Since their origin over a decade ago, the three percenter movement has grown across the continent and escalated their tactics. As of late, they intermingle with white nationalists and openly share that ideology. Below we recap their history and highlight the concerning local connections to Sacramento and Northern California, including Jill and Daniel Seoane. Daniel has been seen frequently at far right events, and Jill is a home healthcare worker, who is placing her patients lives at risk because of her political leanings. The contact for Jill’s employer and more information about both of these individuals is available at the end of the article.
Co-founded in 2008 by Michael Vanderboegh, a veteran of the 90’s militia movement who died of cancer in 2016, the three percenter movement consists of autonomous chapters throughout North America, primarily in the US. The name itself comes from an oral myth that only three percent of the male population in the American colonies was willing to fight in the Patriot armies during the Revolutionary war against the British. As such, the three percenter movement imagines itself defending the US constitution, willing to arm itself and fight against what they see as an encroaching federal tyranny. Similarly, they claim to oppose federal involvement in local issues, and in their bylaws it states that county sheriffs are “the supreme law of the land.” Knowing the origin of sheriffs as slave catchers in the antebellum south, this provides a clear marker in understanding their racist world view. From the onset, they take great pride in America usurping an occupying force to then assert a white supremacist nation built on the genocide of indigenous people and chattel slavery. With this is mind, the connections between many members of the three percenter movement and the white nationalist movement become easier to see and identify whether they be the neo-Nazis many three percenters have actively organized with or the misogynistic, racist, and anti-LGBTQ views many members espouse publicly and online. It is clear who they really are. The three percenter movement is bound in logic and ideology with the white nationalist project and should be understood as a threat to the safety and existence of our communities.
BACKGROUND
Michael Vanderboegh’s influence on the far-right militia movement dates back to the mid 90’s when he wrote and published “Strategy and Tactics for a Militia Civil War,” a post-Waco call to arms. In the mid-2000s, he engaged in racist patrols along the Mexican border with his very small Alabama minuteman support team who were looking for individuals crossing the border. By 2008 around the same time that he co-founded the far-right three percenter militia he wrote and published on his blog a fictional novel titled Absolved. In this novel members of a militia, after denouncing gay marriage and gun control laws, set off on a plan to kill government officials. In the book’s introduction, Vanderboegh calls it a “cautionary tale for the out-of-control gun cops of the ATF.” In late 2011, four men from Georgia, influenced by Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing, were also inspired by Vanderboegh’s Absolved. They were arrested and prosecuted after being accused of using the novel as a script for their real life reign of terror that involved explosives and Ricin. After the arrests were made and it was clear what inspired these four men, Vanderboegh tried to distance himself from the case, but neither he nor his legacy can be divorced from that book. This is the origin of the three percenters: militia fever dreams of secure borders, national purity, and both real and imagined public campaigns of mass death and destruction.
ANTI-MUSLIM VIOLENCE
While each chapter has slight differences, the movement consistently displays a vile hatred for the Muslim community. In 2015, three percenters showed up at a mosque in Irving, TX to disrupt the daily lives of the muslim community. As one of the organizers, David Wright of Dallas, stated when interviewed by the media, “We will interfere with every move (Muslims) make towards taking over our country.” He continued, “We are ready to fight back if they come at us violently.” In reality, the three percenters held an armed demonstration, an act of aggression against peaceful Muslim members of Iriving, who merely wished to worship their faith where they lived.
One year later in Doraville, GA , a chapter of three percenters lead by Chis Hill attempted to prevent a muslim congregation from building a local mosque. Chris Hill and his group pressured county officials and smeared the Doraville muslim community, attempting to tie a peaceful religious group with a conspiracy theory regarding a training ground for the Islamic State. This three percenter group made it extremely difficult for the muslims of Doraville to simply practice their faith in peace.
After Irving and Doraville, members of the three percenter movement began to escalate their tactics moving from violent confrontation to planing deadly acts. In 2016, three men belonging to the Kansas Security Force—a sub-group of the three percenter movement—planned to bomb an apartment complex in Garden City, KS, the day after the presidential election. The apartment complex housed a makeshift mosque and a community of Somali immigrants. These men called their specific cell “The Crusaders,” and it was later discovered they had other targets including churches that provide sanctuary to refugees.
