4chan.
Several members of KU/KSS can be seen wearing Anti-Antifa t-shirts in this pic from LED 2017.
We have successfully identified almost all of the attendees of last year’s Leif Erikson Day event in Philly. Only those who hid their faces or stayed away from Fairmount Park have escaped detection so far. So while ultimately our goal is to stop KU from holding Leif Erikson Day at all, the information we gather from it’s continuation is a nice consolation prize. Thanks to last year’s LED, we were able to identify Joe Garvey, Chris Croumbley, Anthony Marcink, and Travis Cornell (rip lol), all previously unknown to us, as Keystone United associates. We were also able to confirm the continued involvement of several individuals who had not been sighted at public KU events for several years, including Shane Dilling andLiam Schaff.
Some of those KSS nazis wore masks because they have something to lose from being exposed by us. Help us identify the “unknowns.” If anyone has information about the any of the unidentified nazis picture in this series, please send it our way.
It is common to end on a note acknowledging that white supremacy and racism are much larger than neo-nazi bonehead crews or their more media-friendly iterations. While this is true, attempts to compartmentalize groups like Keystone United from the larger “mainstream” right seem rooted more in wishful thinking and denial than reality. KU has synthesized American libertarian conservatism with national socialist “race science” to make both more palatable to the other. TwoKeystone United leaders are Luzerne County GOP officials. In the process of this article, we exposed KU members/associates as working for city governments,in large unions, and for international software firms. Keystone United associates are/were active in biker clubs, veterans groups, roller derby leagues, music scenes and local government. Tired tropes and finger pointing about “living in mom’s basement” on both sides of this conflict are generally inaccurate, Daniel “Jack Corbin” McMahon excepted. Anti-Fascists in this state should not discount how embedded Keystone United are in their communities.
Steve Smith and Ryan Wojtowicz of Keystone United. Both are Luzerne County GOP committeemen.
When Bob Gaus and several other KU members attended Trump’s rally in Harrisburg, they did not sit in some special section. When they (likely) went out to get a drink afterwards, they did not go to a nazis-only bar. When they talk politics at the bar with people belonging to “the mainstream right,” those people are most likely left with the impression that they have more in common than difference with the KU members. If we learn nothing else from Trump’s ascension, it should be that the distance between a “non racist” republican (or democrat/independent for that matter) and a neo-nazi is much smaller than we like to believe, and the unifying of those forces is a very real threat.
Nazis have embedded themselves in groups like The Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer or started multi-racial pan-right groups like Vinlanders Social Club founder Brien James’ American Guard.
Republicans have utilized dog whistle and crypto-fascist talking points to retain supporters among the racist right, while not alienating POC and non-racist conservatives. Anti-Fascists have relied too heavily on accusations of racism as a panacea solution to the far right, and the far right has adapted. They have dozens of strategies in place to undermine those accusations before they are even made. We have to take the more difficult path of dissecting the full contents of the ideologies of the far right and conveying why they should be opposed on a plethora of grounds, including cis hetero-sexist positions, militarism and colonialism, and supporting capitalist exploitation of the working class, in addition to white supremacy and racism. Otherwise we will continue to hand groups like Proud Boys, Patriot Prayer and American Guard an easy way to insulate themselves from association with orthodox fascist groups, and an easy way to portray us as hysterical or dishonest.
We would like to thank all those who took action this month based on the articles we’ve released. As we mentioned, actions have already begun and are likely to continue for some time. As this is being written, it is unclear when or if Keystone United will hold their Leif Erikson Day event in Philly. It is possible they’ve even held it already in secret. Should they do so, we have the tools to hold them accountable long after they scurry out of Fairmount, back to their homes in Philly or elsewhere in the state. It is a point of pride for us to put a stop to this demonstration, but not only have we effectively neutralized it as a source of recruitment or propaganda for KU, we have purposed it as an intelligence trove for ourselves. So stay home or come on out, boys. Either way, we’ll use it to our advantage and to further our ultimate goal of destroying Keystone United for good.
Finally, predictably, there has been some blow back from KU/KSS/BNH regarding this series. Threats and harassment has been sent from KU members and supporters in all directions, including to non-involved persons and former members. Sometimes for something as simple as sharing an article. We send our respect and solidarity to the folks facing any sort of harassment as a result of the series. Threats against ourselves have also been levied, both of legal action and assault. For our part, we refuse to be intimidated by a group of coward liars. Two-faced scumbags who have the nerve to call others “degenerates.” Who attack brutally in swarms and talk tough behind police but who cower in our city, coming unannounced and bitterly unwelcome, staying briefly and leaving quickly. Every flash demo and rally, every threat and assault, every rape and murder, creates more of us. It reinforces our resolve. This is the city of gritty, fuckers, and we’re just getting started.
