Rob los Ricos to Be Released From Prison June 29, 2006

Anarchist activist plans summer/fall speaking tour.

By: Marlena Gangi
en_lucha@riseup.net

Rob Thaxton, AKA Rob los Ricos, will be released from the Oregon State Correctional Facility on June 29 after having served seven years as a convicted felon.

Thaxton, a Chicano anarchist, was arrested for hitting an officer on his shoulder with a rock during the June 18, 1999 Reclaim the Streets demonstration (which came to be a police riot) in Eugene, Oregon. Of the twenty-one people arrested in connection with the June 18 protest, Thaxton received the stiffest charges: Assault II, Riot and Attempted Assault I. An Attempted Murder charge was briefly brought forth and then dropped.

The June 18 protest was timed to coincide with the 25th G8 summit in Kolm, Germany. Eugene was one of 140 cities that rose up against the institutions of global capitalism that day.

Thaxton explains, "The G8 Summit is where the representatives of the eight wealthiest nations in the world come together to figure out what to do with the rest of us."

Raised in the Texas panhandle Thaxton, 46, began his activism at the age of twelve. He came of age during the Civil Rights struggle and institutionalized racism served as an early catalyst for his political leanings.

"I was called "nigger" a lot by redneck kids. I admired Blacks for standing up for their rights. Muhammed Ali's refusal to enter the army blew my mind. 'No Vietnamese ever called me a nigger,' Ali explained."

The assassinations of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Robert Kennedy left an early mark.

"The so-called 'race riots,' the anti-war protests, the whole struggle for basic human rights that took place in this country that was supposedly built on a foundation of democracy; I saw the hypocrisy and refused to accept the myth of equality. I read the Communist Manifesto and considered myself to be a revolutionary by the age of twelve. I understood that the police and government were not my friends."

While in high school and as a college student, Thaxton went on to organize with the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, ACT UP and served as Program Director at KNON-FM "the people's radio station" in Dallas.

Organizing in Austin, Thaxton worked with the growing anarchist community there as well as with the Palestine Solidarity committee, Earth First! and the Black Banner brigade. He traveled to Portland to write for the Anarchist Info Shop. In Columbia, Missouri, he helped publish Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed. It was at this time that Thaxton's activity came into the scrutiny of the FBI. He headed back to Dallas.

The Reagan era left Thaxton with little hope for the future and even less for the present. Activism was in lull; greed was good.

"In between minimum wage jobs and periods of homelessness I felt myself drawn to street life. I did hard drugs and hung out a lot with hookers, hustlers and junkies doing the kinds of things people like us did."

Thaxton lived in Hawaii before returning to Portland where he became a father. As his relationship with the mother of his daughter came to an end, he found himself once again shooting up hard drugs and lost in the life of the streets.

"When faced with heart rendering decisions, I turned to drugs to avoid the situation for awhile. It took the love of a remarkable woman and the unconditional support of activist friends to overcome this way of thinking."

Set on turning his life around to create an existence independent of dominant culture, Thaxton headed deep into the woods of southern Oregon with like-minded activists.

"To live outdoors, free of authority, growing our own food, drinking water from springs, building our own housing: I finally came to accept myself, my circumstances and decisions that defined my life as it existed up to 1999."

And then came the June 18 International Day of Solidarity in opposition to the G8 Summit.

"There was an anarchist gathering in Eugene on June 16. My friends had enough sense to leave on the 18th, but not me." June 18 was to be his last day of freedom.

Finding himself immersed in the daylong Reclaim the Streets clash between police and protesters, Thaxton was caught in a crowd cordoned off by riot-geared police.

"We were standing around, illegally blocking traffic. Out of sheer boredom a Taco Bell was attacked. They gave an order to disperse but they had us surrounded. Cops in protective gear shot mace and clubbed us."

Thaxton threw a rock in the direction of charging police in an effort to put distance between them and him. The rock connected. Sgt. Larry Blackwell, the cop who took the hit, raced toward Thaxton in a rage. Unable to escape, Thaxton was thrown face first to the pavement and repeatedly clubbed. His left shoulder was dislocated when pulled to his feet. As blood dripped from his nose broken by the first impact, he was told that he should have been shot. When transported to the Lane County Jail, police threatened to "get him" in his cell.

After a brief exam, he was given Vicodin and a sling for his arm. His booking photo was digitally altered to delete gashes on the swollen and purple left side of his face.

"The nurse refused to examine my scalp because of the amount of dried blood."

Thaxton's bail was set at $240,00. In a trial fraught with bias as Judge Mary Ann Bearden continually sided with the prosecutor, Bearden also allowed jury members to be seated who stated that they could not be impartial about anarchists given the news coverage of the events of June 18.

In September of 1999, Thaxton was sentenced to 70 months for Assault II. Bearden departed from Measure 11 sentencing guidelines to hand down18 months for Riot. The sentences ran consecutively rather that concurrently.

Throughout his incarceration, Thaxton has been singled out for harsh treatment because of his ethnicity and unrepentant political stance. When the Oregon Department of Corrections "documented" anarchists as a Security Threat Group, they became designated gang members. Thaxton's incoming mail including publications by or about anarchists was intercepted. This included anything with the anarchist Circle A insignia.

Not one to retreat, Thaxton sent a call to supporters to mail in post cards that displayed the Circle A with the caption "This is Not a Gang Symbol." Some 500 cards rolled in and Thaxton was sent to solitary for 4 months. Former anarchist political prisoner Brian McCarville filed suit to change this mail rule and won. Anarchist prisoners were once again allowed to receive anarchist material.

For one who has written countless articles during his imprisonment ranging from commentary to political theory and book reviews, Thaxton is uncharacteristically mum on the form that his activism will take once released. Well published before his arrest, Thaxton has received international attention throughout the years as anarcho list serves and websites ring electric with what many perceive to be the sheer injustice of his trial and sentence.

"I've been down so long, I'm really not sure what it looks like on the outside," he says.

He expresses some concern about what supporters might expect him to do or be once freedom is granted.

"I'm no movement poster dude. I'm flawed and have relationships to mend. I plan to keep writing, I'm working on scheduling a speaking tour and am intent on pulling my articles into book form and have it published sometime this fall. For now, I can't really say too much about what my future might hold. I'm just looking forward to getting out."
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Rob Thaxton is featured as a contributing author in the recently released Igniting a Revolution: Voices in Defense of Earth from AK Press. Thaxton will give a reading presentation on Saturday, July 1 at Laughing Horse Bookstore 12 NE 10th St. Portland Oregon. For more information call 503.493.2505.
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Marlena Gangi is an activist, educator and photojournalist. She resides in Portland.