Profile: Sean and Sandra Anderson

Sean and Sandra Anderson

People’s Rights Idaho Area 2 Assistants

Location: Riggins, Idaho

 

Sean and Sandra Anderson have a history of far-right paramilitary activism and were quick to join the fight against COVID-19 health restrictions. The pair are Idaho Area 2 assistants for People’s Rights. After a July 18 shootout with police, Sean Anderson became a People’s Rights network cause célèbre.

Stopped for an apparent vehicle equipment violation, Anderson allegedly fled the scene, taking police on a 30-mile pursuit before stopping outside a residential area near Ferdinand. At that point, he is accused of “using a shotgun and firing it in the direction of a Lewis County Deputy after which officers returned fire,” according to the state police. Anderson was briefly hospitalized and later charged with aggravated assault on a police officer.[1]

On August 1, People’s Rights hosted a protest in Nezperce, Idaho on Anderson’s behalf.

The Andersons have a history of activism alongside Ammon Bundy. Both Sean and Sandra Anderson were participants in the January 2016 armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. Two of the last four to leave the refuge after the standoff, Sean Anderson became infamous for ranting that the “media has been waiting for a bloodbath” and that “now there’s going to be one;” and, “If they [police] stop you from getting here, kill them.”[2]

Sean Anderson has shown affinities for both paramilitarism and bigotry. Sean and Sandra have both been photographed in the clothing of the far-right paramilitary Three Percenters.

In 2017, Sean wrote that “It’s Sad that only the KKK, will stand up for American and it’s (sic) Heritage!!!”[3] The heritage in question is apparently the display of Confederate symbols. Also in 2017, Sean Anderson posted memes declaring that Islam is “a deadly worldwide cancer;” mocking trans people; casting Mexicans as people who “piss on our flag, break our laws, murder and rape our citizens, loot our Treasury and transport poison into our country;” and promoting the antisemitic canard that liberal Jewish philanthropist George Soros and the “Bilderberg group” were “puppet masters” that selected Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.[4]

Sean Anderson has also expressed Islamophobia, “So we allow Muslims to be elected to Congress and change our values and traditions…We allow babies to be murdered…I’m ashamed!!”[5]

Sean Anderson has also joined the opposition to COVID-19-related restrictions, posting a well-circulated meme of an armed colonial soldier that declares, “No more masks…No more stay at home or closed businesses…We have no intention of respecting any new little laws or civil orders. Don’t push your luck.”[6]

Anderson took part in a “second amendment” rally “to help defend the town against BLM” and “the antifa people that were going to be gathered there,” according to fellow Idaho Area 2 assistant David Barnett.[7]

Sean Anderson Notable Group Memberships: Reopen Clallam County, All Jobs are Essential, A well regulated Militia, Patriot Network Summit.

Sean Anderson Notable Facebook Likes: Breitbart, The Blaze, Ann Coulter, Bundy Ranch, Gavin Seim for Liberty, KrisAnne Hall JD, One America News Network, The Oath, Patriots United, Rise Up Patriots, LaVoy Finicum’s Stand for Freedom #LibertyRising, U.S. Infidels, Bundy News & Freedom Watchers, Matt Shea, Sons and Daughters of Liberty / APW, Militia buy sell trade, Idaho Freedom Foundation, Cliven Bundy, Gun Owners of America, Ammon Bundy, Final Prepper, VCDL Page – Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc., Save the Monuments and Southern Heritage, Defending Idaho.

Sandy Anderson Notable Facebook Likes: The Tea Party Community, Southern Brotherhood Militia, Georgia Coalition of Patriots, Bundy Ranch, The Oath, KrisAnne Hall JD, Breitbart, ACLJ, LaVoy Finicum’s Stand For Freedom #LibertyRising, Ammon Bundy, John Lamb – The Last Free Man, One America News Network, Bundy News and Freedom Watchers, Gem State Patriot, Keep Idaho Free, Project Veritas, Turning Point USA, Patriots United.

 

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NOTES

[1] Associated Press. “Correction: Police Pursuit-Shootout Story.” Idaho State Journal. July 23, 2020. https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/state/police-idaho-suspect-in-shootout-was-part-of-2016-standoff/article_37889f1a-f07b-54e9-b6ba-36dec613fdef.html; Idaho State Police. “News Release – Update – Suspect Charged with Aggravated Assault upon a Peace Officer after Pursuit.” July 23, 2020. https://isp.idaho.gov/news-releases-view/.

[2] Bernstein, Maxine. “Oregon standoff defendant Sean Anderson apologizes for inflammatory video messages from refuge.” The Oregonian/Oregon Live. May 4, 2016, updated January 9, 2019. https://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2016/05/oregon_standoff_defendant_sean.html; Associated Press. “One Malheur occupier apologizes for rants.” Statesman Journal. May 6, 2016. https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2016/05/06/1-occupiers-oregon-refuge-apologizes-rants/84014498/; Anderson and three others involved in the armed occupation would later plead guilty to misdemeanor trespass. See Bernstein, Maxine. “3 Oregon standoff defendants plead guilty to trespass, pay $1000 restitution.” The Oregonian. February 6, 2017. Updated January 9, 2019. https://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2017/02/three_oregon_standoff_defendan.html.

[3] See Tanner, Chuck. “Ammon Bundy and People’s Rights Mobilize Following Arrest of Idaho-Based Ally.” Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights. July 31, 2020. https://irehr.org/2020/07/31/ammon-bundy-and-peoples-rights-mobilize-following-arrest-of-idaho-based-ally/.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Anderson, Sean. Facebook. July 2, 2020. https://www.facebook.com/seananderson.anderson.9/posts/883556305500316.

[7] North Idaho Exposed. “Justice for Sean Anderson: The Rally – Nez Perce, Idaho.” Spot On Idaho website. August 4, 2020. https://spotonidaho.com/id-politics/262384/justice-for-sean-anderson-the-rally.html.