Less than a year later, another group of three men from the three percenter movement made a plan to destroy a mosque, and on August 7th, 2017, the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic center in Bloomington, Minnesota, was bombed just before morning prayer.This cell called themselves the “White Rabbit Three Percent Illinois Patriot Freedom Fighters Militia.” Then a few months later on November 7th the same cell placed a bomb at the women’s health clinic in Champaign, IL that thankfully never went off. In March of 2018, the three were arrested and charged in federal court. One of the members said that their goal for the bombing was “to scare Muslims out of the United States.”
While anti-Muslim hatred seems to have diminished in the US, it is paramount that these events be understood in connection with the long-standing US project of demonizing the people of middle eastern descent since the events of 9/11. Much as the early three percenters found a spring board in global conflicts from the Bush era, the current iterations of these militia groups likewise coalesce behind the influence and policies of the current presidential administration.
WHITE NATIONALIST CONNECTIONS
In the wake of the 2016 election, three percenters frequently presented themselves as outright white nationalists. On October 19th, 2017, when white nationalist Richard Spencer was speaking in Gainesville, FL, he attracting emboldened racists from all over the southeast. Tyler Tenbrink, along with two other white supremacists, drove from Houston, TX to Gainesville to attend Spencer’s speech. Afterwards the speech had concluded,the three men saw a group of anti-racist protesters waiting at a bus stop. Tenbrink, an unabashed white supremacist and member of the Ghost Squad Texas Division three percenter chaper, shot at the group of ant-racist protesters. While Tenbrink is currently serving a 15 year sentence in the Florida state prison system, his name continues to be associated with white nationalist hate groups, appearing on a website that provides support for white nationalist prisoners including Patrick Crusius and Dylann Roof.
WEAPONIZED MEMES BROUGHT TO LIFE
On the internet, the term boogaloo has become a euphemism for a second civil war.
This civil war is widely recognized by far-right militias and neo-Nazi accelerationists who use the term to be a race war, and recently three percenters have latched on to it as well. Boogaloo first appeared on a far-right reddit forum in mid 2018. From there it expanded into the real world, as seen in the fall of 2019 when Hawaiian shirts became a de facto uniform for far-right extremists who identified with the boogaloo movement.
In organizing a far-right demonstration in Olympia, WA, for that was to occur on April 19th, 2020, Matt Marshall, the leader of the Washington three percenters, asked participants to wear Hawaiian shirts. In comments online, attendees were encouraged to wear Hawaiian shirts in anticipation for the “the big luau,” otherwise known as “boogaloo,” a dog whistle for an outright race war. Currently Matt Marshall is a member of the Eatonville School Board and the leader of the Washington state three percenters. He likewise has a long history of organizing with fascists, and should be known as a hazard to public safety.
The three percenters movement and its members should not be taken lightly. These individuals are a threat to any community they live, work, or shop in, and we are all better off knowing where they are, so we can all be better prepared.
SACRAMENTO’S THREE PERCENTERS
AARON BATE & JAROD FLORES
Aaron Bate, a three percenter from El Dorado county has been an organizer within the far-right sphere in the Sacramento area over the last two years. We began monitoring him when he helped organize a far-right rally at the capitol in November of 2018. Dubbed the Turn California Red rally, it was allegedly about conservative electoral politics, but knowing the organizer and the attendees, the nominal title was not the concerning issue. Before the rally, Bates teamed up with Jared Flores, at that time a member of American Guard , a neo-Nazi group that marched in Charlottesville, VA. Further, the rally itself took place almost exactly a week after the horrific white supremacist attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA. As the Turn California Red event brought neo-Nazis and members of far-right militias to downtown Sacramento, Bate remained unconcerned about his fellow organizers or the horrific timing of his rally.
Fortunately due to the coordinated efforts of Antifa Sacramento and comrades in San Jose, Jarod Flores never made the drive from San Jose to Sacramento. In an attempt to inform the local San Jose community and expose him, Jarod Flores posters were publicly placed in his neighborhood and all over downtown Sacramento. While Flores still seems connected to the organizers in the far-right sphere in northern California, he’s not as active as he once was. However, that November 2018 rally was only the beginning for Aaron Bate.
While we’ve detailed how these currents are crossing paths, consider the evidence below. This Facebook post by Aaron Bate in September of 2019 features an image advertising a website that sells three percenter gear and multiple items with the term “boogaloo” on them. As we’ve seen an overall escalation of violent tactics within the three percenter movement over the years, their embrace of the boogaloo movement should be just as concerning.
JEFFREY PERRINE & LINDSAY GRATHWOL
On October 26th, 2019, Aaron Bate and others in the far-right organized a Boots On The Ground Cali barbecue and potluck at Discovery Park in Sacramento. The gathering brought around 30 far-right individuals, including three percenters like Aaron Bate, Daniel Seoane and others. In the group photo below they can be seen holding up three fingers, a common hand sign among three percenters.
Also in attendance were Jeffrey Perrine and Lindsay Grathwohl, with whom Bate had previously organized the November 2018 rally. Both Perrine and Grathwol have their own past affiliations that people should know. Grathwohl, for example, has direct ties to Golden State Skinheads, a neo-Nazi group, and Perrine has grabbed a megaphone and exclaimed “smashing their heads into the concrete” is what migrants deserve.
DANIEL & JILL SEOANE
Making a long trip from Meadow Vista, Jill and her husband Dan Seoane were also in attendance. Since that day in the park, Dan has been very active as a three percenter. In leading up to that date, we made sure to put out an alert via twitter and facebook that there’d be three percenters at Discovery Park that day. The general public always deserves to know when three percenters and other concerning members of the far-right will be gathering at a public park, so we made sure to put the word out.
A month after the Discovery Park gathering, we devoted our attention to the developing situation at California State University Chico where the LGBTQ and POC community were confronting the actions of CSUC students. The Chico State College Republicans and a large portion of the student body harbor views that make marginalized communities feel unwelcome. The college itself sits in a very conservative area of northern California, fertile ground for such views to flourish. Word got out that an off campus party occurred with a large Trump 2020 flag, and white kids dressed in clothing mocking and depicting Mexican culture. In response, many students began to organize.
The College Republicans intended to bring jingoistic speakers Brandon Straka and Blaire White to campus. In two days time, many students started protesting the College Republicans table on campus. As more awareness grew about who Straka and White were and the Trump supporting grift they represented, a number decided to fight back. By the 12th of November, three percenters and Proud boys arrived on campus to back up the College Republicans, Straka and White. In attendance that day as part of a security detail was one Daniel Seoane.
In a video on twitter, students can be heard asking him what group he’s from. While he refused to answer, Seoane wore two patches with similar symbols on his kit: the Roman numeral three with stars encircling it. This is the symbol for the three percenters.
Needless to say, it’s important to know the symbols and various ways to identify different far-right factions. Each faction is capable of different threats, and our communities depend on each other to share this knowledge.
THE FAR-RIGHT VS. GAVIN NEWSOM
On January 20th, Aaron Bate and Daniel Seoane came together to organize a “We Stand With Virginia 2A Rally Nor Cal” event in Fair Oaks. It had then already become abundantly clear the Virginia rally which was billed as a second amendment rally was transforming into one of the largest far-right rallies in recent history, bringing together three percenters, far-right militia groups, and white supremacists.
Three days prior to the rally, members of The Base, a neo-Nazi accelerationist group, were arrested for planning to attend the rally and initiating massive public violence. Their hope was to ignite a race war by bringing down the US government to establish a white ethno-state. This is the boogaloo come full circle, and these ideas remain current in recent Open Up rallies against state lockdowns in the wake of the current pandemic as Perrine illuminates shortly.
While the people of Richmond were bracing themselves for the worst, our comrades in Richmond were diligently monitoring the groups coming to town and assessing the threats those groups embodied.
Meanwhile, we were attempting to alert the people of Fair Oaks, a suburb of Sacramento that three percenters and other members of the far-right would be gathering at a park in their town to stand with the far-right militias and white supremacists gathering in Richmond. The gathering left the park that day and then went to Gavin Newsom’s house in Fair Oaks. They eventually staged a protest at the governor’s house with their assortment of signs, flags and a banner.
At the protest at Newsom’s house, Seoane can be seen holding a blue lives matter flag, a known anti-black racist symbol in and of itself. Jeffrey Perrine joined the protest holding a sign from the ant-vaxxer movement he is a part of as well. These are the people connecting the far-right, anti-vaxxers and the Open Up rallies.
