There are all the “normal” things a person who has decided that a TSHTF or even a TEOTWAWKI event is possible in the near future thinks about, and then there is the fact that some of us are ethnic minorities and our current plans may be to retreat to areas that are overwhelmingly Americans of European descent. The reality is that many of these areas are also the best suited to survive a TSHTF event or the (hopefully) unlikely TEOTWAWKI. Thus the quandary: retreat to areas that are highly ethnically diverse, but less prepared, or retreat to areas that are less ethnically diverse, but much better prepared. If one chooses to retreat to an area that is not ethnically diverse, I believe it is prudent to plan that some of your co-retreaters, who may or may not be your close neighbors, may take that opportunity to attempt to impose their racist views on you – either violently or non-violently — during a time when law breaks down and you are located in a fairly remote location. Thus being a prepared citizen that is also a minority may introduce additional challenges.
When you think of attractive retreat areas like Northern Idaho, and you read about the annoyance that idiots like the Aryan Nations can pose, it gives you pause. Logically, I realize that these mostly carpetbaggers are a statistical minority (many of whom have been chased out by other concerned Americans of European descent) and anomalous to the local people of these various regions. [JWR Adds: Butler and the “Idaho Nazis” are a tiny group, and it is noteworthy that in 2001 they lost their “compound” in a civil lawsuit. To call them a marginal group is an overstatement.] But emotionally it is still something that weighs on you when you think of migrating your family to face a TEOTWAWKI-like event in a isolated, remote location. Will you have to defend yourself against people who know the area very well and know exactly where you live? The reality is that many well intentioned people do not realize how significantly challenging it can be to live life as a minority. Let me just say, without making any excuses, that it weighs on you and your children constantly. Now, imagine you are in a TEOTWAWKI event, in a remote locale, and you are the only person of your ethnicity in that area. How do you prepare?
Unless your head is in the sand, these additional concerns certainly add to your preparedness worries. In the area I am retreating too, my family will double the number of ethnic minorities reported in the 2000 Federal census. To prepare my family first I take a deep breath, pray, and realize that we can do this. I’ve lived all over the globe with the military and thus living in my own country, with fellow Americans, has to be achievable. I’ve also learned numerous processes from my time in the military to help families that must reallocate often. We can make this work.
Disclosure
I and my family live and work in the “low lands” far away from our retreat area, right smack in the middle of what will become the Golden Horde in a Blue State. We have a complete understanding of the dangers of long travel and being separated from our secure location and prepare as best we can. For many reasons we have decided that simply building a retreat in and around the South Western Blue States is unacceptable. Fundamentally, I am using the additional earning power of “the big city” to complete our retreat, before inflation and job loss really destroy us. Neither my family nor I were raised with any real “rural” skills, so we are also busy adding those and learning “survivalist” skills as we work to finish our retreat. We do not have a retreat group, but continue to work on some long time family friends.
Reasons I Don’t Prepare
I do not think we will have we will have a TEOTWAWKI event in the near future. I really do not. Why?
Self-Correcting Internal Systems. First I believe in general the American political and economic systems are the best man has ever created, and they are largely “correctable” by citizens in peaceful ways. I expect we will all see evidence of this in the very different voting patterns of November 2010 to the response to the shocking recent political lurch towards the “redistribution of wealth” concept that many logical people believe has its roots in socialism.
Well Supplied Legions Protecting the Borders. Second, I have worked in and around the “military-industrial-complex” for most of my life with the required security clearances. From everything I know I simply do not see anything on the horizon that indicates a TEOTWAWKI event in our immediate future. Our military still holds global dominance on Land, Air and Sea. China’s military is nowhere near being on par no matter what pundits may say. Just remember: the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit (which no one else in the world can make, and China almost certainly can’t see) was designed in 1979 and first displayed publicly in 1988. What do you think the American “military-industrial-complex” has been doing for the last 30 years? Remember as well: we have not truly waged full war since 1945. Our American Legions are truly a scary thing. Certainly there are non-Nation threats, mostly centered on the Muslim terrorist with biological or nuclear materials (and they try, boy they try), but these most likely would result in a more localized TSHTF event. To have a true military related “TEOTWAWKI” event that goes “through” our Legions will most likely take time.
