In February 2023, Judd Blevins won a seat on the city council of Enid, Oklahoma. It is a conservative city in a conservative state, with more than 60 percent of voters leaning GOP. However, a coalition of extreme left-wing organizers, in alliance with national media, is trying to recall him.
Mr. Blevins was reportedly a member of Identity Evropa and was doxed by a left-wing journalist years ago. He also attended the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. IE, noted for its moderate stance within the pro-white movement, has seen many of its arguments on immigration and reverse racism become Republican staples. The goal of the rally, to defend historic monuments, has now been fully justified, and a report commissioned by the city itself found that local officials encouraged the violence.
Activists who work for their race or ethnic group can expect adoring media coverage and financial support — if they aren’t white. Even in a conservative community, the far left has power because of well funded backers and, especially, the support of national media.
The group pushing the recall is the Enid Social Justice Committee. It is supported by Oklahoma Progress Now, which has a “Black, Lebanese queer woman” as executive director. Without any evidence, it calls Mr. Blevins a “Nazi.” It also complains about leaked text chats, most of which are fairly tame, from four years ago. The lefty group has just 84 followers on X and its Facebook page has fewer than 250 likes, but it is getting a lot of free advertising from national media.
NBC ran a segment with Brandy Zadrozny, who literally helped write the book on doxing people. Her report is called “white nationalist official divides Oklahoma town,” and profiles activists who are “determined to change their city.” She interviewed the publisher of the Enid News & Eagle at the time Mr. Blevins won his seat. She sighs incredulously that a front-page story about the controversy didn’t kept him from winning. “There’s an opportunity now to address what kind of extremism this community is going to have,” she says.
Extremism? One of the leading organizers of the Enid Social Justice Committee is Fr. James Neal, who says it is “essential” to affirm that “Christ Is Trans” and who promotes “Drag Bible Story Hour.”
He is also “feeling excited” about whites becoming a minority.
Christopher Mathias, a hard-left journalist for Huffington Post, also wrote about the recall. He started with Father Neal, posing in priestly garb, performing a “forgiveness” ceremony. He says other Christian pastors are “manipulating people’s faith to stir up oppression and hatred and violence.” His doesn’t mention trans Jesus or drag Bible story hours. “In a healthy, multiracial democracy, a political campaign would be torpedoed by compelling evidence of the candidate’s participation in a white supremacist group,” he wrote. Why must a “healthy, multiracial democracy” be uniquely hostile to whites?
Mr. Mathias quotes former city commissioner Ben Ezzell, who accused the city government of being “chickenshit” for not letting him rant against Mr. Blevins beyond his allotted time. “What would it say if we as a community were welcoming and doubling down on a white nationalist in office?” he asked in another media report. Mr. Ezzell faced a recall because of anger over his COVID-19 policies and contempt for law enforcement. “I don’t think it should be so easy to recall elected officials,” he said at the time. “I think it should be harder than it is today, even still, because elected officials at our level still have to make decisions that are hard and unpopular.” Evidently, he has changed his mind. A judge derailed that recall on a technicality.
None of the attacks on Mr. Blevins is new. The recall has found nothing about him that was unknown when he ran for city council. He has also faced what was probably an attempt to kill him when someone cut the brake lines of his truck. He is not backing down. “I chose to place my future in the hands of voters because I am confident they’re going to reaffirm the decision they made a year ago— that I am the best to represent them.” Mr. Blevins’s website also describes the activists leading the recall effort.
A grassroots activist with little money was popular enough to be elected. Now lefties are trying to do the election over again. The recall, scheduled for April 2, will be a powerful test of whether the racial double standard against whites is beginning to fade. Commissioner Blevins is raising money to hold on to his seat, and his website has more information about the campaign. His opponents have NBC to speak for them; he will have to speak for himself.