All eyes are now on Patriot Prayer, the Oregon-based right-wing outfit led by founder Joey Gibson. His group in the past has organized other events that have attracted white supremacists and ended up in violent confrontations among demonstrators on both sides. Now, as Patriot Prayer come to town this Saturday, here’s a look at some things you should know about the group and its leader:
-
-
- While Patriot Prayer has a legacy of spawning violence at its demonstrations, its members say the Crissy Field event is designed to promote free speech; the group received a permit earlier today from officials with the Golden Gate National Recreation Area that govern the field;
- While organizers with the group have strived to distance themselves from neo-Nazis and other hate groups, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi doesn’t buy it, denouncing their San Francisco event as a “white supremacist” rally; asked about the federal government’s permit for the group to use Crissy Field, Pelosi said “now they’re going to give it as a venue to Nazis and white nationalists.”
- Gibson, the founder of Patriot Prayer and the organizer of the rally, said he denounced racism and wouldn’t allow any extremists into his event. The permit approval, Gibson said Tuesday, was a sign that “the First Amendment will be respected.”
- Indeed, the Southern Poverty Law Center which tracks hate groups does not list Patriot Prayer as such, nor is Gibson considered an extremist by the advocacy center;
- In fact, the Law Center reported that at the most recent Patriot Prayer event, Gibson shouted from the stage “F*** white supremacists! F*** neo-Nazis!”
- Under the conditions of the rally permit, no guns, ammunition, helmets or backpacks will be allowed on site;
- On its Facebook page, Patriot Prayer says its group “is about using the power of love and prayer to fight the corruption both in the government and citizen levels that seek to gain power through division and deception.”
- The group’s address is 431 SW Madison Street in Portland, Oregon;
-
- That address is also listed as a bakery called Bentos Coffee & Cookies;
- Here’s a video of Gibson explaining what Patriot Prayer is all about:
- According to his Facebook page, Gibson comes from Camas, Washington, lives in Vancouver across the river from Portland, is is self-employed and “studied Psyché at Central Washington University;”
- The page says he’s married to Haley Gibson, went to Camas High School, and that he now “manages Patriot Prayer;”
- Gibson grew up in Camas, played quarterback at the local high school, got into trouble with the law, including a break-in at a restaurant, according to the Columbian report; he later spent some time in jail and dropped out of school, causing him to be homeless for a while, living in Portland, Seattle, Mexico and Hawaii;
- When a former middle-school athletic director asked him if he wanted to coach football, Gibson took the opportunity to “clean up” his life, he told The Columbian; coaching at Skyridge Middle School in Camas, Gibson got his high school equivalency diploma and went to Central Washington University to pursue a degree in psychology; he ended up coaching around the county and even tried his hand at flipping houses just before the housing market crash;
- Described as a “conservative-libertarian” in an article by The Columbian, Gibson got his start in politics last summer in the streets outside the Republican National Convention in Cleveland; “There, the leader of the Patriot Prayer online community-slash-movement, whose organizing and activism has garnered national headlines after recent clashes on college campuses and the streets of Portland, was caught on camera tearing up a demonstrator’s anti-police cardboard sign. “Why would you destroy my property?’ asked the man, who was wearing a T-shirt that read “F*** the police.’ Because Gibson, 33, was fired up. But then he felt bad for ripping up the sign. He handed the guy a $20 bill, and the interaction ended with a handshake.”
- Gibson counts the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. as one of his political heroes and on Facebook he preaches “Hatred is a disease.” The article says Gibson once “invited a transgender person to speak at one of his rallies because he said it’s time all people were accepted.”
-
- But Gibson’s short political career has also been tainted with trouble; recently fighting broke out as marchers with Gibson met with protesters at Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland during the Waterfront Blues Festival.
- At a June 15 rally at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Gibson was hit with a tossed can and a blast of pepper spray in addition to having his tires slashed, according to the article in The Columbia.
- On a Facebook post earlier this week, Gibson appealed to members of the left to stand up to the so-called antifa, the self-styled anti-Fascists who many consider to be instigators of violence when they show up to protest demonstrations organized by conservative groups; “Please, if your on the left speak out against these hate groups,” Gibson wrote. “Antifa doesn’t even care about fighting “racists”. They want to fight the republic as a whole.”
- Gibson has said he’s motivated by two things: freedom and God. He’s also a fan of President Trump and he says one of his top goals is to “liberate the conservatives on the West Coast;”
Originally Published:
