The Battle of Athens/Green Township

What happens when a government fails to heed the wishes of the people it purports to represent? This is a question we face now in the United States as the federal government issues executive orders and state governments pass laws that no one wants. So far, it’s only resulted in one large protest, but that protest so scared them that they are over-reacting in their persecution of the people who simply made their voices heard.

But a little known township in Michigan may be the first sign of a turn. We’ll come back to that, but first I want to remind everyone of the epic Battle of Athens.

In August of 1946, the citizens of Etowah and Athens, Tennessee led an armed rebellion against local and county government. In the years leading up to the rebellion, residents complained that their votes were changed (sound familiar). The Sheriff paid his deputies on the basis of how many people they charged, which led to officers charging people, particularly tourists, with crimes they never committed (sound familiar – “trespassing” at a public building).

The Sheriff intimidated voters and allowed ineligible people to vote - stop me if this rings a bell. According to “McCinn County“, by historian C. Stephen Byrum: “Manipulation of the poll tax and vote counting were the primary methods, but it was common for dead voters’ votes to be counted in McMinn County elections.” Boy, does that sound familiar.

A veteran’s group ran a non-partisan campaign, putting forth thier man for Sheriff. When the polls opened, instead of the 50-60 local sheriff deputies, over 200 deputies from all over the state were present. Any time a veteran poll watcher made a challenge, he was arrested (just like all the Trump campaign folks, right?).

A 3 PM, a local deputy tried to prevent a black farmer, Mr Gillespie from voting. One of the veterans protested and the deputy struck Gillespie with brass knuckles. When Gillespie tried to run, Deputy Wise drew his pistol and shot him in the back. This was the last straw for the Athens Veterans.

The Sheriff tried to shut down the polls and arrested two GI poll watchers. Those men refused to surrender and fled, and gunfire ensued. The GIs got the keys to the local National Guard armory and armed themselves. The county leaders and about 50 deputies occupied the jail and attempted to certify the false election from inside the jail with no one watching the vote counting.

What then ensued was a several hour long firefight and seige of the jail. At 3:30 AM, the Deputies surrendered and the hostages were rescued. The GIs agreed to let the county election supervisor watch them count the actual ballots, after throwing out the false tally sheets. In the end, the GI Candidate Henry Knox had legally been elected. Knox had been held overnight in a nearby jail, due to the fears of an assassination attempt on him by the McCinn County Sheriff. The Governor had mobilized the National Guard but as other areas threatened to join the rebellion if he did, he rescinded the order.

In the end, the GIs retained control of the town until Sheriff Knox was sworn in.

It’s worth noting that despite an overnight gun battle involving automatic weapons and explosions, the only person charged with any crime was Deputy Wise for shooting Mr Gillespie. The GIs knew that if they lost, it wouldn’t have gone that way for them. There’s a lesson in there.

Back to present day, Green Township, Michigan, near Big Rapids, is the site of a propsed Chinese Communist Party battery plant for electric vehicles owned by Gotion. Despite massive public outcry against the plan, the township board voted 7-0 to not only allow the plant, but to give the Chinese a 30 year abatement on property taxes. Chinese workers were also going to brought in and housed at Ferris State University.

The people launched a massive recall effort. During the fight, the board was warned by the Michigan State Government that they were violating campaign finance laws with their ads againt the recall, but the board didn’t care. The Michigan Secretary of State never followed through on her threat to charge them (shocking-not).

The election came in November and the 5 remaining Board members were recalled (2 had resigned in the face of the recall). These townspeople lived up to the memory of Athens – the very next day, a local locksmith arrived and changed every lock in the township hall, effectively locking out those who had been ousted the night before.

Friends, local is where we win. Keep fighting. Take the small wins. Make the federal government irrelevant by winning local battles.

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