This is an incomplete list of autonomous actions taken in solidarity with the (inter)national prison strike. It is comprised of several anonymous photo submissions and brief report-backs, all of which were sent in to Filler prior to the strike’s start on August 21st.
Abolitionist Yinzers
Today (8/12), an autonomous group of abolitionist yinzers hit the streets of Pittsburgh to promote solidarity with the upcoming national prison strike & call for police abolition.
Graffiti Actions
An Idea
The other night, a friend and I conspired over a sigil to support the prison strike. Later, after catching wind of the counter-repression phone blasts, they remembered a story about an anarchist who faxed thousands of copies of a black piece of paper to several prisons that repressed comrades on the inside. Later that night, after throwing our sigil up around town, we found a working fax machine.
All technology is already weaponized, might as well use it…
Against the prison state. Against a predictable life. Against civilization. Against consensus reality.
Against toner cartridges >:-)
We also wrote Eric King’s name on a bunch of shit. Much love.
Thelatest guidelinesfor unpermitted street protests issued by the Pittsburgh cops have generated a lot of outrage, but not much in the way of tactical or strategic analysis. We gave the document a quick glance to see what it might reveal about the cops’ plans and thoughts. In no particular order:
It’s tempting to laugh at the list of intersections and colored coded zones for revealing exactly where protesters should set up blockades for maximum disruption, but let’s face it, that wasn’t exactly classified information anyway. More interesting are the locations that were left out. Butler Street in Lawrenceville? Allegheny Center in Northside? Both are perfectly acceptable protest spots under the new rules, and both are virtual parking lots during rush hour even under ideal conditions. Pittsburgh’s, um, idiosyncratic street layout offers many more such choke points. Maybe it’s time to branch out geographically, if only for the hilarity of watching a police liaison wave a copy of the guidelines under the nose of a frustrated cop, screaming “We’re nowhere NEAR the red zone, what are you even complaining about???”
They do give themselves some wiggle room toward the end with “Officers may use their discretion to make other roadways or intersections off limits to protests if judged necessary to ensure public safety”, but still…
This sentence is highly interesting: “Whenever possible, warnings should be given with a bullhorn, a squad car PA system or LRAD.” For those unfamiliar with the term, “LRAD” stands for Long Range Acoustic Device, a crowd dispersal weapon that emits a piercing noise loud enough to cause pain and hearing damage. It can also be used as a loudspeaker. The LRAD made its US debut right here in Pittsburgh during the 2009 G20 protests, where it permanently damaged the hearing of a woman who wasn’t even protesting. She sued the city, won a $72,000 settlement, and Pittsburgh’s LRAD has been in mothballs ever since. The guidelines only mention the LRAD’s loudspeaker function, but the fact that the cops are bringing it up at all is intriguing. However, given their past experience with the thing, and their general hands-off approach to the protests for Antwon Rose II, they’re probably bluffing. Even if they bring it out, chances are they won’t use the crowd dispersal function. Protesters are advised to pack earplugs just in case though.
The guidelines say absolutely nothing about requiring permits. This should be a standing rebuke to all the liberal nonprofit organizations in Pittsburgh that refuse to set foot in the street without getting permission from the people they’re protesting against.
Zooming out a little, the guidelines as a whole make it obvious that the cops are gaining confidence and worrying less about Pittsburgh going up like Ferguson. At the most recent march for Antwon they shadowed the march with the usual phalanx of city cops, but they didn’t feel it necessary to call in the state police, and no more than one undercover was spotted in the crowd. Even after marchers got right up in the face of Chief Schubert and Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich, no further reinforcements were called in. If the cops feel like they’re getting away with the current set of restrictions, more will surely follow.
Coming a few weeks after holding a picnic in the area, Keystone United members were cited by police (but tellingly not arrested or charged) following an unprovoked attack on a regular patron of the Jackman Inn in Avalon PA on July 7th.
The Jackman Inn in Avalon, PA, where KSS attacked a black customer and a bartender on July 7th.
“An alleged neo-Nazi group is being accused of targeting an African American customer, assaulting him and using racial slurs against him at the Jackman Inn…
It happened when the victim, patron Paul Morris, walked into a backroom where a group of men were playing pool. The men allegedly used a racial epithet against the victim.
Police say the group of men may have been from Keystone United, which they describe as a racist neo-Nazi group formerly known as the Keystone State Skinheads…
when the bartender asked the group to leave, they attacked Morris…
‘Eight of them jumped Paul,’ (the bar manager) said. ‘He was hit in the face. He bent down to pick up his glasses. He was hit again’…
Morris is now California, but KDKA’s Andy Sheehan spoke with him on the phone. He says one member who called him the n-word said his group would eradicate blacks one-by-one, and then he attacked.
