Fascism is growing in Coos County, how did this happen?
By: Cameron Langley
Tags: Rob Taylor, Antifascism, Racism, Fascism, Coos County

Its an August day in the coastal Oregon town of Coos Bay in 2019, and an event is happening downtown. It is called the 2nd Amendment rally, and a local radio host is hosting the event to spread a petition to make law enforcement not follow gun control laws, the Second Amendment Sanctuary Ordinance. His name is Rob Taylor, a semi-old nationalist white guy with a haircut only a Nazi could love. He shows up usually in an American flag shirt and sunglasses and carrying a flag. He is a Coos County resident, but he is not the sole reason counter-protesters showed up to the event. (I won’t beat around the bush here, I set up the counter-protest, but that’s not an unknown fact nor was it at the time).

Rob invited a person from Vancouver WA who just got charged with inciting a riot after assaulting a leftist brewery in Portland, Cider Riot, and initiating and refereeing a brawl outside, Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson. Gibson started Patriot Prayer in 2016 after Trump won election and though the group is supposedly “devoted to freedom, love and peace” but the only thing they’ve devoted time to is clashing with anti-fascists and cops in the streets of Portland and Salem. The group and their events constantly attract Proud Boys, Identity Evropa, Oathkeepers, Three Percenters, and other alt-right fascist extremists. A known attendee of their rallies, Jeremy Christian, carried out 2 racially motivated murders in the 2017 Portland train attack. Whether or not Gibson has denounced white supremacists and neo-Nazis hardly matters when the groups actions and associations have shown again and again, year after year that they’re a fascist organization.

He came from the more liberal city of Portland, the center of his war against “Antifa”, down to Coos County, a rural Republican voting place ripe for recruiting folks and spreading his fascist messages. I said clearly on social media that he didn’t belong here. After all the violence he had initiated or instigated up North, I did not feel right about him bringing that risk to Coos Bay. So I stood against them, across the street with a couple of friends and acquaintances, and held signs that were opposed to them, a mild form of anti-fascist action. I unfortunately had to talk to both Rob and Joey face to face there. I shook their hands when they came to meet me but I should’ve spit on them. They gave all the fascist excuses whilst arguing with me: they “aren’t fascists”, they “denounce” white supremacists and neo-nazis but can’t explain why they keep showing up at their events, they’re just fighting for “freedom” and they’re just “patriots” and that “antifa” is the real problem. It wasn’t hard to see through it.

Though I went home with a mere hope that they wouldn’t come back out again, and that those fascists would fade into obscurity. Fast forward to 2020, when I counter-protested their pro-Trump rally in February, and then when the summer came, and the pandemic was going on and racial justice protests were going on everywhere and right-wing reactionaries were, well, reacting, they came back full swing.

Rob Taylor, whom I heard give a defense of blackface the first time I listened to him in 2019 on his radio show the Rob Taylor Report , had of course turned into a lockdown protesting, racial justice protesting, riot fearmongering, law enforcement supporting nationalist who was now showing up to his events with the armed and seemingly decentralized “Coos County Patriots”, a group of dad bod old larpers who know how to hold a gun and look hard.

He was there when 200 armed Coos residents gathered in downtown Coquille on June 2nd 2020 to defend against “buses of antifa”, a total hoax at the time. The story made national news as a hoax that brought out a full force reactionary army in a small coastal town.

When we had started protesting racism in Coos County after George Floyd’s murder and all the subsequent protests, the city of Coos Bay had decided to put together a resolution decrying racism and promoting diversity and implementing little change other than diversity training for city staff, nonetheless, even though we weren’t opposed to it, we hadn’t asked for it and were drafting a committee proposal to them instead. As we showed up to the library (where the CB City Council was having their city meeting) to voice our proposal and let black voices be heard, Rob and the CC Patriots showed up too.

It immediately got tense. Rob pranced around worryingly with a flag, which made us stand on both sides of our black speakers for safety. He went in and screamed at the council in a tirade that none of them tried to stop, despite it clearly being inappropriate. Then when he left and went back outside, he harassed the black people outside and called one black woman a “shit-licking bitch” before he decided to leave. His patriots didn’t stop him or discourage them and at times they even got heated and had to hold eachother back from confrontations.

Rob ranted about the incident on his show, calling the resolution a “race-baiting resolution by marxists” and urging Coos Bay residents who would “preserve, protect and defend the constitution" to run for City Council. Despite social justice and racial justice demonstrations going smoothly and orderly throughout the summer and fall, with the most daring thing being the peaceful marching of a few streets on August 8th, Rob’s events like his 4th of July rally and Law and Order rally were roudy, in your face, intimidating, and dirty. He left the boardwalk trashed on the 4th, and his Law and Order rally included a truck parade he was legally not allowed to do.

