NEXT ON THE WHITE POWER CHOPPING BLOCK: JOSEPH BENJAMIN THOMAS AND SAMUEL JAMES JOHNSON

When we published the National Socialist Movement (NSM) membership list two months ago, we included a resignation letter from Samuel James Johnson (pictured, right) who said he was doing so to chart a course that he felt the NSM could not go on. In April, feds took him and one other person Joseph Benjamin Thomas (pictured, left) off that course – and for very good reason.

One People’s Project

A federal affidavit obtained by the Associated Press reveals that a two white supremacists known among leftists and antifa in Minnesota, one a self-admitted domestic terrorist, and another who in his letter of resignation with a prominent white supremacist group said that he believed “we will never take this country back in its entirety without the use of force”, had amassed weapons and planned to attack people of color, leftists and government officials including the Mexican Consulate in St. Paul, MN before they were arrested in April.

According to the affidavit, Joseph Benjamin Thomas, 42, and former National Socialist Movement (NSM) Samuel James Johnson, 31, were trying to form a violent supremacist group with a militant wing called the Aryan Liberation Movement. The affidavit further said that Thomas told an undercover agent he considered himself a “domestic terrorist” instead of an American and would risk his life for the white supremacist movement in the event of a “race war,” which he expected within two years. He reportedly believed the Aryan Liberation Movement would be able to control an interstate and airports to prevent the military from coming into Minnesota, the affidavit said.

For at least two years, both Thomas and Johnson worked to compile information on those that may be potential targets in their attacks. According to the Associated Press, Thomas had collected license plate numbers of people with Barack Obama bumper stickers and had asked an associate to volunteer at a left-leaning bookstore to obtain customers’ addresses. According to the blog Bluestem Prarie, both he and Johnson have been seen and confronted at leftist rallies and marches since 2009, and were recognizable after being seen at an October 2009 NSM rally as well as at an anti-immigration Tea Party rally almost a month later. Johnson was captured on video at pro-immigration May Day rally a few months later videotaping the marchers.

In the video, Johnson denied he was a member of the National Socialist Movement when asked directly if he was, but his NSM resignation letter obtained in March by One People’s Project is dated June 16, 2010, a month and a half after the video was produced. In the resignation letter he noted that he was doing so to chart a course he did not feel the NSM could go on. “There is no more purpose for organizational ties, the time has come purely and simply for organization,” his email to NSM leader Jeff Schoep read. “I am not talking about a protest or a street walk or handing out fliers to try to wake people up who will not be awakened until there life’s (sic) have been effected enough to see the truth. I think you know what I’m getting at.”

The pair planned to attack the Mexican consulate in St. Paul on May 1, believing it would stir debate on immigration amnesty issues ahead of the 2012 presidential election, prior to their April arrests, according to the affidavit. Johnson pled not guilty to five felony charges for an armed career criminal in possession of firearms and ammunition on April 26 and has a trial date July 16. Thomas however, was indicted on four charges related to possession and sale of methamphetamine. He currently is not facing terrorism-related charges.