The family of Nevada Rancher Cliven Bundy and supporters are worried that allegations of racist comments made by the patriarch of the clan could be used as an excuse for a future armed raid by BLM agents.
“That is what everyone is thinking,” said Advocate Correspondent Chris Miller. “With most of the major press demonizing him most of the Bundy’s political support has evaporated. The stage could be being set for the return of the BLM.”
In a remarkable series of events last week Bundy and his supporters went from jubilation at the retreat of armed Bureau of Land Management agents to despondency when the 67 year old rancher was branded a racist following this remark posted on you tube:
“I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro. When I go — when I go through Las Vegas, the north of Las Vegas, and I would see these little government houses and front of that government house the door was usually open and the older people and the kids — and there’s always at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch. They didn’t have nothing to do, they didn’t have nothing for their kids to do, they didn’t have nothing for the young girls to do. And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do? They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, well, are they better off as slaves picking cotton, having family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? [in-audible] Yeah, they did get no more freedom, they got less freedom, they had less family life. And their happiness, you could tell they weren’t happy sitting on that concrete sidewalk. Down there they could probably be growing their turnips. So that’s all government, that’s not freedom.”
That statement as well as Bundy himself were publicly vilified from practically every sector of political spectrum. Democrats, like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid D-Nevada were gleeful while Republicans, like Senator Dean Heller R-Nevada ran for the hills.
Overnight mainstream political support virtually vanished except for one notable exception Nevada Assemblyman John Ellison.
“Look the last person I am going to ask about race relations is a 70 year old white Mormon rancher from Bunkerville, Nevada,” Ellison said. “It was inarticulate and offensive and frankly he shouldn’t have said it. But no matter how wrong he was about race he is right about cows and ranching. For the past 20 years increases in grazing fees have squeezed dozens of family ranches out of business in Nevada. Ranching has always been a tough business but you could if you were careful make a decent living at it and support your family. Today you can’t. That is why I still support him but he really should get another guy to talk to the press.”
Ellison’s also said he planned to go through with his plan to sell magnetic bumper stickers using the phrase “I’m a Domestic Terrorist” .The phrase was first used to weeks ago by Reid to describe the Bundy family and their supporters which included several hundred members of the militia movement.
According to several news reports while other supporters of Bundy have since gone home the number of armed militia members in the area is at least stable and may be growing.
According to reports some of those supporters have set up road blocks and check points on roads to the ranch raising the ire of some residents and local politicians.
Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) expressed his concerns in a letter to Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie, citing comments from his constituents in the state’s 4th congressional district, which includes Bunkerville, the site of the camp that sprung up following Bundy’s declaration of defiance against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) earlier this month.
“We must respect individual constitutional liberties, but residents of and visitors to Clark County should not be expected to live under the persistent watch of an armed militia,” Horsford wrote. “Residents have expressed their desire to see these groups leave their community.”
Horford also stated in the letter that, according to constituents, members of militia groups have also “established a presence” on both highways in the area and churches and schools.
“I urge you to investigate these reports and to work with local leaders to ensure that their concerns are addressed in a manner that allows the community [to] move forward without incident,” the letter reportedly stated.
The Las Vegas Sun reported that police were investigating Horford’s allegations. One officer was quoted as saying that Gillespie was “in contact with multiple people in elected office” regarding the issue.
It is the fear of many that the armed militia added to Bundy’s supposed racist rant could give federal agents enough political cover to mount a Ruby Ridge style raid on the area, said Smith.
“We are all afraid of that happening,” he said.
Ruby Ridge was the site of a deadly confrontation and siege in northern Idaho in 1992 between Randy Weaver, his family and his friend Kevin Harris, and agents of the United States Marshals Service (USMS) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). It resulted in the death of Weaver’s son Sammy, his wife Vicki, and Deputy U.S. Marshal William Francis Degan.
Weaver who if not a member of the Aryan Nations at least attended some meetings of the group refused to become an informant to the FBI in exchange for the Bureau dropping illegal weapon sale charges against him.
While the federal government later paid him and his surviving children a multi-million dollar settlement for the wrongful deaths of his wife and son, no federal agent ever stood trial for their role in the siege or the shootings.
“The press and the government kept on saying Nazi and Aryan Nations,” Smith said. “So that made the shootings okay?”