That summer, he also had asked people to run for city council, in which case one of his listeners, Jim Kingsley, an old man who didn’t even think he had access to the city charter, did run. He also got his Second Amendment Sanctuary Ordinance on the ballot in Coos County and though both his candidate and his ordinance failed to pass, he wouldn’t give in on trying to affect local politics. He also did a show with Rob Gensorek of Charleston Basin Tackle, who had become notable for also attending the Coquille armed event on June 2nd and vehemently opposing anti-fascists, even boasting how his truck accessories would be excellent to run over protesters with. On that show, they both delved hard into transphobia and their opposition to anti-fascists.

Rob brought Gibson back to Coos Bay again on October 4th for a “Law and Order Rally” which featured Gibson, Joe Rae Perkins (a vocal q-anon conspiracy theorist who ran for Senate in Oregon), Michael Cross (a attorney general candidate for Oregon), and Jim Kingsley as speakers. Armed men attended, whether they were Coos County Patriots, Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, Patriot Prayer or some other reactionary right-wing group is unknown. We opposed the event with a peaceful anti-fascist event, being a productive drive for wildfire victims up the street. They directed their illegal truck parade right up the street to go right next to us to intimidate us, and then went to WalMart so Joey Gibson could scream his fascist rhetoric in the parking lot.

(Law and Order Rally, Oct 4th 2020. From left to right, Joey Gibson from behind, Rob in the nationalist flag shirt, Jim Kingsley behind him. Photo credit goes to Gabrielle Colton)

A few months later, a man who attended that rally, much like Jeremy Christian, killed a garden worker in Eugene and then traveled to Reedsport to try suicide by a cop, which he was successful in. David Ruozi was his name. Rob has not addressed the murder or death yet.

Rob and his Patriots would only come out for “Stop the Steal” rallies and pro-Trump demonstrations in front of Ray’s grocery store in Bandon. He promoted and continues to promote the conspiracy theory that Trump won the 2020 election. He decided to go to Salem on January 6th 2021 for another ‘Stop the Steal” rally, this one including Proud Boys and a white supremacist murderer, Kyle Brewster, convicted of the 1988 murder of 28 yr old Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian immigrant. An effigy of Oregon Governor Kate Brown was burned there, there was a clash with anti-fascists there, and only days earlier the Oregon Capitol Building was breached by Joey Gibson and others.

More shockingly came the news that 14 people from Bandon had went to DC on January 6th for the insurrection. A few of these individuals that are known, including Rod Taylor, a different Bandon resident by a strikingly similar name to Rob Taylor, have been at the same local demonstrations as Rob, have talked to Rob, and are members of an organization (that they probably founded), called “Citizens Restoring Liberty”, which masquerades on the surface as a patriotic stand against mask mandates, but their content and actions would prove them to be blatantly fascist.

Rod had supposedly only walked up the back steps of the capitol and got arrested later for violating curfew. He maintained in a news interview that he came for a peaceful protest of the “stolen election” and that he didn’t agree with the actions of those who breached the Capitol or fought Federal Police, but it doesn’t change the fact that he attended an insurrection fueled by a conspiracy theory and it was planned to be just that, an insurrection based on the “stolen election”, and literal neo-nazis with “Camp Auschwitz” and “6MWE (Six Million Wasn’t Enough)” shirts were even pictured there.

Rod and Rob met up for a show soon after the 6th and discussed their actions in Salem and DC, which they described as harmless and honorable. Rod talked about supposedly facing security problems at the airport, but he has faced hardly any consequences for attending the insurrection, neither legally nor socially in Coos County. Rod also spoke about going to Gardiner to fly a drone over a FEMA facility for wildfire victims because he thinks it’s a facility for “illegals.” The headline about “14 People from Bandon attended DC on Jan 6th”, despite being an alarming revelation to anybody following the actions of the right here, went unaddressed in public discourse. FB groups like What’s Happening Coos County with 30k members wouldn’t allow the subject to be brought up. The World Newspaper, who posted the article, wouldn’t let any of my letters to the editor about it go through until I didn’t specifically call anybody out.

So where are we at now? Rod Taylor decided to run for office. He ran for Coos County Transportation District and Port of Bandon. As of writing this, he won both races. Jim Kingsley ran for Coos Bay School Board and lost. I stopped writing this out of sheer frustration when I got to the end of the last paragraph and looked at the election results. To compile what I have and show you the buildup of all this and have to go back through it all and have it culminate in this is one of the most crushing experiences I’ve ever had.

