Montana and Upper Left AFA

Hello, this post will introduce you to Montana Neo-Nazi Jesse Herring.

Jesse introduced himself to the world a year ago when he decided to show up at a weekly anti-Trump protest in Kalispell MT waving a nazi flag

Following this stunt, calls went out to identify this nazi. While his name was not confirmed until just recently, it was known at the time he was associated with the Kalispell Pioneer Little Europe or PLE. PLE are essentially whites-only communities, more info from the Southern Poverty Law Center: https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2013/closed-circuit

“The Pioneer Little Europe (PLE) concept was developed primarily by Hamilton Michael Barrett and Mark Cotterill, two white supremacists with both British and American connections, in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Essentially, PLEs recognize that grandiose plans such as the Northwest Territorial Imperative are doomed to failure, because white supremacists exist in too few numbers. The PLE concept argues instead for white supremacists to gather in already existing communities and form communities within a community so that “racially conscious” whites can survive (Barrett once called them “arks of survival”). Non-whites would theoretically depart, leaving white supremacist enclaves whose members would aid and assist each other.”

“Snowwhite1414”, a recruiter for the Kalispell PLE on Stormfront, posted Jesse’s nazi flag waving stunt on Stormfront as an act of recruitment, thus confirming suspicions that Jesse is an active member of the Kalispell PLE.

The PLE formed in Kalispell Montana when white nationalist April Gaede moved from California to the Flathead Valley in NW Montana in 2008 and began actively recruiting other white nationalists from around the country to move their as well. While the project only had limited sucess, it did attract vile nazis to the area. Following the formation of the PLE in Kalispell, particularly the PLE members showing holocaust denial films, community members formed together to create an affiliate group of the Montana Human Rights Network called Love Lives Here. These outraged community members, helped by ex-white nationalists who had left and denounced the movement, more or less were successful in forcing the nazis back underground and dismantling the PLE online presence. However, there are still a number of white nationalists and neo- nazis who had moved to the Kalispell area for the PLE still living around NW Montana. One of those recruited to move to Montana was Jesse Herring (Jesse goes by Rockwell’s Return, more on that latter). Although the PLE is gone, too many nazis remain and there are continued efforts by white nationalists to recruit fellow nazis to move to the Kalispell area. For more information about the Kalispell PLE and the nazis it attracted, please visit the Newsletter Archive page of the Montana Human Rights Network website: https://mhrn.org/reports/

Another stunt that Jesse pulled on behalf of the Kalispell PLE was going to bars in Flathead County wearing a swastika arm band.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unsurprisingly, Jesse didn’t last very long in the bars he showed up at before people kicked him out. The bars he went into were in very small towns outside of the Kalispell area. And, even though many people in these towns are conservative, the communities were still not very happy about having a swastika wearing nazi show up. At any rate, Jesse was chased out of the bar and had to be picked up and “rescued” by another PLE member, likely “snowwhite1414.” Local activists, who were unable to positively ID him at the time, so they turned him into a meme.

After Jesse was chased out of several bars for being a nazi, his friends at the PLE were not too happy. The put a call out on their Facebook page (the page is long deleted) asking for ID on those who confronted Jesse and forced him out of the bars.

*the faces of those who confronted Jesse have been blacked out.

So, now, how do we know that this particular nazi is names Jesse Herring. Good question; here is the proof:

Jesse posts on Facebook under name Rockwell’s Return. When some folks said Jesse had to be rescued by his mom after being chased out of bar, he replied:

Side note: the name Rockwell’s Return refers to George Lincoln Rockwell who founded the American Nazi Party in the early 1960s.

Lots of nazis use name Rockwell so it was difficult to narrow down until he posted some new pictures of himself in late January 2021. One of the photos posted on the Rockwell’s Return Facebook also happened to match the photo on a Eth. Nat. Network You Tube page

Looking at videos posted on this Eth. Nat. Network channel, Jesse introduces himself and shows the same flag he was flying on the streets of Kalispell.

Then we found his BitChute channel, and he conveniently posts the name Jesse Herring and Rockwell’s Return together.

As you can see, Jesse convienently published both his name Jesse Herring and Rockwell’s Return in one location. For those unfamiliar with Bit Chute, it is a cesspool of white nationalism, trolling, hate, violent threats, nazi propaganda. Here are some of Jesse’s comments.

Here is just a brief glance at Jesse’s Bit Chute channel

While Jesse has not been as active in the last few months or so, in that he hasn’t posted videos since fall 2020, he is still posting racist comments on BitChute and likely elsewhere as recently as January/February 2021.

So, we here at Montana AFA feel very confident in our identification of Jesse Herring, DOB 9/8/1997, as the person behind the nazi Facebook, You Tube, and Bit Chute accounts Rockwell’s Return. Although the last time Jesse was seen publicly wearing nazi attire was February 2020, he most likely still lives in the Kalispell area. However, he is from California and and his family still lives there. According to Jesse’s You Tube video uploads, he was in San Bernardino in September 2020. Jesse also has a history of having lived in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

 

If anyone has any further information or questions about Jesse, the Kalispell PLE, white nationalist activity in Montana, please feel free to contact us at mountain161@protonmail.com

Welcome. This post will contain information about active Proud Boys in the state of Montana. Montana PB are a fairly small group, but rapidly growing and should be considered an active cause for concern if not an active threat to their community. Despite existing only loosely for less than a year, MT PB have been seen at events in Seattle, Portland, and Washington D.C. Their activities have significantly increased during the fall of 2020. Of particular note with Montana Proud Boys, as with other members of the far right in MT, there are a lot of guns and these MT PB have access to militia-level of guns and ammo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: In June of 2021 I was notified that Dallas Davis had quit the Montana Proud Boys. The Parler page for the Helena chapter was taken down, as was the recruiting email. His likely telegram is deleted. Dallas was followed as president of the Helena chapter by Thomas Reeder (TR Gunz). The Helena MT chapter now seems to be reluctantly lead by Mike Ronayne.

