By Jasmine Kozak-Gilroy
On February 25, 2018 Joey Gibson, best known as founder and leader of right-wing group Patriot Prayer, announced his candidacy for Washington State Senator during an “indoor freedom rally” at the Red Cross Building at The Historic Reserve in Vancouver, Washington. At the event, advertised as “Indoor Freedom Rally Major Announcement” on Facebook, Gibson announced that he will be challenging incumbent junior Senator Maria Cantwell for her seat in the United States Senate. In order for Gibson to win he must first secure the Washington State Republican nomination during the primary on August 7 before challenging Cantwell directly. Gibson is running on a blend of traditional populist and libertarian values, seemingly courting both scorned Bernie Sanders supports and the re-energized right by supporting the replacement of the current tax code with a 23% sales tax, health care reform, a “balanced budget”, anti- abortion policies, and “individual rights”. He hinted at his plans earlier in the week, writing to his some 1,674 followers and nearly 5,000 facebook friends on his personal facebook page that, “Life is about to change big time, both personally and politically. 2018 will be a crazy journey.”
Gibson, who hails from Camas, Washington, became a public figure when he started organizing Patriot Prayer in 2016, branding the political group as a response to what he perceived as violent attacks on the concept of free speech, and framing what he has called his “conservative libertarian” platform with calls for prayer and non- violence. Patriot Prayer gained notoriety for a series of large scale protests in Seattle and Portland in the spring of 2017. The group’s reactionary calls for non- violence have often been used to shield them from mainstream controversy, and are often referred to by Gibson in contrast to what he sees as aggressive or violent reactions on the left to the rise in the visible organizing of neo- nazi, white nationalist, and new right groups. Although they have often rebuked ties to the alt- right and white nationalism, Patriot Prayer is widely associated with the alt- right movement, and they came to prominence during the 2016 primary elections, feeding off of post- Trump tensions and calls from the right and moderate left for free speech and civil discourse. Their events regularly attract white nationalist and Neo- nazi participants, and several high profile members of Patriot Prayer are also members of the Pacific Northwest faction of the Proud Boys, a “western chauvinist” men’s organization who “refuse to apologize for creating the modern world” and who also adminately deny being a part of the Alt-right espousing a similar, “anti-political correctness” and “anti-white guilt” agenda.
Patriot Prayer regularly organizes rallies in the Pacific Northwest and have organized in Olympia several times in the past year, most recently hosting several counter-protests to leftist protesters of anti-abortion rallies outside of the downtown Olympia Planned Parenthood, the most recent of which ended with the detainment of left wing protesters for allegedly “glitter bombing”, pepper spraying, and hitting Patriot Prayer folks with a stick.
Many Patriot Prayer rallies are small when compared to large scale gatherings like the infamous Unite The Right March, or gatherings in support of controversial alt- right and white- nationalist speakers like Milo Yiannopoulos or Richard Spencer, but they draw feverous media attention, often with focus on what national media has proposed as the chaotic nature of left wing anti-fascist organizers. This type of media attention was felt by the Evergreen community when, following the protests in last spring, Patriot Prayer hosted a “Free Speech Rally” on The Evergreen State College campus that was widely reported.
Joey Gibson was at the rally, and as things got started he said “Hopefully when the students leave here today they don’t think we are a bunch of white supremacists.” The event was held on Red Square and the campus round-a-bout featured a smattering of far right imagery, including participants welding Kekistan flags and security provided by the Three Percenters, a white nationalist group of ex military members who often provide guerilla security for “free speech” events. The group’s presence left many in the community uneasy, and one Evergreen student shared with us that, “When Patriot Prayer held a ‘Free Speech Rally’ on my campus I knew to take that as a sign that it could not be a safe place to be as a person of color. Anti-violent rhetoric and a denial of alt-right association does not make me feel any safer around people who are essentially proud white supremacists.”