‘They attacked me because they had hate in their hearts. I didn’t do anything to these people,’ Morris said.
Avalon Police detained some members of the group, but did not charge them. Avalon Police Chief Thomas Kokoski said he believes they will be charged, but the incident is still under investigation….
The incident happened on July 7, and Morris’s lawyer, Fred Rabner, questions why no arrests have been made, saying they should be charged, not only with assault but with ethnic intimidation.
‘This is a hate crime, there’s no doubt about it,’ said Rabner. “
Fortunately, Morris received no serious injuries, nor did the bar employee, who was also attacked when they intervened.
It is unknown which KSS members were involved in the attack, but the event is not dissimilar from an attack on a black man by 3 KSS members in Scranton, PA back in 2003, one of whom was Luzerne County republican committeeman and co-founder of KSS Steve Smith.
[Update: six of the ten fascists responsible are Natasha Dawn Bowers, 33, of Roaring Spring; Terrence Raymon Stockey, 40, of Beaver; Jeremy L. Ingram, 35, of Hollidaysburg; Travis Lee Cornell, 43, of Marianna; Crystal Lynn Shields, 23, of Tarentum; and James Edward Kryl, 45, of Pittsburgh’s North Side.]
Steve Smith is a longtime Neo-Nazi. He is a former Klansman, co-founder of KSS and Luzerne county republican committeeman.
Smith was in attendance at the KSS picnic in the area at the end of May, but it is unknown if he was involved in the attack on the 7th.
We could go on forever about state/cop bias in favor of white supremacists (and white people in general), for example, participating in an Anti-Racist march where some windows got broken can get you arrested and looking at 70 years while attacking 2 people during a hate crime gets you cited with no charges. Or we could belabor that those who equate Antifa with Nazis, or claim we have “Anti-White Bias” would be hard pressed to find an incident where Antifa randomly attack a white man for his race when he comes into a bar to deliver a thank you note to one of the employees, but we won’t.
This was a horrific attack that could have ended in much more serious injury or even death, as attacks by KSS membershave in the past. We are glad Mr. Morris and the bar employee escaped serious injury.
Keystone United/KSS have been a blight on PA for too long. If we can hope for any silver lining to this attack, it is that people in this state will start taking the threat they represent seriously again, and that the years of PR spinKSS has employed to try and convince people that their “old days” of randomly attacking People of Color, Queers and Anti-Racists were behind them in favor of “positive white activism” have been debunked.
Anyone with information about this attack, specifically which KSS members were involved, should contact us. We plan to identify those involved and release their names, which is more than the state could be counted on. No one should be able to commit a racist assault on Saturday and go back to anonymity on Sunday.
Received on July 12, 2018. Originally published by Torchlight PGH— Anarchist News from Pittsburgh
As everyone now knows, on June 19th East Pittsburgh police officer Michael Rosfeld murdered Antwon Rose Jr. by shooting him in the back three times as he ran from a traffic stop. When a video of the shooting went viral on social media, Pittsburgh exploded in protest. Explosions are relative of course, and the riots, looting, and torched convenience stores that characterized analogous uprisings in Ferguson and Baltimore have here translated to peaceful marches to block traffic. Nonetheless the current situation is a major departure from the usual activist routine that anarchists in Pittsburgh suffer through. We offer the following points for consideration.
1. The cops are taking this very seriously.
Pittsburgh police chief Scott Schubert has showed up in person at at least two of the protests, and all of the actions inside Pittsburgh city limits have featured a gaggle of commanders and assistant chiefs, none of whom ordinarily work nights. Pittsburgh has also called in the PA state police on short notice for several protests. The cops call that “mutual aid”, but that doesn’t stop them from charging for it. Pittsburgh will be getting a bill from the state. The Pittsburgh cops have even switched to 12 hour shifts for the duration of the crisis, in order to monitor the protests and still carry out day-to-day oppression. This policy is reminiscent of the All Hands on Deck weekends in DC that the police union there fought against so bitterly, except it’s not just a weekend, it could last for weeks.
Yet despite the massive amounts of cops and money being thrown at the protests, arrests have been sparse. As of this writing there have been only five that we’ve heard of, not counting hecklers. This is not for lack of opportunity. The cops are obviously bending over backwards to avoid provoking an already furious community further and sparking a Ferguson style riot. One recent action provides a telling example.
