The first use of a “snake” symbol in American history was simply to signify the divided the 13 colonies and the need to “join or die” as a united nation.  The later “Gadsden flag” of uncertain origin, was used by U.S. Marine Continental Colonel Christopher Gadsden on his ships in warfare against the British army, after seeing the “rattlesnake” symbol on some drums in Philadelphia.  The Gadsden flag is a historic symbol associated with military conflict.

The use of the Gadsden flag for current political disagreement is not a major part of U.S. political history, as the Gadsden flag has predominantly been associated with historic military conflict.   Unfortunately, in addition to the Gadsden flag’s past use as part of military history, there has also been use of the Gadsden flag by groups promoting anti-government militias and racial oriented hate groups.

Because of this, those groups that have used the Gadsden flag for their political views today, are now being joined by those who have also used the Gadsden flag and who promote hate and even violence against their fellow Americans.  Unfortunately for those using the Gadsden flag strictly for their political causes, many extremist hate groups have sullied the Gadsden flag for years, by using it to promote their “fight” against our human rights of equality and liberty.

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has repeatedly seen the use of the Gadsden flag not only by political groups and by anti-government groups , but also by anti-American groups such as the Occidental Dissent whose leader seeks to recreate a white nationalist Confederate States of America.   We have seen groups such as the white nationalist Occidental Dissent, the white nationalist American Renaissance, the white nationalist Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC), and even the Hutaree militia (whose members have been arrested for a terrorist plot) all utilizing the Gadsden flag as a banner.  (Notably the individual with the Nazi shirt chased from an April 2010 St. Louis “Tea Party” political event, claimed to be a member of the Council of Conservative Citizens” (CofCC) – that has been promoting the Gadsden flag long before the existence of the “Tea Party” political groups.

The Occidental Dissent claimed success on April 15 by infiltrating a Washington DC based Tea Party event.   The Occidental Dissent, whose mission is the “the creation of a Jew-free, racially exclusive White ethnostate in North America,” used the Gadsden Flag as way to integrate with the Tea Party April 15 event, despite their open and clear contempt for the United States of America.

On April 15, 2010, “Hunter Wallace” of the white nationalist Occidental Dissent wrote:

“I will say this though: there is a common thread that unites the Tea Party protesters with the militias and gun enthusiasts (and the White Nationalists) we saw in Kentucky. All of these groups are starting to rally around a common anti-government symbol: the Gadsden flag.”
“Where there is smoke, there is fire… Several of the Tea Party signs were caricatures of Obama that struck me as mildly negrophobic. They had slightly exaggerated racial features that brought to mind the Jim Crow minstrel show cartoons that I collect back home. The punchline: this man in the White House, the bloodsucking illegitimate thief stealing our money, is a sort of absurd African foreigner. This type of milquetoast racial humor seemed to be quite popular among the crowd.”
“Carl Cameron of FOX News made an appearance. I stood less than five feet away from him waving the Gadsden flag in the background of the U.S. Capitol. I don’t know if any of this was on television. There were other ‘Alternative Right’ commentators on the ground in DC. We saw someone from The Political Cesspool walking among the crowd. Stuff Black People Don’t Like was on the scene and chatted with us. The racialist alternative media has grown by leaps and bounds over the past year.”

For many years, Stormfront “white nationalist hate group” forum members have frequently supported using the Gadsden flag to send a symbol of their views. Stormfront forum members have been associated with terrorist plots to kill 102 Americans, have been involved in the murdering of police, and have reportedly called for the assassination of American politicians.  Stormfront forum members have praised the 2009 attack on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the 2010 attack on the Pentagon, the 2010 Austin terrorist attack, and even the 9/11 attackers.  As early as 2006, a Stormfront “white nationalist” forum member stated “The Gadsden Flag is PERFECT for our struggle. It’s bright, and it represents a fight!”

To those who simply seek political change, does it makes sense to use a historic symbol that has been sullied by so many hate groups that seek “a fight” in support of racism or other supremacist views?