White extremism is winning in my Vermont town.

i'll call BS

what is the murder rate in the Vermont hood?

White extremism is winning in my Vermont town. I'm selling my animal sanctuary and moving.


The assault-weaponed bullies are winning on my road, and I refuse to weaponize myself to fight back. My town is unsafe if you're non-white or unarmed.
Michael ShankOpinion contributor


There’s a movement metastasizing across America. It’s well armed, it’s extreme, and it’s led largely by white men. They’re enraged, they’re feeling entitled, and they’re taking ground wherever it’s given. And while the movement clearly got new wind in its sails under the Trump administration, it’s now self-sustaining. The Jan. 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill was just the tip of this seething iceberg, as last week’s anguished police testimony to Congress made clear. This movement isn’t going away anytime soon.

It’s everywhere. It’s even in Vermont, where I live, which some people mistakenly consider a progressive haven. It’s bullied countless people of color in Vermont – who had to flee their communities because it became increasingly hostile and unsafe for them – and now it’s pushing me out, too. I’m selling my farm this summer, in fact, because the assault-weaponed bullies are winning on my road, and I refuse to stoop to their level and weaponize myself to fight back.


The Wild West of the Northeast
In states like Vermont, it’s easy to be an armed white extremist. It’s why NBC’s "Saturday Night Live" did a sketch with actor Adam Driver suggesting that Vermont was a neo-Confederate paradise. It is. There’s little to keep you accountable or keep you in check here. The Brady Campaign once called Vermont’s gun laws the worst in the nation. The Giffords Center gives its gun laws a C minus. As one local official told me, this is the Wild West of the Northeast. And as I pack up my farm and move out, this is becoming all too clear to me.

"White Lives Matter More" and AB (Aryan Brotherhood) painting at neighbor's home in southern Vermont.
Armed militias do well here. Not only does Vermont’s Department of Public Safety fail to crack down on armed white extremists, due in part to lax local laws, the State Police discriminate against the people of color running from those very extremists. I’m not making this up. There are countless stories like this. In fact, if you’re a person of color here in Vermont,the bias and discrimination shown by Vermont State Police are pervasive and persistent. This state is not a safe place if you are non-white, unarmed or both.

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