On the evening of June 27th, a smallish crew held anoise demo at Rosfeld’s house near Penn Hills. The action was pre-planned, unannounced, short, and came off without a hitch except for one thing. Somehow word got out, and a bunch of latecomers rushed to Penn Hills, assuming reinforcements were needed. They got there after the first crew had gone home and taken most of the legal support with them. The “reinforcements” therefore arrived to a hornets nest of pissed off cops protecting one of their own, most of them from random boroughs in eastern Allegheny County that never see protests. It was the kind of situation guaranteed to send cold shivers up the spine of any experienced street demonstrator, but the bloodbath never happened. No arrests, no injuries. Even in Penn Frickin Hills the cops have now been inoculated against antagonizing protesters.
[Filler would like to add a side note here: the second home demonstration was materially supported in a variety of ways by several of the previous demo’s crews, and the action contributed to many great new relationships. This should not be overlooked.]
Anyone who thinks this forbearance indicates any good will on the part of the police should keep in mind the second prong of their strategy – shadowing every demonstration for Antwon with ridiculously obvious undercover cops (three at the morning march on the 27th had the flashers on in their unmarked cop car). Torchlight sources have spotted them at every march they have attended. People who have confronted them report that they seem very uncomfortable about being outed, so the obviousness is probably not an intimidation tactic, they’re just incompetent. They’ve still been taking tons of pictures however, presumably with the aim of identifying all the new protesters who have emerged since Antwon’s killing. This too is unprecedented here.
2. Stephen Zappala’s job is probably safe.
“THREE SHOTS IN THE BACK, HOW DO YOU JUSTIFY THAT!?” Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala worked harder than anyone else to come up with an answer to that question. After a week of valiant effort however, he finally threw in the towel and admitted that no, he couldn’t justify that. That hasn’t stopped self-appointed organizers from first announcing an electoral campaign to unseat Zappala, and then scrambling to recruit a Black former public defender named Turahn Jenkins to take him on in the Democratic primary next year. In their haste they skimped on their research, and missed Jenkins’blatant homophobia. Presumably they’re going to give it another shot however. We have said this before, but the electoral approach makes a lot more sense as a strategy to remove protesters from the streets than a serious attempt to replace Zappala. Just for fun though, let’s take it at face value for a minute.
As calculated and political as Zappala’s decision to charge Rosfeld with criminal homicide was, it’ll probably be enough to mollify white liberal voters who just need to be reassured the system still works. By next year’s Democratic primaries only the angriest of liberals will still hold it against him. Right wing voters on the other hand, are going to be pissed. Pittsburgh’s Fraternal Order of Police are unlikely to be any more enthusiastic about those 12 hour shifts than their DC counterparts, and all cops will be angry with Zappala for what they consider his spineless pandering to protesters. Reactionary douchebags and closet racists, who make a sizable voting bloc, will surely feel similarly. This leaves Zappala more vulnerable from the right than the left. If he has to run to his left to fend off a progressive candidate he will leave himself even more open to a Republican opponent in the general election.
There are other scenarios, most of them also unfavorable. A centrist law and order Democrat could win the primary if Zappala splits the liberal vote with a progressive challenger. A charismatic progressive-sounding candidate could beat Zappala and then turn out to be no less malicious a prosecutor. Or of course Zappala could capitalize on the donor network and connections he has built up over two decades in office to cruise to victory.
The liberals are taking reformist Philadelphia DALarry Krasner as a model for Allegheny County. APABof course, but Krasner’s reforms are lifting some of the weight of the prison industrial complex from the necks of Philadelphia’s impoverished communities. Liberals still need to ask themselves which is more likely, that a newly elected DA would actually carry out a facsimile of Krasner’s program upon taking office, or instead mend fences with the police, mollify the hardliners in his office, and reassure conservative voters that he’s not crazy after all by continuing business as usual with a thicker layer of progressive rhetoric.
The one ray of hope is that therejust might be a progressive rebellion emerging in the Democratic Party. It’s not impossible that after another year of Trump Allegheny County voters will be fed up enough to throw the bums out, Zappala included. Turnout is lower in odd year elections, so it wouldn’t take that many voters to elect a Krasner 2.0 if one could be found. Nonetheless an election-based strategy would mean putting an awful lot of eggs in one basket with no guarantee of success and no consolation prize.
But of course that’s the point. Pittsburgh’s liberal establishment would like nothing better than to see militant resistance burn itself out in a failed election campaign and sink back into jaded exhaustion. A successful election campaign would suit that purpose nearly as well.
