Yes, we all have that one local “Marxist” in our communities, right? Well, at least it felt that way in my neck of the woods. In the mid-2010s, a local Facebook group popped up, initially meant for sharing community events, local recommendations, and juicy gossip. It started innocently enough, but then something happened. A guy, whom I’m convinced must be getting paid for his agitation skills, took the reins and turned the group into a whirlwind of chaos.
In less than five years, he had amassed a following, desensitizing our entire community to the rise in violent crime while convincing everyone that their voting choices should be primarily based on their view of race. Now, I live in a majority Black county, so tensions ran high. No one could figure out how this guy held a job while spending what seemed like every waking moment on Facebook, doxing and harassing people.
By 2020, he had reached infamous status. When COVID hit and our “Republican” Governor started shutting down our state, chaos ensued. After nearly three months of restrictions, closures, and an outrageous stay-at-home order, our Governor decided to pass the ultimate decision to reopen local jurisdictions down to the county governments. My county opted to stay closed for an additional two weeks, and that’s when my journey as a Reopen leader began. But that’s a story for another day. Let’s get back to the local “Marxist.”
During this time, an organic protest emerged the day after our county decided to extend the stay-at-home order. I joined in, and guess who was there, stirring the pot with a megaphone? You guessed it, our local “Marxist.” He had a knack for getting people into heated arguments, often accusing protesters of being racist and wanting Black citizens to meet an untimely demise. He even recorded their reactions while conveniently leaving out his own provocations. It was like a real-life episode of a bizarre talk show, and everyone was uneasy and scared of him.
We decided to organize another protest a week later, but guess what? Dozens of people bailed out at the last minute because he’d made a grand online announcement that he planned to attend. Yep, he had become the villain of my Reopen story.
Now, here’s where things get interesting. He had a few moles planted in my closed Facebook group, and no matter how many profiles I axed, they remained incognito. Just when I thought I’d purged them all, one of my posts ended up in his colossal Facebook group of 25,000 people, and the rumor mill kicked into high gear. Gossip and calumny about me ran rampant.
But you know what? I mostly ignored it. Sometimes, it even fueled my determination to work harder. Fast forward to August 2021 when my county government attempted to pass its own emergency mask mandate after the state emergency order had expired. My Reopen group decided to take legal action and sue. We even crowdfunded a high-profile lawyer’s retainer to represent us.
To give us legal standing, I transformed my Reopen group into an LLC, and anyone who donated became a member. The “business” had no physical location, so I registered the trade name with my personal address. When we filed the lawsuit, the local “Marxist” was eager to tear anyone involved to shreds. But guess what? When he showed up at the courthouse, he couldn’t find a single person he recognized because “Reopen Charles County LLC” was the only name listed!
Furious that he couldn’t announce a boycott of all the small businesses he expected to be there, he resorted to posting my full name and partial address on his website, hoping to stir up community outrage against me. It was a nerve-wracking and upsetting experience, but here’s the twist: more community members ended up donating to our legal fund!
Things settled down for a while, but then came the fateful day when I posted a coupon code for Fake Mask USA and casually mentioned, “I bought a few of these for my husband.” My husband, a public school teacher, was operating under a mask mandate from the state department of education. You can guess what happened next. The local “Marxist” posted a screenshot, outing my husband and listing his school right there on the post. Some of his colleagues even vowed to “examine” his mask closely the next day.
I lived each day with the expectation that either I or one of my group members would become cannon fodder for his minions. But you know what? We ended up winning. We bested the county government’s lawyer in court, defeated the mask mandate in a legislative battle, and even sued the state department of education to unmask kids across the entire state.
The best part? This man ran for school board in 2022 and lost, big time. His once formidable power had all but evaporated. A friend recently mused, “he’s calmed down a lot because he thought he was Thanos, but found out he wasn’t that powerful.”
So, what are the lessons here? First, get over the fear of something “bad” happening to you when you decide to become a leader in your community. The more unpopular the issue, the more you should embrace the coming onslaught. Attention burns hot and fast, but then it fizzles out. A week after they out you, it’s over. Second, monetize your haters. Every time I was doxed or became a viral screenshot in my community, I raised hundreds or even thousands of dollars for our legal fund.
I never want to relive 2020 and 2021, but I live with the knowledge that not only did I survive, but I emerged stronger. But what about you? What fight are you itching to take on, and what’s holding you back?