The whole game (which it isn’t, it’s peoples lives) has changed and now one of the fascists, the insurrectionist who went to DC and bragged about it, got into 2 local offices. That is unacceptable, but to fight fascism once it is in office? That is supremely difficult. However, I do so intend to continue fighting fascism here and mobilizing folks to fight back. Somebody has to stand up for inclusivity in Coos County.

The fascists are planning a “Freedom, Faith, and Family Festival” in Bandon on May 29th 2021, which is 6 days away at the time of writing this. A group formed by, or at least including Rod Taylor, called “Citizens Restoring Liberty” is the group behind the event and Restoration Worship Center is hosting the event. Set to be notable featured guests are Rob Taylor, Joey Gibson, Rob Gensorek, Ann Vandersteel (Pizzagate & Q-Anon Conspiracy Theorist), and David Brock Smith (Far-Right Lawmaker who believes Trump won and the insurrection was okay), among others. It is being advertised as a “Family Friendly Event” and is even finding ad time on the local radio stations.

With these growing events that happen year after year with extremists like Rob and Joey spreading their agenda, and with their hands muddied in insurrection, riots and associations to murderers, and with somebody like Rod Taylor in office, they must be stood against. If Coos County seeks to be a community of inclusivity, then they must not allow exclusivity. If they seek tolerance in their community, they must not tolerate intolerance. There is no way fascists have ever been defeated by ignorance or silence or appeasement, only by confrontation and fighting them. The situation grows more dire with time. It is already far worse than it ever had to be.

In 2019, I thought they’d fade into obscurity, and that was a very naive thought. Instead, I faded into obscurity, as did most of the resistance to the fascists. However, I see the threat. I watched them grow, and heard their bullshit, I’ve been appalled at their gross acts and their dog whistle-riddled rhetoric. They aren’t just folks with differing opinions to me, they are intolerant and a threat to the community, and that threat ceases when they cease to be bigoted in any way. Its actually not so far-fetched as it seems, you literally just let go of your hate and your judgement and accept others. So I am anti-fascist and I’m sounding the alarm.

I’ve watched them go from podcasts and blogs to couple hundred people rallies and festivals and connect with some of the most far-right people you can find in Oregon. They’ve relentlessly sought public offices and pushed public measures. They have manufactured their own media complex and have positioned their self as the alternative media to the “liberal” Coos Bay media, which is actually already pretty conservative. They’ve also cultivated enough “respectability” that they aren’t seen as fascist locally and speaking up against them sounds like disrespect and un-civility. It is indeed the touchiest local subject, so much so that most of the time, it is off limits. It is very hard to be able to talk about local fascism on the What’s Happening Coos County Facebook group with 30,000 people, or to write about it in an opinion piece for The World Newspaper.

So, if you have managed to read all the way through this, and if you feel some level of urgency after having gone back over 3 years of fascism here, here’s what I ask of you:

Speak up against the fascists I have listed in any way possible. On social media, in opinion pieces, in city and council meetings and even on radio or TV if you can. There’s an Anti-Fascism in Coos County Facebook page and Instagram that you can follow, they post really good stuff about local fascists.

Stand against them when they have events near us. Directly oppose them with your counter-presence. Clashes are not what we are seeking, and any violence used by anti-fascists should be in self-defense or to prevent greater harm.

Explain this to your friends. Research fascism and talk it through with them and explain the necessity of anti-fascism. Try to normalize anti-fascism before they normalize fascism.

Get involved in your local governments, schools, and organizations. If they’re ballsy enough to run, you can be too. You don’t want them to be in there before you. The status quo here needs to go anyway, this place is destined to change at some point, and I’d rather it not be in a fascist way.

Reflect on your own views, rhetoric, and actions. Are you being exclusive or intolerant of a certain group of people? Have you fell for fascist propaganda before? How complicit have you been in fascism? Have you enabled or aided fascists?

Do not fall for the idea that fighting fascism just puts you both in the wrong. Most Americans wouldn’t say that our troops on D-Day were just as bad as the Nazis on the beaches, nor would they say our troops in Italy are just as bad as Mussolini’s fascists. As paradoxical as it seems, having a society means not tolerating the intolerant. Otherwise, group by group, society will be scapegoated and oppressed, beat or even killed.

Lets hope that we can effectively fight this before it gets worse here, but let us not stop at hope. Hope without action is just useless optimism and wishful thinking. YOU have to be part of MANY people in YOUR community to fight this.

Otherwise, get used to KKKoos KKKounty…

Update: Wow. Within 24 hrs of publishing this, my tires have been slashed.