3. Brandi Fisher is really good at coopting militant struggles.
A t-shirt popular during the Penguins’ back-to-back Stanley Cup runs read simply “SIDNEY CROSBY IS REALLY GOOD AT HOCKEY”. By that measure Brandi Fisher of the Alliance for Police Accountability absolutely deserves a t-shirt of her own. Her performance since Antwon’s murder has been at least as scintillating as was Crosby’s, and she doesn’t even have Matt Murray backing her up. Put another way, Brandi is near-singlehandedly replicating the work of Al Sharpton and the army of Black clergy that descended on Ferguson to pacify the uprising over Michael Brown’s murder. Pittsburgh isn’t St. Louis of course, but that’s still some impressive shit.
Brandi’s sheer versatility is amazing. Whether taking potential rivals under her wing, canceling their demonstrations unilaterally, or segueing seamlessly from one to the other, she doesn’t miss a beat. Freezing [primarily] white anarchist groups out of protest organizing, corralling angry street marches by strategic use of a bullhorn, coordinating with her friends among the police, lining white liberal groups up behind the APA banner – all part of Brandi’s extensive repertoire. It’s not just the highlight reel moves either. Brandi also displays the attention to detail that is the hallmark of the true superstar. Take the name of her group. By calling it an “alliance” she conveys the impression of being a part of a diverse group of organizations, all focused on the same goal. APA is nothing of the sort of course, it’s just Brandi and a few of her cronies. She gets away with this trick because she was clever enough not to call it a coalition.
Between the three of them, Brandi, Zappala, and the cops have had an effect. The huge pre-announced highway-blocking marches that characterized the first week of the uprising have given way to smaller and more sporadic actions organized mostly in secret. These types of actions aren’t as disruptive, but they’re harder to control. Brandi’s influence is weaker in the suburbs than within Pittsburgh, and a hard core of pissed off Black women is emerging who don’t take her every word as gospel. Medics and legal observers have been a small but consistent presence at nearly every action so far, as have white anarchists, despite Brandi’s attempts to exclude all three. It’s a little early to tell, but there are signs of something exciting coalescing that could last well beyond the current upheaval.
Better late than never. It shouldn’t have required a tragedy for Pittsburgh anarchists to start making connections with those at the sharp end of police oppression, but now that we have an opening we should take it. It’s not going to last forever. We have a natural affinity with the ones who refuse to be intimidated by riot cops, pacified by liberals, or lulled by reforms. The time to start talking to them is now.
***
Related counter-information:
*the image below should read: East Pittsburgh police officer…
The following reports cover several of the latest autonomous actions taken during the ongoing mobilization demanding justice for Antwon Rose Jr, including two demonstrations held outside the homes of killer cop michael rosfeld and judge/collaborator jeffrey manning.
All reports were submitted anonymously to Filler PGH or It’s Going Down.
Rally & Vigil Held Outside East Pittsburgh Officer michael rosfeld’s Home
June 27
Pittsburgh residents and organizers held a vigil and rally to remember Antwon Rose Jr. at the home of killer cop michael rosfeld.
Rosfeld had been released on a $250,000 unsecured bond (on a criminal homicide charge…) just a few hours prior, and so some folks coordinating as part of the steel city autonomous movement (SCAM) thought we’d welcome him home; the charging of michael rosfeld is a small victory, but justice demands that we take direct action towards the abolition of white supremacy.
We are outraged, saddened, yet unsurprised by the actions of the police. State-sponsored violence is how those in power uphold white supremacist capitalism. With this in mind, we also called attention to the history of local police brutality, commemoratingMark Daniels and Bruce Kelley Jr. among others recently murdered by the state. Successfully convicting rosfeld of homicide does not prove he is only ‘one bad apple’; there is a larger culture of police and city authorities who are complicit in state violence, and that must be accounted for.
It’s important that the community of Verona — the officer’s current neighborhood of residence — be made aware that they are living in close proximity to someone who did not hesitate to kill an unarmed black teen by shooting him three times: in the back, arm, and face.
During the demonstration, some neighbors shouted in support, while others made sure demonstrators did not go on their private property. There is a community divide, but there is necessity in confronting that divide. The demonstration served as a way to show where neighbors stand, and to elicit responses from residents. Police are public officials, and rosfeld’s address was publicly available. Rallying outside the jagoff’s residence is the necessary social consequence to murders committed by police.
After the action, dozens of folks decided to go back with more numbers and held their ground until around 11pm / midnight.
As an excerpt from a flyer that was distributed to neighbors reads,
[…] systemic racism is woven deeply into the greater Pittsburgh area. Because one of the most deeply segregated urban regions in the country is patrolled by cops that belong to a powerful right-wing union—the FOP. Because in this reality, the police are only harbingers of violence to communities of color; killing or incarcerating, creating trauma, breaking apart families. It was only 4 months ago that the Pittsburgh Police shot and killed Mark Daniels here, an unarmed 39-year-old grandfather, another black man killed by another white cop. This is the same policing system that, in 2010, jumped 18 year old Jordan Miles, beating him beyond recognition while he was walking to his grandmother’s house, drinking a soda the cops claimed was a gun.