Economic Meltdown Will Take Time. Third, not to disagree with JWR and others, but most peoples’ theories of economic collapse make some large leaps that are largely unsupported by past experience. America is the only Western nation that has survived essentially a complete economic meltdown without having a violent political change in the 20th century. Some argue that Japan’s recent “lost decade” is the other. For example the derivative time bomb article talks about potential economic disruption – which I agree is certainly possible, maybe even likely — but the follow on jumps from disruption to an “Armageddon” like outcome, where all markets stop functioning, no gas, no power is in many ways like leaping from the steam engine to landing on the moon. I will give a concrete example. Does anyone realize that most inner-city folks (black and Hispanics) are only two generations removed from the farm? If “TSHTF” many people still know some basic skills and would almost certainly be heading to their Aunts’ or their Cousins’ places, or back to the pueblo or the Deep South wherever their extended family still lives. In my opinion, a mass exodus to the South, and/or massive reverse migration is much more likely than formation of a giant roving cannibal army. It is possible over time, but seems fairly way out there from where we sit today.
Reasons I Do Prepare
Localized Bad Events. Even though I do not think, there is a high probability of a countrywide (or worldwide) TEOTWAWKI in the near future, I do believe there is a much higher chance that we may experience multiple TSHTF events, most likely localized. My primary evidence to support this is both the numerous local TSHTF events of the recent past, and the many near misses that we don’t know about, so it is completely logical to assume these events will continue to occur in the future. A compendium of many localized TSHTF events can be found in The Pessimist’s Guide to History, by Doris Flexner and Stuart Berg Flexner, ISBN 978-0-06-143101-2. Whether it is a terrorist dirty bomb, a sustained power outage, massive earthquakes, tsunamis, or plagues like the Swine Flu which could move quickly, localized TSHTF events are possible – and in my opinion likely within my planning horizon.
Jobs. I also believe in my heart-of-hearts that the American economic system cannot continue indefinitely, without change, as it is. It is structurally flawed. We cannot continue to have unlimited illegal immigration impacting primarily blue collar jobs, and unlimited off-shoring of American jobs primarily impacting white collar jobs, without ultimately becoming a nation that produces nothing locally. To me, this combination means we will continue to see “record profits” on Wall Street as companies keep seeking the “lowest cost” way to make junk globally, while on Main Street the unemployment (and underemployment) rate remain unsustainably high. In the end, we will be able to buy less as we continue to become a nation of middlemen who shuffle paper, but otherwise produce nothing of substance. Absent a serious change in political direction, this process which has been enabled by both Republicans and Democrats, will continue until our economy is a wreck and the problem is too obvious for people to ignore.
Side note: One thing I admire about the primarily Mexican illegal aliens is they are at their core a traditional, family-oriented people who most mostly come here to work and make a better life for themselves and their children. These folks are not trying to blow up airplanes, or install some foreign form of law. Also to be completely honest, they are doing pretty much what I would do if I were stuck in Mexico in 2010: Get out any way I could. However as I tell my friends from Mexico “…if everyone where you are from, moved to where we live now, then where we live now will look like where you are from…”
Inflation. Economically, again, while I do not believe in massive hyperinflation in the near future that leads to “societal meltdown,” I do believe that more inflation in coming, maybe even a return to the kinds of rates we saw in the late 1970’s – and everybody should be taking reasonable financial steps to prepare for that eventuality. I expect my earnings will continue to be depressed due to off-shoring of jobs, illegal immigration, inflation and a growing tax burden. When will I get sick of working for the Federal government? When it hits 30%, 40% perhaps 50% of my income? I do not know when other people will hit their personal breaking point, but I can tell you that most productive people I know are well on their way to getting sick of it. If and when this happens, having food-producing, independently-powered land may become a very attractive alternative to working and be taxed at a 50% rate.
The most important reason I prepare, is that I MIGHT BE WRONG!
As many know, preparing is different than retreating. I will not specifically dive into “why” to retreat rather than shelter in place, but if you are curious about the philosophical and practical differences please read the enormous amount of writing on the subject here. In addition to the general challenges involved with retreating, the specific challenges I believe that a racial minority needs to logically prepare for when retreating to a remote, ethnically monolithic location are:
- Being mistaken for a non-local resident in a potentially highly volatile situation.
