What was Shawna Forde thinking?
Shawna Forde, a lost soul in Everett and the world of anti-immigrant terrorism, is now accused of murder. It adds another dark chapter to Everett's history and to the stories of mayhem caused by 'true believers.'
There are times when the arc of Greek tragedy morphs into horror. On Friday the saga of Shawna Forde, 41, birddogged and recounted by the Everett Herald, abruptly turned into a perverted cross between Euripides and the Coen brothers. On May 30, authorities allege, Forde, along with fellow Everett-ite and Minuteman American Defense honcho Jason "Gunny" Bush, and another man, Albert Gaxiola, committed a home invasion in rural Arizona that left a nine-year old child and her father dead.
It was a ferocious crime with an overlay of hate (the family was Mexican), but an apparent motive as old as Eve: the cardinal sin of greed. One more "God no!" layer was added Monday when the Herald's Scott North reported that Forde's compatriot, Jason Bush, has also now been charged with the murder of an Hispanic man in Eastern Washington a dozen years ago.
For months the Herald has ably tracked Forde's cascading bad luck, legerdemain, and conspiracy. Her ex-husband was mysteriously shot in December of 2008, and Forde herself was allegedly raped and beaten the subsequent week. In January of this year, Forde suffered a bullet wound to her arm. Was she the target of pro-immigrant forces incensed by her border-watch activism? What emerged instead was a clouded picture that appeared part X Files and part paranoid drivel.
Forde's straight line from the banality of a lost soul to the evil of American terrorist now seems preordained. She was the unstable leader of an Everett-based nativist fringe group, Minutemen American Defense. A classic misfit and troubled kid searching for a higher calling, she became a hate cliche, emblematic of the mass-movement absolutists described by Eric Hoffer in his 1951 masterpiece, The True Believer.
Hoffer observed how nationalists, Communists, and extremists of all stripes are curiously interchangeable. True believers feel oppressed and gravitate to movements that portend a new day in the stark clarity of pure beliefs.
Shawna Forde and her American Minutemen Defense aren't an historic blip to be dismissed as outliers that evolved in a vacuum. Time "streams," as Richard Neustadt and Ernest May have argued. Tease up the thread of Shawna Forde and the long seam of nativist bigotry begins to unravel, much of it here in the Northwest. There were the Aryan Nations, the Militia movement of the 1990s, the anti-Indian-fishing forces, the John Birch Society, executive order 9066 to intern Japanese Americans during WWII, the Fascist Silver Shirts active on Whidbey Island, the KKK, the American Protective Association, and anti-Chinese pogroms to name a few. They all stood on the shoulders of the Know Nothing movement of the 1840s and those perennial forces that scapegoat and deal in xenophobia.
The leaders of these groups wrote a kind of lesser-angels' catechism that indoctrinated the credulous and the vulnerable. As Hoffer wrote years ago, "It is by its promise of a sense of power that evil often attracts the weak."
One of the best books written about any community, Norman H. Clark's Mill Town, documents some of the history of Everett's nativist elements. John W. Frame, a progressive news editor and politico in the 1890s, tried to fight the bigoted American Protective Association (APA) which extended its tendrils into both political parties and the populist movement. Clark writes:
When Frame first settled in Everett, the APA had already applied pressures to have the federal government close a Catholic school which had for years served Indian families at Tulalip. The APA controlled the city school board and was making the most of the confusion in county and municipal politics..."Apaism," as Frame called it, easily infected every dispute or debate. Frame was infuriated by the political behavior of many recent immigrants from Norway, Sweden, Germany, and England — some of them unable to speak English — who had swallowed "Apaism" and were incanting "American for Americans" against the local Catholics, most of whom were native born.
It all sadly rings true. My own Norse grandparents bolted from Everett's First Lutheran Church in the early 1900's because they feared it had grown "too damn much like the Catholics." (Someone at church must have brought in a poinsettia or, worse, smiled at them.)
Everett, like most Western towns, is chiaroscuro, weaving together the forces of light and dark. The 1916 Everett Massacre marked the culmination of the city's radicalism and class conflict as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) battled a sadistic county Sheriff, Donald McRae.