To close, here is a quote from areport-backthat was released after another autonomous home demonstration in Pittsburgh—this one from last October, taking place outside the home of the brutally violent officer andrew jacobs.
Cops aren’t afraid of their fellow cops, of their bosses, of courts or prosecutors or legislatures. But they’re afraid of us. A little research and some word of mouth is all it takes for us to bring the fight from our neighborhoods to theirs.
Organizing against police violence challenges the separation of people from political power, the social logic of the badge made material by the physical force of the baton. Power insulates individuals from the consequences of their actions. This power must be seized through collective action and abolished, disorienting the powerful by rejecting the justification for their every misdeed.
We have a message for every cop, every ICE agent, every judge, every politician—for all the agents of white supremacy who continue to separate families through “legal” violence:
You have names and numbers, just like us. Just like us, you have homes that can be surveilled, neighbors that can be turned against you, communities that will reject you if the alternative becomes too costly. Just like us, your actions have consequences.
Activists accept targeted retaliation as a basic fact of their work. It’s time the police reckon with something similar.
“I’m very comfortable with what I did. If either side doesn’t like it they know what to do.” – Judge Jeffrey Manning.
The judge got one thing right: we know what to do.
(This quote is often erroneously attributed to rosfeld when in fact it was another white supremacist collaborator, the judge).
Pittsburgh House Demo & Suburban Intersection Shut Down for Antwon
July 4th
Demonstrations continue in Pittsburgh following the murder of seventeen year old Antwon Rose Jr., and as patriots in Judge Jeffrey Manning’s quiet suburban neighborhood were celebrating another year on stolen land, the peace was disturbed as rows of angry people chanted enroute to the judge’s house. Judge Jeffrey Manning of 535 Kingsberry Circle Mt. Lebanon PA, gave killer cop Michael Rosfeld a $250,000 unsecured bond on a criminal homicide charge. Never before in the state of PA has anyone charged with homicide been released on these terms, and released he was on the dime of the FOP the fucking day of his arrest.
This while seventeen year old Zaijuan Hester, who was charged with criminal attempted homicide, and was allegedly running from the traffic stop with Antwon, sits in jail without bond. We know the judges are not and will never be our allies, so of course shit is going down this way, but a little public shaming and intimidation to highlight just how much of a piece of shit Manning is is both empowering to those putting his shit on blast, and informative to the community he lurks in.
Everyone met up outside dude’s cul de sac in the grass listening to Jimmy Wopo and just kicking it, sharing water and perspectives about why they were there. This group was a lot smaller than the bigger street marches – about 35 people – and was made up of Antwon’s community members, medics, legal observers, anarchists and antifascists, and black liberation activists. The mood was pretty posi with undertones of grief and anger about the situation, but in general people were feeling empowered and ready to storm this ding dong’s neighborhood. Folks silently marched single file in lines of two, some masked, some not; everyone with fists raised.
The chanting didn’t begin until the group arrived at Manning’s manor, where people began to shout, “What was his name? Antwon Rose Jr! How old was he? 17! Who did this? The police did this!” Speakers talked about the murder and the judge’s role in it all, songs were sung, and then the group reformed the two lines and marched through the neighborhood saying, “Three shots in the back, how you justify that?”
The pigs showed up late to the party and everyone was pretty much on to the next thing by the time several squad cars arrived. Everyone got out just fine. The second part of the day’s actions was to shut down the intersection at Connor and Gilkeson Road, a pretty big intersection for the amount of people who came out. This was right in front of a mall and a main route to various suburbanite July 4th parties, so that was tight. The small group shut shit down successfully with the help of a down ass semi driver who saw what was up and parked his rig in front of the exit route many cars were attempting to take. The cops were frazzled, a lot of fancy cars got fucked up hopping the median, and the intersection was held successfully for a good chunk of time in the 95 degree heat and direct sun.
One woman tried to drive her car through a group of about five, but that didn’t work out and she mostly got made fun of for like a half hour. Cops tried to pull at the heart strings of protesters by pleading for the ‘scared children’ in the blocked cars, met with the response, “Antwon was a scared kid.”
When the last car was turned around and bottomed out, the crew marched down the street with fists in the air singing, “Antwon Rose was a freedom fighter and he taught us how to fight; we gonna fight all day and night until we get it right. Which side are you on, my people? Which side are you on?” The semi driver honked and threw up a fist before trucking off.
