That’s right … Pat Hines, southern nationalist, advocates the murder of schoolchildren if the United States does not leave the South to itself.
He did so on Connie Chastain’s “Backsass!” Ms. Chastain and another poster were mourning the horror of the Beslan massacre some eight years ago, and they expressed concern that the same sort of horrible slaughter might happen in the United States.
Then Pat Hines piped up:
Let’s give credit where credit is due here. Chastain not only distances herself from Hines, but she expresses her incredulity that Hines actually means what he says. Hines has no problem confirming that he means what he says:
Folks, it’s time that these sorts of threats of violence are stopped. Report the group and Hines to Facebook.
Is this what southern nationalism is all about? I doubt it, but let’s see what folks who like Hines do when they discover this. That’s right, League of the South … I’m looking at you boys right now.
Crossroads 
Well, she had to take that stand. Hines will likely lose his facebook credentials, which will only drive him to come back in a different persona if Chastain is right about him, or drive him deep underground, if she’s not. Give her and Ms. Covert [is that name real?] credit for taking the stand they had to in public.
This is another reason I don’t do social networking. “Be careful of the company you keep.”, which has its roots in I Corinthians.
Yet Ms. Chastain retains him as a member of the group. So there are limits to her outrage.
Gee, just when I was beginning to have a little respect for her.
Well, I believe she has a flawed understanding of free speech. I think she very properly denounced him (Good going, Connie!) but wrongly believes that kicking him off her group is violating his free speech rights.
I’m reporting this to the FBI. This is WAAAY over the line.
How to report this series of comments:
1. Click here to Backsass! at Facebook.
2. On the top bar (About/Photos/Files …), go to the gear just after Join Group, and click.
3. Follow the prompts.
It will be interesting to see whether Facebook will take action. If not, well, that will be highlighted, too.
Done. Francis please let us know what the FBI says.
I have left a message through there standard reporting avenue with a link to this page. They say they monitor information that comes in “24/7”. If I don’t hear from them tomorrow I will see if the telephone gets me anywhere. I also sent the link to a local news channel.
Done !
I reported, individually, each of Hines’ threats of violence against children. From what I saw, the rest of the group denounced his threats of violence against children.
I don’t think that tactic would be particularly wise.
Wise?!? We’re talking genocide/ethnic cleansing here: the deliberate murder of non-combatants because they belong to the “wrong” political/ethnic/racial grouping. It’s a tactic that has become all too common in the 20th/21st centuries. Bosnia/Serbia, Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan, atrocities against Kurds, the list goes on and on. Even where the tactic is successful, even on a short-term basis, it irrevocably taints any group that engages in it. To answer Hitler’s question: People do remember the genocide against Armenians.
Pat Hines… is he a Moby?
Does he even live in the South? I don’t know what Southern townspeople today wouldn’t kill him if he did this.
I think we need to stay away from speculating on what might happen. Hines has made violent threats before.
Threats of violence like this must be taken seriously. That means reporting them so that they can be investigated by people who are trained to do so. Connie should have reported him to the authorities, but, since she hasn’t, someone should. He may be all talk and no action, but none of us are in a position to determine if that’s the case and the price to be paid if we assume he is just spouting off and are wrong is too high.
I don’t think the authorities need to be swamped by reports so I’ll wait to hear what Francis does before taking any more action than reporting it to Facebook.
I agree that we have no choice but to take this seriously. That said, Hines has made other threats before, and he’s still on Facebook. This time, Facebook can act … or it can explain when I go after FB. As for what others are doing in response, I believe some people are not making their efforts public.
There are those who say that Hines can’t be serious, because he made the threat on FB. Are these folks telling me that he was just joking? Or that he just says things that are so stupid that he doesn’t realize that they are actionable?
We talk about preventing violence and terrorism, and we talk about protecting children. When something happens, we look for signs that it could have been prevented. Now we are presented with precisely such a situation. This will escalate if it is not resolved.
Brooks-As I recall, several of the recent mass killers gave strong indications on their websites (not sure if FB or something else) that they were planning violent act(s). People who dismiss this probably also believe, wrongly, that people who talk about committing suicide won’t follow through.
In addition to the reasons Hines might be serious, there are also the possibilities that he just plain doesn’t care, that he believes the authorities are too dumb to stop him, or that he is a terrorist or terrorist wannabe. Terrorism isn’t just about body count; it’s about spreading fear and uncertainty to stop a society from functioning.
I agree with you. The costs of being wrong if we assume that Hines isn’t serious, for whatever reason we assign to that conclusion, is too high. That is why the FBI and the police are there. We aren’t qualified to do this kind of investigation and make this kind of decision. They can’t investigate if they aren’t told of this.
I agree. I reported his posts to FB and chose the “credible threat of violence” category.
I reported Pat’s comments last night after reading them. I am considering a report to the Fed. as well. To give Connie credit, not only did she reject his proposals, she outright laughed in his face. Bully for Chastain, but I do agree she needs to remove him from the group.
The FBI tips form is at https://tips.fbi.gov/ and the Department of Homeland Security page on how to report incidents is at http://www.dhs.gov/report-incidents.
I don’t know if I’m right about this but I do believe that making the threatening statements like those we have read is a crime in itself. Using the internet to threaten people is definitely criminal. High school kids have been brought to court on charges of harassment and threat on, guess where, Facebook. If you can lock a 16 year old up just hours after posting a vague allusion to leaving a bomb in a school building, (this happened here) this fine fellow should ALREADY be in jail.
This is not the type of language that can be brushed aside as hot air and empty threats. Too much is at risk.
I do not find this fellow in the Southern Poverty Law Center website. The FBI often goes to this organization for information on this type of person. It must be reported to them as well. This is dangerous talk.
I just got off the phone with the FBI. They tell me because it is a non-specific, non-targeted threat it is protected under the first amendment. The agent I spoke to was concerned and told me the FBI does take these matters seriously and it will be looked into. He told me their job in a situation like this was to investigate and make sure that nothing escalates beyond the threat. I think I got that all right. I directed the agent to this page and I hope we will all feel we can do our part to help him in his investigation.
Dr. Brooks, thank you for bringing this to our attention. We are all, I am sure, very proud of you.
I think this was a joint effort by a number of people who have expressed real concern about what has happened here.
Thank you, Francis. The response is what I expected. I’m glad the agent treated our concerns so seriously and respectfully and that the situation will be monitored. Thank you for taking the time to be the person to contact the FBI.
Mr. Simpson, that is. I’m a bit agitated at the moment.
A joint effort which came to life after you brought it our attention.
I’ve reported it to Facebook also. Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Brooks.
Just an FYI for everyone. The response I got from Facebook was, to be polite, very unsatisfactory.
As was mine !!
Then it behooves us to take on Facebook for tolerating such speech, and having it explain why it’s okay for someone on Facebook to threaten violence against children. Trust me, this isn’t over.
I’ll note that Ms. Chastain did not simply remove Mr. Hines from her group, so she’s fairly tolerant of such speech, despite her claims that she objects to it. I’m sure she objects … just not to the extent of doing anything about it. She’ll continue to associate with Hines, as will other southern nationalists and the League of the South. You might want to consider what that says about southern nationalism.
That entire FB exchange reminded me of this movie scene…