One of the claims that the far-right groups make to deny their bigotry is the presence of the odd person of color in their ranks. For example in Washington State, Tusitala “Tiny” Toese acts as an enforcer for the far-right and neo-fascist Patriot Prayer group and is a member of the Proud Boys:
At a "Free Alex Jones" demonstration in Austin they claimed was all about free speech, Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys fell back on their typical playbook: threats and physical intimidation. https://t.co/FkvQMy3H8T— Hatewatch (@Hatewatch) September 30, 2018
In Canada, there are a few people that fit this category. Ron Banerjee, Sandra Solomon, and the Ontario Proud Boy member named Lawrence in Ontario are among those individuals who fit into this category:
The three of them are Islamophobic and racists in their own right, but they serve the roll of being the "POC friend" that groups like the Proud Boys, Northern Guard, Soldiers of Odin, and others can point to to claim they aren't racists in spite of the language they use to describe POC when they think their conversations are between members only.
In sort, these people are tokens.
Token is an ugly word to describe another human being and not one that I trot out casually. But when you are a POC who continually supports people who malign other POC, I'm not sure how else to describe you.
In Alberta, Win Nay would best described in this manner:
Win Nay is a Burmese-Canadian who has been present at most far-right events in the Edmonton area during the past year or so. He associates with the Soldiers of Odin:
The virulently Islamophobic, quasi-militia, Onward Christian Soldiers:
The III% militia, here in an image that he has photoshoped to include himself and the Threeper logo:
Two groups I've never heard of, the Minuteman Alliance and Human Rights Defenders of Canada (the later image also photoshoped to include disgraced Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi; last week Parliament unanimously voted to strip her of her honorary Canadian citizenship):
Northern Guard, Worldwide Coalition Against Islam, Proud Boys. All of these are groups that consider Win Nay to serve their purposes and he is all too willing to play the roll they have given him:
If were cynical one might suggest that there are so few POC willing to debase themselves by associating with these hate groups that they have decided to share him.
Win is now part of yet another group, the ridiculously named Canadian Combat Coalition:
In this case and unlike the other instances however, he's not on the periphery but has been given some authority within the group having been names the Alberta chapter leader:
I still get a kick out of how they all believe that becoming a chapter head of a hate group that other fringe groups consider to be fringe is somehow a prestigious honor.
But there is a fly in the ointment here as Ryan Dean, the founder of the (ugh) Canadian Combat Coalition is a resident of Alberta. He was kicked out of his own group about two years back and there's been no love lost between him and Dan Dubois because of it. Dean is currently (as far as I know) still under house arrest after his conviction for domestic abuse, but he hasn't taken well to learning the CCC will be operating in the province again and contacted Win making veiled threats.
Win's response might not be as helpful as he might believe:
Win posted a screen shot of part of this exchange. Another individual, "Greg Huck", who is almost certainly Ryan Dean posting under a false name as he does (badly) so often, provided another part of the exchange to counter Win:
Neither of these scree shots make either of the two men look good:
Yeah.... they are threatening a gun battle because that certainly doesn't make them both look like violent criminals.
