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A report from several groups in Tacoma, Washington who quickly mobilized against a small group of neo-Nazis, after they blanketed a neighborhood with flyers.

Sunday morning, residents of the diverse Eastside of Tacoma woke up to something more than debris from the previous night’s wind storm in their front yards on Sunday, January 6th. Sometime during the night members of Patriot Front, an ultra-nationalist and fascist spinoff of Vanguard America post-Charlottesville, had placed weighted sandwich baggies containing a small propaganda flyer on at least 100 front yards and driveways.

They apparently targeted the three blocks surrounding our house. My wife and some of the neighbors just walked around and collected as many of these as we could find. We will not be intimidated. pic.twitter.com/Q6FBWA4XBg — nate bowling (Megan Rapinoe is my President) (@nate_bowling) January 6, 2019

Early morning joggers in the area were quick to act and began collecting the fascist trash. They were soon joined by various neighbors, including members of Tacoma Against Nazis, and were able to quickly collect the flyers before too many residents of the area even realized the fascist harassment had occurred. With the immediate threat removed, Tacoma Against Nazis and the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club began planning for a swift joint response.

James Daniel Valentine is a 27 year old American neo-Nazi who lives in his mother’s house with his wife Christine in Lakebay, Washington. Seen here putting up various Patriot Front flyers.

Jacob Prior, a 25 year old neo-Nazi and racist skinhead living in Gig Harbor, Washington. Deeply involved in local Patriot Front activity.

Thanks to the prior work of area anti-fascists groups, organizations like the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights, and websites such as Puget Sound Anarchists, such research has helped to expose white supremacists throughout the Northwest. Currently, local members of Patriot Front are well-known in the South Sound and it was a safe assumption that Jacob Landis Prior and “Goodest Boy” James Daniel Valentine were directly involved in the Tacoma flyering. (A number of other communities throughout Puget Sound were also hit overnight.)

After Neo-Nazi hate propaganda was littered in multiple neighborhoods in Edmonds early yesterday morning, the community gathered to say #notinourtown and #LoveWins! @georginasmouth @donnamurph pic.twitter.com/g9H2ohm93f — Mindy Woods (@Hopedealer19) January 8, 2019

After collecting as many flyers as they could find, a covert group of TAN and PSJBGC members decided to return the trash to its origin. Also selected to receive a goodie bag of fascist trash were Tac Town Tattoo, owned by known Nazi skinheads and Northwest Hammerskins Crew 38 members Jason “Gravy” Disemas, and Ryan “Irma” Carr, sister to Gravy and piercer at Tac Town Tattoo, due to their friendship with Prior and the cover that they provide for his activities with Patriot Front.

Today we went out with friends at @DisconnectWP and returned the garbage flyers that fascists left in our communities. We dropped off their trash on doorsteps of noted Patriot Front members, and those of their neo-nazi friends at Tac Town Tattoo. Now, stay out! pic.twitter.com/DGf7GFmrCl — Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club (@PugetSoundJBGC) January 7, 2019

After shredding the fascist trash so that it could not be reused, TAN and PSJBGC members coordinated simultaneous drops at the homes of Prior, Valentine, Carr, and at Tac Town Tattoo with personalized notes and anti-fascist stickers so there could be no mistaking where the bags came from. While TAN and PSJBGC each fight fascists in their own way, they often work together because they share a common enemy and the belief that a diversity of tactics is the key to building an anti-fascist community.

Each group got to their target, delivered their package, and most importantly, got home safely. Actions such as this would not be possible without the ongoing leg work and research of the Puget Sound Anarchists, Eugene Antifa, and countless others. Our strength as anti-fascists comes through our use of a diversity of tactics. Whether we doxx Nazis, punch them in the face, confront them or picket, it’s important that we can rely on one another when fighting the fascist creep.