Back to the Future

Does the ICE Age call for a modern version of the Minutemen of the American Revolution?

“. . . Through all of our history, to the last

In the hour of darkness and peril and need

The people will waken and listen to hear

The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed

And the midnight message of Paul Revere”

— Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1860

As masked, armed and ill-trained goons armed with tear gas and badges appear in the nation’s towns and cities and the President threatens to invoke the Insurrection Act, another hour of darkness and peril and need has descended upon America.

Neither Congress nor the courts has summoned the courage to perform their constitutional duties, and military, law enforcement and intelligence officers say they are being forced to define what orders would be legal and which would constitute perfidy, war crimes or felonies.

As there was in 1775, though, there is something American citizens can do to combat what increasingly seems to be a growing effort to instigate more violence to justify deploying the armed forces in the nation’s streets, not to maintain order, but to quell dissent and crush opposition to the President’s domestic or foreign policies du jour.

Fittingly as the nation’s 250th birthday arrives, tearing a page from America’s revolutionary history might be helpful. Americans can meet ICE and the administration’s other enforcers in a way that vaguely resembles how our revolutionary ancestors in Massachusetts met the British troops barracked in Boston — but with cell phones and texts and cameras and Signal messages instead of church bells and muskets.

Indeed, the most important reason to organize peaceful and disciplined local protests is to deny the administration reasons to escalate the violence and free the President from any restrictions except, as he put it, his own morality, if there is any of that.

One way to do that would be to organize local protest companies, town by town, neighborhood by neighborhood. That’s what the townspeople outside Boston did in late 1774, after the British repealed the Massachusetts Charter of 1691 and gave unchecked power to the royal governor appointed by King George III.

The colonists organized small companies of men to “hold themselves on readiness at the shortest notice”. By January of 1775, the town of Concord had raised two companies of minutemen, with 52 men in each who trained for three hours twice a week. Early on the morning of April 19, four militia companies of farmers, carpenters and wheelwrights turned out when the meeting house bell tolled.

So what could today’s ordinary Americans in Minneapolis and elsewhere do in the face of the present danger? Opponents of the administration’s actions in their communities could organize local watch companies to monitor ICE flows 24/7, muster witnesses armed with cameras, music and protest signs and alert local journalists.

Ensuring that monitoring ICE’s and other agencies’ violent actions don’t interfere with law enforcement activities and remain visible, legal and above all peaceful, as Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and many others are urging, would require organization, communication, principles and leadership.

Nothing that could be called a weapon, however implausibly, belongs at a watch party. Nor do obscenities — those can be left to the President. Watch groups would need volunteers from a broad spectrum of the local population, and political bipartisanship would be especially valuable. So would a variety of experts, especially those experienced in maintaining calm in the face of danger. Think retired military and law enforcement officers, firefighters, clerics and lawyers and medical professionals who could teach a range of skills from deescalation to watching other protesters’ sixes to CPR, audio and video recording and relevant federal, state and local laws.

It might be wise to create a leadership structure and keep membership rolls, as the Revolution’s Minutemen did, and perhaps even make ID badges to minimize the danger of being infiltrated by Proud Boys and others aiming to discredit the protests. Also to hold regular meetings to provide training and fortify the commitment to non-violence and civility.

Perhaps half of each company should attend each meeting, and the other half should remain on hand to witness, record and publicize any efforts to disrupt, discredit or end the gatherings.

At Concord that April morning, the Minutemen assembled in a pasture above the North Bridge, and their descendants, call them Minute Watchers, should also hold the high ground.

More:

https://books.google.com/books/about/Massachusetts_Militia_Companies_and_Offi.html?id=NzdCAAAAIAAJ

https://apple.news/AEZ8vWEgOQqua3Rena166nw

https://apple.news/ANuX3_-lGQMa-y8mSk3atHQ

The Hidden Face of Domestic Intelligence

https://apple.news/AEtRZyya4RwCbsRKt00ew5A

https://apple.news/Ax7r0k3qGQ1CcOmgFQ4ci-g