How to Use This Toolkit
We created this toolkit to serve the needs of journalists, public officials, and—especially—those people who are most affected by the Patriot movement. In this toolkit you will find the resources that have allowed communities to effectively organize to take their communities back, including background information, economic and political context, studies of effective organizing, the organizing tools that have been successfully used, rebuttals for Patriot talking points, safety and security checklists, and more. Read this toolkit cover to cover, or jump to the sections that will support your best organizing.
Spencer Sunshine provides a study of the Patriot movement, profiling key groups and showing the movement’s roots in earlier White supremacist organizing. He also provides detailed reporting on what the movement is doing now in six Oregon counties to help community members navigate the challenge.
For a quick look at the claims of the Patriot movement and how to respond to them, use the “Taking on Patriot Movement Talking Points” by Rural Organizing Project .
Professors Dan HoSang and Steve Beda track the real economic and political crises facing our rural communities. They spell out how the Patriot movement’s singular solution of putting public land in private hands simply will not work.
The section “Organizing for an Oregon Where Everyone Counts” shares case studies of and lessons learned from counties who have resisted this movement, as well as sample tools like signature ads and press statements. We hope these case studies help inspire and encourage the understanding of how different strategies and tactics can be used in a community facing the militia.
Use the resources and tools—from “Starting A Group and Planning Your First Meeting” to “Creating a Culture of Safety and Security”—to guide you through the steps of bringing people together, planning events and activities, and deciding on the best strategies that work for your community.
We hope that this toolkit will serve to inspire you, to offer concrete tools and resources, and to encourage you to join the thousands of Oregonians who are showing up for the greater good of their communities.
If this toolkit finds you because you are a community in crisis, we hope that this can offer you some support. We also encourage you to give Rural Organizing Project or Political Research Associates a call. We invite you to join us to build a vision for stronger, vibrant, and more just rural communities together.