On Friday the PBS program NOW cited a Department of Homeland Security report predicting an uptick of right-wing domestic violence. The Forde story now falls together with the shooting of abortion doctor George Tiller and the murder of security guard Stephen Johns by white supremacist James von Brunn at the Holocaust Memorial Museum.
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Comments:
Posted Tue, Jun 16, 6:53 a.m. inappropriate
This woman and those with her that commited this hanis crime are criminals, and the law will deal with them.
To put all minutemen into this same group is just like saying all police officers are bad because of one bad apple! Cannot do that it is untrue reporting and factually incorrect.
Minutemen and women around the country have and are saving lives every day at our southern borders, saving lives of those people who enter into the US in very dangerous regions.
This woman and her people are the criminals, not the other 99.9999999% of the minutemen & women who risk there lives to do what the government fails to do.
Posted Tue, Jun 16, 8:46 a.m. inappropriate
Yeah, right. Not many racists among Minutemen. Not many xenophobes. And they're around to protect the people crossing the border. Riiiiight.
Posted Tue, Jun 16, 1:15 p.m. inappropriate
This is truly a sad situation, so sorry for the loss of life. Shawna is a nut case to put it simply. But the MCDC has no ties to Shawna, she was kicked out several years ago for not meetng the criteria of the minutemen.
I myself am a minuteman and a legal immigrant. The movement is not against legal immigration, but illegal aliens, for they are not immigrants, to say so is an insult to every legal immigrant who did it the right way.
I want all illegal aliens gone and stopped from re entry, even if they come from my own country of birth. So tired of media bias, and not giving Americans a chance to tell their stories.
Posted Tue, Jun 16, 2:44 p.m. inappropriate
She is a long term well known Minutemen racist, spoken of in glowing terms by fellow neo-Nazi Jim Gilchrist. I see that some racist scumbags are trying to demand that she isn't one of them while others are openly applauding her crimes. Amazing.
Posted Tue, Jun 16, 2:50 p.m. inappropriate
Oh: Crooks and Liars has been covering this woman, her fellow "Minutemen," and the crimes that they committed as well as the stated motivations of these "Minutemen" domestic terrorists. Numerous videos have been posted to YouTube covering news reports that delve in to the history behind all three terrorists.
So it's rather lame to see people trying to demand she's some how not a "Minuteman." She was touted as being a cult follower of a neo-Nazi organization called FAIR but that was a mistake, the original FAIR cultist was canceled before a show and she stepped in, but she apparen tly doesn't have ties to FAIR other than ideological ones.
The DHS report on home grown right wing domestic terrorism was spot on.
Also when the right wing Republican hate mongers continue to try to deny that their fellow Republicans are some how one of them just because the murder, it only goes to prove that hate filled Republicans know that their ideologies of hatred and bigotry are unsavory. These "Minutemen" scumbags embrase neo-Nazism because that's where they draw their ranks.
My opinions only and only my opinions, as always.
Posted Tue, Jun 16, 4:15 p.m. inappropriate
You know, the number of violence by women is steadily growing. You do have to wonder what got into her head. I would bet the chances are she had a tough time growing up and was looking for a way to express her anger. As anyone interested in politics on the internet knows, people often use political issues to blow off anger that comes from any number of personal issues. Why? Because it's a safe way to let off steam and who's the wiser? But can you imagine what we'd see if all of them turned to crime instead as Shawna? I doubt there would be anyone commenting here that would be able to throw the first stone at anyone else.
Posted Tue, Jun 16, 9:42 p.m. inappropriate
If i understand this all American citizens who follow the law and object to criminal workers stealing our jobs and costing us billion's every year are racist? I only have one thing to say go back to the country you came from and imigrate here the right way like my parents did. with ten million people out of work in this country we should be rounding up this scum and shipping them home.
Posted Wed, Jun 17, 5:46 a.m. inappropriate
@bigdaddy: It's racist because the anger, hatred, and objections are only directed at Mexican immigrants. If the people complaining about immigration were truly not racist, they'd be directing their efforts and comments at "illegal" immigrants of all races.