Sixteen days ago, people came out into the streets in mass to protest Antwon’s murder, many for the first time. The first intersection shut down in front of the EPGH Police Dept was chaotic, powerful, sad, and confusing. On that first night, a cop tried to drive his cruiser through the crowd, and some intense in-fighting errupted when some folks decided to put their bodies in the way of the vehicle. There were arguments about weather white people should even be there, who the fuck are these people in masks, etc. Sixteen days later, at this demonstration, crews of all identities and backgrounds were tight and working together with understanding and respect for each other. Way more people were masked up, kids were helping each other figure out the best ways to tie t-shirts over their faces, road flares were embraced by everyone there, and everyone was reminding each other to use Signal. More crews are being formed, and they’re not planning on going away any time soon. The July 4 demo was def one of the smaller groups in the scope of things, but that tightness in the small number was super powerful. Friendships and comradery are being built in a way that will strengthen as we continue on in this fight, and forward.
All Cops Are Michael Rosfeld
Fuck All Judges Forever
The slideshow below is a compilation of graffiti actions that were claimed in solidarity with the movement, including one from comrades in Philly.
Related counter-information:
*the image below should read: East Pittsburgh police officer…
For this year’s day of solidarity with Eric King, anarchists in Pittsburgh PA threw his name up around the city with streaks and stickers. A banner was nailed up over a gross navy seal recruitment billboard in support of EK as well, because fuck the water pigs. The shit Eric went down for was an action in support of the Ferguson Uprising; in the wake of the murder of Antwon Rose Jr. by a killer cop here in Pittsburgh, his action resonates deeply right now especially.
Fuckin stay strong homie, Pitts loves you Eric!!!!
Love, Rage + Chaos Magik,
Some Anarchists in So-Called PA
WE dont have to
A Poem by Eric King
We dont have to accept this world
We dont have to be ok with the cammo bros
Destroying lives and invading worlds
We dont have to be ok with orange rapist
Becoming leaders
They dont have to be our leaders
We dont have to accept Veterans Day
We dont have to tip toe around these clowns
We dont have to Salute flags and Blue ribbons
We dont have to tolerate predators
We dont have to build fucking walls
and lock fucking cages
We dont have to stand by while this happens
We dont have to stay silent or submissive
We dont have to forget our friends
or pretend they are doing just fine
We dont have to ignore our mental issues
and act like we aren’t on the brink
We dont have to be ok with capitalism
We dont have to fucking buy everything
they push down our throats til were
gagging on god damn receipts
We dont have to laugh at rape jokes
We dont have to quietly endure ‘casual racism’
We dont have to be accept ‘locker room talk’
We don’t have to bow down
We dont have to close our eyes to whats happening
We dont have to belong and fit in
We dont have to devour our world
We dont have to hate and we dont have to stay angry
We dont have to do anything that doesn’t feel right
We dont have to give our support to things that make
Originally published by Torchlight — Anarchist News from Pittsburgh
Friday saw more protests over the police murder of Antwon Rose in East Pittsburgh. The evening’s action started conventionally enough, meeting at the Wood Street subway station downtown at 5:30, and stepping off around 6. At least 200 people took the streets, marching slowly through downtown and stopping frequently to block intersections while holding speakouts. A trailing caravan of cops accompanied the march, but they weren’t doing anything yet. More cops on motorcycles circled, blocking off intersections as marchers approached, and causing even further disruption to rush hour traffic.
From downtown protesters made their way over the Sixth Street bridge toward PNC Park, where a Pirates game was getting under way. After stopping on the bridge, and again in front of the left field entrance, to give the fans an earful, marchers took General Robinson over to the Seventh Street bridge and back downtown for what was meant to be the finale. Surrounded by police vehicles in Market Square, almost exactly two hours after first taking to the street, organizers with bullhorns led the group in chants of “We’ll be back! We’ll be back!”, clearly intending to send everyone home.
It didn’t quite work out that way. While some people drifted off, a smaller but highly determined group closed ranks and headed back out. Brandi Fisher and another woman with a megaphone held them up at the edge of Liberty Avenue to make a long passive-aggressive speech about how people could do what they wanted, BUT the cops had tear gas, and they should think of the children, and they were all likely to get arrested. The crowd listened respectfully until the speeches were over, and then rolled out onto Liberty.
They headed back toward the ballpark, at the same slow pace, and with the same police accompaniment, but the target was a little different. Instead of taking a different bridge back to town the march kept going on General Robinson toward the I-279 on ramp. Our correspondent takes up the tale:
“I ended up staying with a smaller group who didn’t want to take the highway, so we hung back to blockade the intersection at General Robinson and River Street. A couple of motorcycle cops stayed with us, and a legal observer came running back from the main group a few minutes later. We had just enough people to hold the blockade, so we did that for a while and then headed north past the Giant Eagle and kept going on Cedar. When we got to East Ohio we found a pleasant surprise – the main group, who had gotten off the highway at the East Ohio exit and come back to us. I swear it was bigger than when it left. I don’t know if people just jumped in off the sidewalk, or some of the folks who had left earlier came back or what, but either way our numbers were back close to what we started with.