- Dealing with aggressive and / or violent racial supremacist / separatist.
- Making it much harder to “blend in” to your surroundings.
- The additional emotional isolation you and your family may feel.
Here are some of the methods I am choosing to use to address these issues.
As local as you can be. First, I visit the area I am looking to move to as often as time and money allows. I try to move around the area and meet as many local people as possible. I pay attention to the local norms and try to conform to them as much as I can at a basic daily living level, from where we eat to what we wear. I get drunk (or appear to be) in the local bar. I attend Church whenever I am there (I know that drinking followed by Church make for an interesting juxtaposition, but it works for me), and I enjoy attending the the local town halls. I want to interact in the retreat area to the maximum extent possible. I want the locals to know that I exist while maintaining OPSEC which can be challenging, and I want to learn as much about the local area as possible. One of the communities I absolutely leverage is our church. I decided early in the process that I would not move our family to any area that did not have at least one existing religious community that my family prescribes too. I actually used a map to look through various counties that had people with a similar religious background. There is an excellent map here to find a religious community you feel comfortable with: http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/geo/courses/geo200/religion.html
Next we go out of our way to see how welcoming the area is. This required me to take time off work to drive around the area. After I close on my raw acreage, I plan regular trips during all four seasons to hike and hunt in the local area. Once again, the point is to move around your retreat community as much as your “urban” job allows. Use the fact that you are the one of the few minorities roaming around these hills to your advantage. People will remember you, and thus you have an excellent opportunity to make a memorable positive impression every time.
Racists. The reason I am retreating from my urban center to one of the Free States is to be safer, not to place my family in greater risk. I am moving to find security and stability for my family, not to worry whether some pickup truck full of drunken racists is going to harass or otherwise interfere with my wife or children. In good times, violence of this type often leads to some people ending up dead, and others ending up with an extended stay in Club Fed. In lawless times the encounter may be even more extreme. While often it is simply more efficient to avoid violent confrontation, I believe one must be prepared to effectively deal with rabid animals when you have too. When I was in the Navy, a good friend was a Marine officer (European descent if it matters). He explained to me that one day a new Marine family came over for a visit and were very up front in explaining their very supremacist views. My buddy, looked this guy in the eye and let him know that neither he, nor his family wanted anything to do with him or his family, and in case his new neighbor “took issue” with that he wanted to be clear “…I just want to let you know that my family is heavily armed and highly trained…” I have taken that example into my life when dealing with all forms of violent, virulent racists.
Once you come to terms with what your family must ultimately be prepared to do to protect yourself from racial violence, you must also realize that you cannot defend yourself against an entire community. This is one of the primary reasons to retreat from the “big city” in the first place! You may already have problems with elements of the Golden Horde, a roving band of biker zombies and / or the “normal” TEOTWAWKI threats like trying not to starve or freeze to death with minimal skills. Adding on that some of your neighbors may choose to take this opportunity to implement their view of the world may just be too much. Just as “sheltering in the city” raises issues with your neighbors becoming a mob threat, having too many people in an area who feel they have the right to ethnically cleanse you from your land can be a similar level of threat. Add into the fact that your minority “JWR prepared non-local” family may be one of the better prepared in the area and you have the potential for additional hostility. While not a complete solution, I also try to find out about any known active racist groups in our retreat area. One useful online resource is the Southern Poverty Law Center’s map which shows what it considers to be hate groups and their known locations. I certainly do not agree with all of their classifications, and this is only one data source, but the point is to realize who lives at your retreat area. Work with your small, but hopefully growing, network of friends to better understand both who to keep your eyes on, as well as who you might depend, on in a crisis. It will be more difficult since most likely your property is on the outskirts of town, but if you have been reading the various JWR gospels, you know that gathering as much information as possible, including as to people who may be hostile to your being there at all, could one day save your life. Ultimately, while the reality is that I’ve found most people I’ve met in rural life are decent, common sense Americans who respect privacy, that’s no good reason not to keep your eyes open for potential trouble spots.
