‘Orange County can be the next Kenosha’: Patriot Front propaganda found near campus

Chapman University law student Michael Mermelstein found stickers from Patriot Front, a white supremacist group, posted at Bruxie and along West Sycamore Avenue Sept. 1. SAM ANDRUS Photo Editor

Third-year law student Michael Mermelstein was getting lunch near Chapman University with his three-month-old son when he came across a sticker posted on one of the columns at Bruxie. Upon closer inspection, Mermelstein was incensed, reading the words, “America first” and “Patriot Front,” and proceeded to rip off the message as best he could.

“It’s not just a sticker,” Mermelstein said. “The fact of recruiting college students to be a part of a far-right militia is worse … and has a more immediate effect on the safety of students and the safety of students who are recruited.”

The Patriot Front sticker read, “America first,” earlier in the day before being ripped at. Photo courtesy of Michael Mermelstein

Patriot Front is a white supremacist organization that has placed its insignia on Chapman’s campus on at least four separate occasions, beginning August 2019. Not long after its leader, Thomas Rousseau, was arrested Aug. 1 in Weatherford, Texas, for placing stickers on a county courthouse lawn, the group’s propaganda resurfaced Sept. 1 in Orange, California, during the first week of Chapman’s fall semester.

The timing is no coincidence, said Pete Simi, a Chapman sociology professor who specializes in studying extremist and hate groups. In relation to the recent counter-protest in Portland, Oregon, or the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Simi states radical President Donald Trump followers are motivated by his public acknowledgment.

“(Trump is) defending his supporters,” Simi said. “When you have the highest leader in the country essentially endorsing this kind of behavior and these kinds of groups and what they represent, this is just a recipe for disaster.”

Chapman Chief of Public Safety Randy Burba and Orange Police Department Public Information Officer Phil McMullin did not hear or report any accounts of the signage prior to The Panther’s notification.

“(We) have no tolerance for hate groups of any kind,” Burba told The Panther. “We have security measures in place and will take appropriate action if we determine there is a safety risk for the campus community.”

Patriot Front last visited campus March 3, the same day as Super Tuesday. With the imminent Nov. 3 election drawing nearer, Simi argues efforts to encourage local Chapman students and Orange residents to join the white nationalist organization will only increase.

“Patriot Front is part of a much larger ecosystem. The ideas they represent … it’s anti-democratic, it’s creeping fascism, it’s authoritarianism,” Simi said. “Orange County can be the next Kenosha if we allow these types of vigilante groups to arm themselves and engage with the public.”

In November 2019, Mermelstein spoke with Dean of Students Jerry Price and Cross-Cultural Center Program Coordinator Tim Topper about creating a task force against hate speech and related signage around campus.

“It is still our intent to form a group of students to have meaningful discussions about how we might handle issues surrounding offensive speakers, comments in class, flyers (and more),” Price told The Panther. “Typically, we like to give students and faculty a few weeks at the beginning of the semester to get their academic footing, but I think we will be proceeding shortly after that.”

As the symposium editor of the Diversity and Social Justice Forum at the Fowler School of Law, Mermelstein said the student-run publication is drafting an open letter to call attention to minority students’ hardships and feelings of isolation during this politically driven time.

“The reality is there’s a lot that goes between free speech and safety. Overly prioritizing free speech at the expense of safety – there has to be some line between that,” he said. “The act of recruiting college students to be a part of a far-right group is too far.”

Update Sept. 8, 12:55 p.m. PT: President Daniele Struppa released an email updating all Chapman students on the university’s commitment to opposing racism. He asked that the students report any signage linked to Patriot Front to Chapman Public Safety or the Dean of Students office.