Dallas grew up in California and moved to Helena Montana from Bakersfield in 2017.  In Montana, Dallas worked at a water sports rental business that closed in the summer of 2020 as customers evaporated due to Covid concerns. Contacts to his current employer are being made by local activists.

Dallas is one of those many reactionary conservatives that might very well be violent, but can also do some good things. For instance, Dallas has volunteered for a few years helping people whose cars get stuck in the snow. But this volunteer effort is similar to his and the Proud Boy claims that they are fighting to protect America; it is a narrow definition of America, one that only includes people that look and think like him. He traveled across state lines to join in the commitment of racist crimes and to stand firmly in opposition to the idea that Black Lives Matter while rioting and seeking to overturn the results of a democratic election. For Dallas and the other Proud Boys, if you aren’t cisgender, white, conservative, and US born than you don’t count as a full citizen and thus your vote is illegitimate and you deserve to be violently assaulted in the streets.   This leads me to the next Montana Proud Boy we have the displeasure of introducing: Michael Ronayne.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Ronayne is a 51 year old former tradskin head from the Bay Area. He goes by the online names Bike Sky Mike, Big Sky Proud Boy, SockPuppet 1, and Meerkat Mafia, which seems to be a sticker patch organization that he claims to have founded. He moved to Boulder Montana several years ago. He worked as a pharmacy tech for a bit until he was fired. He is now self employed, primarily as a painter, registered with the state under the name Traditional Furnishings. Mike claims that he is not racist or a bonehead, merely a skinhead. We have no problem with skinheads; many of us grew up in the punk scene. But Mike has white straight laces on his Docs. If you’re not familiar with skinhead culture, that typically implies the owner of those Docs supports white power. Mike also likes to take selfies flashing the white power hand sign. Now, some might say that he is just using the OK hand symbol or playing the circle game. However, it was not until the OK symbol became coopted by the right to stand for white power that Mike first started showing it off publicly in photos. More over, Mike is a big fan of the racist apartheid state of Rohdesia. For those unfamiliar with Rohdesia, it was a break away state in South Africa where white people, alarmed at the prospect of black African self-rule and decolonization, proclaimed their own state based on militant white power and racism. Rohdesia lasted from 1965 until 1979, with the Republic of Zimbabwe forming in its place in 1980. Make Zimbabwe Rohdesia again is a racist rally call used by white supremacists all around the world. So, using such language really calls into question Mike’s claim that he is not a racist.

 

Mike is not only a racist supporter of white power, when called out for being racist he makes the even more problematic claim that he self identifies as Mexican and thus isn’t racist. There is a lot to unpack here. First, several Montana Proud Boys are “self-identifying” as Mexican because they think it’s a funny way to stick it to the liberals. It is also them mocking gender queer, non-binary, and trans individuals. Third, these claims are a cheep deflection away from having to explain their racist statements. Last: Mike is Irish; and, moreover, he is really proud of his “European Blood.” His use of the phrase “European Blood” should raise red flags for anyone who is even just a little bit familiar with fascist language. The use of “blood,” as compared to even heritage, reflects the Nazi Germany slogan “blood and soil” which referred to the Nazi ideal of a racially defined and pure national body.

It should be clear now that Michael Ronayne is racist. But now lets dive into how he is an active threat to not only Boulder and the rest of Montana, but also the rest of the nation since he has traveled to DC at least twice to join the Proud Boys in committing violent attacks. First, Mike has a rather large collection of guns, mostly assault rifles. It’s not that unusual for someone in Montana, particularly a more rural place like Boulder, to have lots of guns. However, Mike has an unusual collection of weapons that are designed more for gorilla warfare than hunting or self-protection including an assault rifle that Mike claims was from the Rhodesian Bush War. Moreover, unlike the Montana Militia and other reactionary and neo-fascist groups in Montana, which are also racist and have lots of guns, Mike has shown a willingness to leave the woods and travel to liberal cities with the intention of attacking leftists. For example, recently during the January 6, 2021 Washington D.C. right wing riot and Capitol attack, Mike was seen at the front line of the assault near the fence along side known reactionary Joe Biggs.

 

(Above: Mike and his collection of guns). Large amount of guns, a tattoo that says “join or die” and a willingness to travel across the country to attack those he disagrees with politically, should make it clear that Michael Ronayne is a dangerous, active threat to his local community of Boulder Montana, the state of Montana, as well as anywhere else he happens to travel particularly Washington D.C.

Finally, it should be noted that all of this information came from publicly available data and sources. These photos were freely posted on the internet, publicly, by the individuals themselves, thus eliminating any expectation of privacy. This expose has been the result of hard work by several activists from Montana and elsewhere who are dedicated to keeping their communities safe from fascist violence. This is an active project, and our deep gratitude and thanks goes out to all who provided tips as well as those who are activly involved. If anyone has any information or questions about the Proud Boys in Montana, as well as any other active right wing threats, please contact mountain161@protonmail.com