Not long after the Newsom event in Fair Oaks that he helped organize, Seoane continued to push Recall Newsom campaign. On the Restoring America website, Daniel Seoane of Meadow Vista is listed as the Placer county contact as a part of the recall Gavin Newsom campaign under the heading Committee Authorized Personnel. Recently Seoane has been more active on twitter and more emboldened. On February 2nd, he found a tweet sent out by an antifascist crew in Boston. The antiracists posted a video of themselves taking down stickers from the neo-nazi group, Patriot Front. This of course is to be commended. Neo-Nazis should not be aloud to spread their propaganda and neither should anyone associated with them, like the three percenters. Seoane decided to chastise the antifascist crew on twitter in response to their actions. As Seoane self-identifies as a patriot, a three percenter and alt-right, it is unsurprising that he would attack someone for removing neo-Nazi stickers.
FROM ANTI-VAXX TO MILITIA
Since April 20th, Sacramento has seen weekly far-right rallies at the capitol. The Reopen America campaigns have drawn large rallies at other state capitols as well. These astroturfed rallies clearly have little to do with the stated goal, and are financially backed by large right leaning organizations. In short, they’re presenting themselves as an opportunity more than anything else; the far-right is seizing on this crisis to build their numbers and momentum. At every rally from Sacramento to Raleigh, NC, Trump gear is worn and sold. Signs can be seen that say Trust Trump. This is a continuation of what we’ve seen over the past four years where the far-right is emboldened by Trump’s rhetoric and has latched onto GOP funded rallies to continue a radical agenda. The three percenters have been spotted at almost every one of these rallies across the country, and they have been in attendance here in Sacramento as well.
Dan Seoane helped promote, and attended the May first far-right rally that doubled as operation gridlock, an attempt to shut down the 8 blocks around the capitol building. Nearly one thousand far-right individuals came to Sacramento for that particular rally, and not one person was wearing a mask or practicing social distancing in the middle of a pandemic.
As most attendees claim the coronavirus is a hoax, they pride themselves in socially reckless behavior, and they present a liability to public health and safety. Taking such a virus lightly that spreads in unprecedented fashion and has claimed the lives of over 79,000 Americans does not just affect those particular rally attendees, it effects the Sacramento area and, as we have confirmed that attendees came from all over the western united states, multiple states as well.
As we see the entire far-right take this global pandemic lightly, calling for these rallies and displaying reckless day to day behavior, it is also clear they do not care for the public at large. This becomes a bigger problem when we realize that their decisions directly affect our vulnerable populations. While Daniel Seoane independently attends these rallies and wades through the angry shouts of thousands of people from all over the western US, when he gets home he shares a home with his wife Jill. The horrifying part is that Jill Seoane works for Family Matters Health Care, a home care agency. Which means she could go to work the next day and potentially spreads a viral pandemic to any one of her patients. Anyone who works with Jill and is a client of Family Matters Health Care should be aware of the three percenters movement she is associated with and the general far-right sphere she is part of.
Family Matters Health Care
familymattershc.com
Sacramento Office:
Roseville, CA 95678
Phone: (916) 542-6674
Given their history and apparent escalation over the years since their inception, it is important to become familiar with the symbols and gear the three percenters use to better identify them. Now that we know what this movement is capable of, each three percenter should be seen as a threat to the communities we all live in. Making a note of a three percenter sticker on someone’s truck and where they live can help. Sharing that information with neighbors is a great way to build awareness of these potential threats. Encouraging others to educate themselves about the three percenters, their symbols and their history will mean our communities will be safer.
Like the white nationalists, the neo-nazis, and the violent militia men they congregate with, three percenters should not be allowed to shop, work or live in our communities in peace. Let’s share information, prepare ourselves, and look out for one and other.
The Doxx
Daniel Joseph Seoane – born Feb. 13, 1964
Jill Seoane – born 1964
Daniel and Jill live with their two kids at –
address: 3010 Vista Way, Meadow Vista, CA 95722
Social media for Daniel Seaone –
” Dan Seoane ” on FB
TW: Dannycali2a
Daniel Seoane’s phone number – 408-375-0031
Aaron Jerry Bate – born June 19th, 1966
address: 3714 N Shingle Rd, Shingle Springs, CA
Social media:
“Aaron Bate” on FB
If you have any additional information on Aaron Bate, Daniel Seoane or any other three percenters in the area please e-mail us at antifasac ( at ) riseup ( dot ) net