Blending In. I work hard to prepare my family to succeed in a different cultural environment by focusing not only presenting ourselves as locals, but also on developing skills that may be useful where we are going and that the family can participate in together, here and now. For me this means being more active at our private school, our local Church, active in Boy Scouts for my son, Girl Scouts for my daughters. We are looking at the local 4-H Youth Development Program (pure gold) in our local area to help the entire family understand what we are getting ourselves into. In addition we are also approaching various NRA Youth Programs. I spend time ensuring my children (and therefore my wife and I) are learning the common sports of the “target area” which are primarily skiing, snowmobile riding, skating, hiking and hunting (and drinking). Between school, Scouts, 4-H, NRA Youth, skiing, hiking with friends, my family is getting good exposure and since we my wife and I remain active in our children’s activities we are getting TSHTF skills as well as building a tighter family unit. Preparedness can really be a strategic philosophy that supports the principles of bringing your family together. In addition now that you have acquired some of the hobbies and skills of the retreat area you can more easily participate in the community.
Finally, in addition to understanding general local social norms, I also think it’s important to learn as much as possible about the “local” property norms as well. In the “free states” in general they are highly respectful of property rights. Hang your “no trespassing” signs and in general most “normal” folks in most places will leave you and your family alone. That said, in my retreat area homesteaders tend to fence their land, but do not hang out “Private Property” signs and are generally of the mentality that “animals stay out, but people can move through.” If a person paints his fence posts orange, it means “do not hunt on my land.” “Private Property” and “No Trespassing” signs mean just that, go around. Learning local signs and “acceptable norms” help avoid misunderstanding and the potential of putting yourself at undo risk. Once you learn these norms, use them to increase your own security.
Stay as connected as possible. Since I do not live at my retreat year-around I use 21st century technology to bridge the distances. If you have reliable power to your retreat, then web-enabled cameras are an increasingly inexpensive option for remotely monitoring your property and can add an additional level of security so long as the grid is up. Recently a couple was able to call the local police department to report a break in from another state. Anyway, when I am stuck at my desk job in one of the most liberal states in the Union, the ability to sneak peeks at my retreat should help me remain sane and focused on the long-term “big picture.”
How else to I stay connected with my retreat area? I spend some time in my normal day listening to local radio stations that broadcast from my retreat area over the Internet, and I am a subscriber to the local paper. I called my satellite television provider and added local channels from as close as possible to my retreat (which required me to tell them I had “moved” to my retreat address). I now get my physically local channels over the air with a digital antenna. In addition, I regularly read the minutes of governmental meetings posted on the County’s web site. I now know who the major political figures are, including the new “out-of-town” local sheriff and his new push on people putting gates across open county roads. Now and in the future, when I move through town, I can more easily participate in discussion about or respond more appropriately to local events.
Isolation. This is hard because it deals with the emotional stability of my wife, which is in the best of times a challenge. First, I try and encourage my family and friends to plan on retreating with us. This is the best option and is in general a requirement for improved security, in any case. I also try to make our family as independent of their local surroundings and as mobile as possible. To me, this means primarily getting our television and radio from the Internet or satellite which can move anywhere in North America (at least while the grid is up). We also make reading a major part of our lives and are learning to use ham radio. We also ensure that to the extent possible the children look to each other as primary playmates. Homeschooling is a great option if you can do it, further making the family more of an independent mobile unit. We personally cannot make that work today, but we stretch to keep them in Catholic private schools which are similar any where you go. We do a lot or our purchasing over the Internet which again remains the same no matter where we live, as long as the grid is up. The military always recommended to create family traditions and then hold too them. If Dad gets up on Saturday and cooks breakfast, then ensure you try to do it every Saturday, no matter what comes. Kids will complain, but in truth, those traditions can create and maintain stability, even in the worst of times. This stability may really help as you finally make the transition to your retreat area, whether willingly or unwillingly.
To conclude, I find that being a racial minority brings with it additional challenges to retreating to a remote area, but those challenges can be successfully overcome with some modes, proactive and smart effort. Again, most of the people I’ve run into are hardworking, peaceful, respectful individuals who are willing give everyone a fair shake, regardless of color or creed. As a by the way, I have also found this to be largely true in the many other countries I have visited. Most people are good people. Stick to the basics: be as local as you can be, stay as connected as you can, find ways to adapt to the local culture in ways that are consistent with your beliefs, and honestly face the potential challenges that may come your way. Keep a focus on how you plan on dealing with these issues as they arise, and the Lord willing, you too can make the move successfully.