A conservative group’s plan to host Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes at a Geneva country club this month has drawn protests and petitions.
AP
A Geneva group’s plan to host the Stewart Rhodes, founder of the far-right Oath Keepers and a convicted Jan. 6 organizer, has stirred a hornet’s nest of protest on social media, a petition of more than 1,000 signatures and pickets in front of a local country club.
The conservative Three Headed Eagle Alliance’s Sept. 23 gathering at Eagle Brook Country Club was scheduled to feature Rhodes, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy in connection with Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and sentenced to 18 years in prison, as its guest speaker.
However, the Three Headed Eagle’s website now states the venue for Rhodes’ appearance has been changed and will be announced closer to the date.
Rhodes was released from prison in January after President Donald Trump commuted his sentence, amid a flurry of pardons and clemencies granted to those convicted in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti Defamation League describe Oath Keepers as anti-government extremists, many of whom participated in Jan. 6, according to their websites and court records.
Neither the manager at Eagle Brook Country Club, nor its Texas-based parent, Arcis Golf, responded to voicemail and email messages seeking comment. One of the Three Headed Eagle’s leaders responded to an email stating she would provide comment later.
The group We Can Lead Change Fox Valley organized an online “Stop Stewart Rhodes” petition, collecting 1,030 signatures asking Eagle Brook Country Club not to allow Rhodes to be a guest speaker.
The organization posted on its website Sept. 4 that members presented their petition to the general manager of the country club, who they said “informed us that the Rhodes event had been canceled at their facilities.”
They called the conversation “polite, respectful, and carried out with sincerity and graciousness.”
Some conservatives responded on social media that the Three Headed Eagle is being victimized by “cancel culture” as “a mob trying to intimidate a private business into restricting speech it doesn’t like.”
Geneva resident Paula Merrington said opponents of the choice of speaker also have a free speech right to respond.
“They’re saying we are trying to shut down ‘a lawful event,’” Merrington said. “It’s our right to say we don’t want” Rhodes coming to Geneva.
Merrington is part of the leadership team for Fox Valley Activists and a member of We Can Lead Change Fox Valley — the group that hosted the petition drive.
Elburn resident Jen Hall said she organized pickets in front of the country club on Sept. 3.
“This was word-of-mouth,” Hall said. “I first posted it on Facebook and got the ball rolling. … A woman who showed up (at the picket) heard from a friend in Ohio, who saw it on Reddit and she told me about it. … This has been shared across the country on different platforms.”
Elburn resident Jen Hall protests since-altered plans for Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes to address a suburban conservative ground at a Geneva country club later this month.
Courtesy of Jen Hall
Hall opposes having Rhodes welcomed as a guest speaker for his role on Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol.
“I’m a veteran of the Air Force, my husband is a veteran of the Air Force,” Hall said. “I don’t want to be doing this, but it matters so much to me.”
According to his Facebook page, Rhodes became the national spokesman for Condemned USA in February. The organization is a legal defense nonprofit for U.S. political prisoners, according to its website.
Rhodes did not respond to an email sent to the organization seeking comment.
The Three Headed Eagle’s monthly speaker series is called Pints & Politics. Rhodes was to speak about Jan. 6, his prison experience and what he is doing now, according to the website.
“In the aftermath of January 6, 2021, Stewart Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison,” the website reads. “He has spent the last three years behind bars, including one year in solitary confinement, widely viewed by his supporters as a political prisoner due to his outspoken belief that the 2020 election was fraudulent.”
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