We stayed at East Ohio and Cedar for a while blocking the intersection. A couple of big vans full of riot cops pulled up, and the cops got out and lined up in two columns looking menacing. That was it though. When we started moving again they had to stuff themselves back in the vans before they could follow us. We had about ten minutes with no cops except a couple of motorcycles and a few really obvious undercovers who had been tagging along all night.”
The march arrived back at the ballpark in the top of the 11th inning of a 0-0 game between Pittsburgh and the Arizona Diamondbacks, and promptly blockaded the intersection at General Robinson and Federal. The riot cops did the same thing they had at East Ohio, and had an even longer delay following the march when it moved down to the home plate entrance. They still hadn’t caught up by the time the march continued to the parking garage on General Robinson. Our correspondent again:
“It was really confused. People were yelling about splitting up to blockade both entrances to the garage. A few people went around the corner and pulled some loose crowd control barrier fence sections into the street. Some asshole in a black Mercedes pushed through the crowd and turned the corner with a bunch of people screaming and hitting the car. Other people at the barriers picked them up to swing at the car, which actually made it easier for the asshole to break through and escape. A couple of cops came running up on foot but all they did was put the barriers back on the sidewalk. It was really lucky nobody got hurt.”
The game was finally over by the time the police arrived in force, but many of the fans stayed in the park for Fireworks Night. The riot cops piled out of their vans yet again, and arranged themselves in a diagonal line across the intersection of General Robinson and Dorsett, blockading it more thoroughly than the march had. Marchers held their ground, lining up across both streets facing the cops. A rear line of foot cops, sans helmets, stood facing away from the protesters toward a couple of drunk white guys yelling on the sidewalk, as the fireworks began to go off in the background. A tense standoff persisted throughout the fireworks display and continued as the crowd leaving PNC Park began to thin out. By that time Pittsburgh police chief Scott Schubert was on the scene, as was a contingent of Pennsylvania state police. A line of cop cars stretched all the way back to the ballpark, and news crews were posted up wherever they could get a good view.
And finally, the marchers did again what they had proven adept at all night – moving on just as it looked like the cops were maybe going to do something. This time though, it was really over. Marchers filtered out past the cops on the sidewalk and took the street again near home plate entrance, but the chanting was quieter, and there were no more blockades. By midnight everyone arrived back at Market Square and dispersed.
Related counter-information:
*the image below should read East Pittsburgh police officer…
Originally published by Torchlight PGH — Anarchist News from Pittsburgh
A Torchlight operative managed to get a picture of an undercover cop filming the rally for Antwon Rose yesterday afternoon at the Allegheny County courthouse.
From l to r: Unknown, Joe Phy, Scott Costa, Jason Cunningham, Ian McCorts, Unknown, Bob Gaus, Bryan Vanagaitis, AJ Olsen and Nunzio Pellegrino of Keystone State Skinheads. All except unknowns were profiled as part of KU Exposed.
Keystone United members. From l to r: Steve Smith, Unknown, Bob Gaus, Joe Garvey, Bryan Vanagaitis, Cody Haulman, Ryan Wojtowicz, Scott Costa, Ian McCorts, Travis Cornell (rip lol), Chris Croumbley, Josh Martin and Shane Dilling. All but the one unknown were exposed during our series.
KSS rallying along with their friends in the PA State Militia for anti-refugee “Overpasses Across America” protests From l to r: AJ Olsen, Joe Phy, Ryan Wojtowicz, Steve Smith, and Pat Rogers. All were profiled in KU exposed.
Keystone United rallying in Harrisburg. A: Scot Costa B: Travis Cornell (rip lol) C: Shane Dilling D: Ian McCorts G: Ryan Wojtowicz H: Steve Smith I: Bob Gaus J: Bryan Vanagaitis K: Chris Croumbley L: Cody Haulman. All were profiled in KU exposed.
Pat Rogers of KU/KSS repping support for Golden State Skinheads after word of possible charges for their members stabbing several Anti-Fascists in Sacramento in 2016.
Several members of KU/KSS can be seen wearing Anti-Antifa t-shirts in this pic from LED 2017.
Steve Smith and Ryan Wojtowicz of Keystone United. Both are Luzerne County GOP committeemen.
Nazis have embedded themselves in groups like The Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer or started multi-racial pan-right groups like Vinlanders Social Club founder Brien James’ American Guard.
