The 1982 Self-Reliance and Survival Expo is one of those Kansas events. In this setting, Christian Identity groups and Survivalists came together in Kansas City. Gun and knife shows are a tradition in the Midwest and South. This show welcomed survivalists, as well as a group called the Covenant the Sword and the Arm of the Lord (CSA). What could the CSA offer audiences at the Kansas City Self-Reliance and Survival Expo? "For a fee, white (Christian) men could shoot machine guns at pop-up figures, knock down doors, and battle around mock buildings while tires burned to simulate urban riots" (61). Hardly the self-defense tactics typically touted at gun and knife shows.
Likewise, the Midwestern farm crisis provided fertile ground for The Posse Comitatus in the 1980's. This group was considered mainstream enough to have their own time on Kansas airwaves. "Gale joined Wickstrom in this crusade, and taped 'sermons' by the two Posse leaders were regularly broadcast on a Dodge City, Kansas radio station in 1982" (74). With an audience of listeners, no wonder Kansas was the site for a Posse Comitatus training assembly. "That same year Gale and Wickstrom organized a paramilitary training session on a farm near Weskan, Kansas, just across the border from Colorado" (74).
Similarly, 1983 events included a meeting at Cheney Lake, near Wichita, Kansas. So-called Christian Patriots dubbed it the Gordon Kahl Memorial Arts and Crafts Festival. Gordon Kahl's claim to fame included killing two federal marshals and escaping to the Ozark Mountains (75-6). Speakers at the lakeside event included a farmer from Halstead, Kansas and a sergeant from Fort Riley.
The Festival was not the only event held in Wichita. The city was also home to a convention of Freemen. Chapter 36 The Common Law Courts, Partners to the Militia explains these groups knowledgeable, albeit twisted, view of history. The 1990's Freemen believed that whites were given citizenship rights by God and all others by the fourteenth amendment (359). Montana Freemen trained followers in establishing and convening their own common law courts. "A band from Oklahoma called itself United Sovereigns of America and joined in 1995 with the Colorado veterinarian Gene Schroder to convene, in Wichita, Kansas, a common law convention of five hundred activists from across the country, further boosting the freemen's ideas and the common law court phenomenon" (360-1).
At his September lecture in Lawrence, the author encouraged his audience to note that there are many communities where these groups can gather in relative obscurity. Recruiting is done through old-fashioned meetings and pamphlets. Most importantly, Zeskind encouraged liberals to stop relying on social media and start talking to our neighbors. I intend to do more than talk; I intend to share this book.
Claudean, welcome to Kansas Free Press! This was a magnificent first posting! I for one definitely will check that book out at the local library. These are things we need to know about and get a handle on. Welcome!
Claudean, thanks for sharing this. Keep these type of posts coming. You have a lot to say.
Yes, I second what Marty said. Keep writing!