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About a week before the fires I went to a militia meeting where people were preparing to do exactly this in Southern Oregon. They planned on blockading the highways in case of civil unrest following the elections. https://twitter.com/multcoso/status/1304631505314930688
They expected caravans of refugees from big cities like Seattle and Portland to come fleeing to rural towns, escaping violent protests that'd result from the elections. They feared not having enough resources for them. Food & water shortages, etc
They had a strict "no talking to the media" policy but they let me listen. At the time it seemed more like disaster preparedness to me. They wanted to know how to take care of people in their community in case ~stuff~ hit the fan. No long guns or being "billy bad asses."
In hindsight though I'm wondering who they envisioned as being part of their community. Would they help immigrant families that lived there? Other people of color? Unsheltered people? I didnt have a chance to dig into this.
Someone asked if they'd always default to whatever law enforcement told them to do. The leader gave a long answer that was basically "no." The sheriff hadn't returned their calls.
Someone else asked what they should do if they ran into a family from a big city who needed help. Should they help them? That question went unanswered.
