ICE quoting white separatist ethno-nationalist song lyrics in recruiting materials
By Wearing a black cowboy hat and a bandana covering most of his face, “Odin,” a soft-spoken Proud Boys member, was getting choked up. He stood on a flatbed truck in Sacramento last November outside the state Capitol building, its colonnades a vibrant cream behind him on a crystal-clear afternoon.
“We put ourselves on the line” to protect you, he said into a microphone in front of more than a hundred Trump supporters waving MAGA and American flags. It was a “Stop the Steal” rally, one of many since the election. A sign behind him read “Count all votes” and another said “BLM: ballot laws matter.”
The stage was full of fellow Proud Boys, a chauvinist group the ADL describes as far-right and extremist. Most had their faces covered — not to protect against the coronavirus, but to protect against being identified and publicly outed.
Odin (a pseudonym) introduced the song “We’ll Have Our Home Again,” a popular ballad on YouTube associated with the Männerbund, a white separatist, ethno-nationalist men’s club.
“This anthem that we’re going to sing for you guys touched every single one of us,” Odin said. “If you listen to the lyrics, they’re in line with what’s going on today.”
The Proud Boys sang off-key, clapping and beating an open hand against their chests.
“When there’s nothing left but the fire in my chest and the air that fills my lungs.
I’ll hold my tears and trade my years for a glimpse at kingdom come.
By god we’ll have our home again, by god we’ll have our home again…
By blood and sweat, we’ll get there yet, by god we’ll have our home again.”
Last week, in advance of the presidential inauguration, military Humvees rolled through downtown Sacramento while soldiers with assault rifles patrolled the area near where Odin had stood. Gov. Gavin Newsom deployed 1,000 National Guard members to protect against possible attacks on and around the Capitol grounds on Inauguration Day, after the FBI field office in Sacramento noted alarming internet “chatter” from far-right groups.
“There’s been some terminology like ‘storming’ the capitols,” Sacramento special agent Sean Ragan told ABC. “So that’s what we’re concerned about.”
Dog whistles are out, air raid sirens are in.
I suspect all these accounts are run by 23-year-old groypers. The Donald Youth as it were.