And calling them "scum" certainly doesn't help you prove your point either.
Posted Wed, Jun 17, 8:05 a.m. inappropriate
Not everyone is angry with the immigrants. I am more angry with George Bush who made an agreement with Presidente Fox that it would be fine for the poor members of his party to come on up. The members of his party are for globalism because they have been told it is the answer to all their problems. There are a large number of them here now, a force to be contended with and both parties work to get their votes. The wealthy also love the idea of cheap labor and being a member of the ruling class of America.
So, these poor people trekked through all kinds of hardships and dangers to cross that border, most on foot. Remember this area is full of vicious gangs who rape and murder seemingly for no reason.
What a great favor Fox and Bush did for them. Most will have work but probably in poor conditions and never earn enough to pay car insurance or anything else. When America went through the Great Depression people went back to the farms to survive. Well, we have no farms to go to and if we tried we would find immigrants doing all those jobs and other jobs that people commonly take because they hit a bad patch and not have to start all over or hang in until things look better. They don't want unemployment or welfare, they would rather work, but honey we are going to create a new welfare class instead.
That's what makes me mad. Bush knew that the economy would go, Lord, he may have even helped it so all his friends could get cheaper labor/workers. For some reason this was fine with the Democrats too. Forget jobs, just think cheap.
I feel sorry for the illegals immigrants that are decent people that want to work. I don't feel sorry for the ones that are gang members who have moved into my area and stay in trouble with the law.
Posted Wed, Jun 17, 2:29 p.m. inappropriate
pebblecreek i never mentioned any race however you did so who is the racist? I guess by your reasoning a murderer is just an accidental life taker also scum these people who come here from any country illegally are criminals period.When a criminal immigrant gets a fake document that is fraud also when he gets a fake social security card he is stealing someones identity also a crime in this country.
Posted Wed, Jun 17, 9:20 p.m. inappropriate
Don't be coy b.d., in the context of this discussion Shawna Forde and her fellow Minutemen are all hopped up about one target only and that's Mexicans. You spring to their defense all indignant about the claims of racism, and yet you can't bother to read what they've written or said on the topic?
The rest of your post is incomprehensible, presumably pretending to be riled up about the illegality of it all. "On noes, someone crossed the border to get a job and put food on the table for their family--the horror!! And I was so hoping to get that dish-washing job at the truck stop!"
I sincerely hope you observe all the traffic laws, because wrecks on the road cause more astronomically more deaths each year than immigrants ever have..
Posted Thu, Jun 18, 2:12 a.m. inappropriate
Guess what folks there are actually some mexicans in the minuteman movement. And the MMP is not connected to the MCDC. Get your facts straight. We are against all illegal aliens, and welcome legal immigration.
Posted Thu, Jun 18, 10:57 a.m. inappropriate
Yes, it's a common occurence for a "movement" to have multiple faces--some groups provide a public face for political purposes, while the other groups perform the violence to put the bite behind the bark.
The fact that the Minuteman groups have split in this way this does demonstrate some degree of sophistication, but does not remove the stain of violence from the movement as a whole. Group A's violence strengthens Group B's intimidation and harassment. Group B's rhetoric incites more of Group A's violence. Both groups are responsible for the damage they do.
And let's not overlook the fact that though groups can maintain a separation on paper, they can also overtly work together and support each other. Jim Gilchrist, president of the Minuteman Project referred members to Shawna Forde's group (Minuteman American Defense):
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20090103/NEWS01/701039902
For now the only links between the MCDC and Forde's group are her previous membership with them and their shared agenda. At this point noone has looked into overlapping membership or donors.
Posted Thu, Jun 18, 11:08 a.m. inappropriate
MCDC and Shawna Forde have no shared agenda.
Posted Thu, Jun 18, 11:58 a.m. inappropriate
The Minuteman "mission statement" might be reasonable (though I don't agree with it), but there's no doubt that it draws a lot of xenophobes and racists.
Posted Thu, Jun 18, 4:48 p.m. inappropriate
Shawna Forde should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law!! She is a murderer and a menace to society!! FAIR and the minutemen organization should be sued!
Have a great day