Patriot Prayer is an American right-wing advocacy group based in Portland, Oregon.[1] The organization has become known for organizing rallies and protests in predominantly liberal areas.[2][3] Some of the rallies have drawn controversy due to the attendance of white nationalists, though the group's founder Joey Gibson, a Japanese-American, has disavowed them and denounced racism.[4][5] The group's stated purpose is the support of free speech. Patriot Prayer has been described as an anti-government, right-wing group with connections with the alt-right.
Described by the Associated Press as a right-wing group,[5] Patriot Prayer has held rallies from the San Fransisco Bay area to Seattle,[6][7] in areas known as centers of liberal politics.[8]
According to the BBC, the group is "considered to be connected with the alt-right", although Gibson maintains that the group's message is unity and freedom of speech.[9] According to David Neiwert, writing in the Southern Poverty Law Center blog, Hatewatch, Patriot Prayer rallies have been held with "the clear intent of attempting to provoke a violent response from far-left antifascists". He has also described it as an "antigovernment" group.[8] The group's stated aim is to support free speech and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.[10]
The San Jose Mercury News describes Patriot Prayer as a "right-wing group ... [whose] events ... have attracted white supremacists and ended up in violent confrontations among demonstrators on both sides."[11] The rallies organized by Patriot Prayer have attracted white nationalists, including members of Identity Evropa, and resulted in clashes with counter-protesters.
The Seattle Times and The Washington Post have described Patriot Prayer as a "pro-[Donald] Trump group".[12][13] According to the The Weekly Standard, "In the early days, [Gibson's] rallies had overtly pro-Trump themes. These days, mentions of Trump have mostly been scrubbed from his own rhetoric, as he knows even invoking the name can be alienating."[14]
The Southern Poverty Law Center does not list Patriot Prayer as a hate group,[9][8]
On April 29, 2017, Gibson organized a "March for Free Speech" in Portland, Oregon after organizers cancelled a planned parade due to fears of violence between opposing political groups.[15][16] Jeremy Joseph Christian, who was later arrested for the fatal stabbing of two men in an unprovoked apparently racially-motivated attack, was seen at the march yelling racial slurs.[17][18]
Gibson, who had planned a subsequent “Trump Free Speech Rally” in downtown Portland, denounced Christian's actions and claimed to have ejected him from the event, but refused to call off the later rally.[17][18] That event, which according to The Washington Post provided "a vivid illustration of the city's divisions",[19] attracted a large counter-protest in which 14 people were arrested, after Portland's mayor Ted Wheeler unsuccessfully sought to have the event's permit revoked.[19][20]
The rally occurred in the midst of a national debate on the First Amendment, one which has seen violent clashes between right-wing and left-wing groups over appearances by contentious public figures, often in liberal cities such as Portland.[20] The atmosphere in Portland had also become tense after Christian's recent arrest for the train attack.[15][21][22]
On April 2, 2017, approximately 300 people of both, supporters and detractors of President Donald Trump exchanged words, during a pro-Trump rally at Vancouver's Esther Short Park on Sunday afternoon, near Portland, but was relatively peaceful.[23] Security for the Patriot Prayer rally, "Rally for Trump and Freedom" was provided by the 3 Percenters (often spelled III%)".[24]
On May 1, 2017, Patriot Prayer went to counter-protest at Seattle’s May Day parade with their “Stand Against Communism” rally. The event(s) were mostly peaceful with arrests.[25]
The Patriot Prayer held anti-Antifa rallies in May of 2017, with “Olympia stands against Antifa” in Olympia, Washington on May 6th, and the other two, “Antifa Watch” rallies, in Portland, Oregon on May 11th and May 13th. These events attracted small groups of protesters and counter-protesters with little incidents.[26]
On June 15, 2017, Patriot Prayer members held a rally at Evergreen State College, timed to coincide with one by the Evergreen Anti-Fascist Community Defense Network.[27] The former promoted solidarity with Bret Weinstein, whose critical comments about an event for racial awareness had ignited campus protests.[28] One arrest was made at the event after the vehicles of the group leader Joey Gibson and one other person had their tires slashed, allegedly by a member of Antifa.[29]
On June 30, 2017, Patriot Prayer gathered for their “Freedom March” on the Portland Waterfront near the annual Blues Festival, and were met by counter-protesters. The often heated exchanges of the dueling rallies ended with minimal violence and no reports of arrests.[30][31][32]
On August 6, 2017, it was much smaller crowds for their “Freedom March” at Salmon Street Fountain, Portland, but it followed the well-established pattern with a few arrests and a lot of shouting and chants from both the Patriot Prayer group and counter protesters.[33][34]
Prior to the violence at the Unite the Right Rally in Charlotteville, the Patriot Prayer rallies featured "right-wing nationalists", such as The Proud Boys.[35][36] However, since Charlottesville, the group tried to distance themselves from the white-nationalist alt-right and claimed to be the victims of left-wing violence without provocation.[37][38]
On August 13, 207 the group held the, “Freedom Rally Seattle” at Westlake Park with a large police presence to keep thousands of counter-protesters away. The dueling events came one day after the death and injuries in Charlotville and tenses were high with arrests made by police.[39][40][41][42]
On August 26, 2017, news of a planned Patriot Prayer press conference in San Francisco's Alamo Square Park drew over 1000 counter-protesters to the neighborhood. The group, which had already canceled a planned rally at Crissy Field due to safety concerns, held the press conference in Pacifica instead.[43][44] Prior to the event, the group's leader, Joey Gibson, denounced white supremacists before an August 2017 rally, saying "Don't show up, you're not welcome."[45] Group organizers arrived at Crissy Field later that afternoon to talk with counter-protesters.[46] The next day, on August 27, 2017, Gibson made an appearance at the site of the cancelled "No Marxism in America" rally in Berkeley, California, where he was chased out of the park by counter-protesters. Several attendees were assaulted by members of Antifa.[47]
For the Sept. 10, 2017, Portland, “Peaceful Portland Freedom March”, Gibson is asking followers take a non-violent approach though not all appear willing to go along[48] and the counter-protests also appear to be settling on a number of different measures depending on the organization.[49][50][51] In an attempt to out-maneuver counter-protesters, Patriot Prayer switched their planned march to Vancouver, Washington, just across the river from Portland and changed the time of the event; but a small cohort of followers intend to go to the original march site to provoke the counter-protesters. In another change, this once pro-Trump organization, will now be collecting charitable relief for the victims of the recent Eagle Creek fire in the Columbia River Gorge, and the new rally is renamed, "Peaceful Vancouver Freedom March."[52] The small rallies drew large counter-protest crowds in both Portland and Vancouver with several arrests and the detention of the driver of a pickup that sped through a crowd of counter-protesters, no injuries were reported.[53][54] Among those drawn to the rallies were the militia-style Three Percenters, and the Proud Boys, a white nationalist group.[55][56]
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