Danny Eugene Taylor, age 43 is a self-identified white supremacist who lives in Salida, Colorado. By his own messaging on Parlor and Telegram, he’d like to be a member of the Proud Boys. He may belong to other, similarly far-right groups.
He’s not the only far-right resident of the Arkansas River Valley, just the most visible one at the moment.
That’s because, for more than a year, he positioned himself on U.S. 50 not far from U.S. 291. Wearing some version of military-type attire, an AR-15, and carrying an upside-down U.S. flag, he waved the gun, the flag, and often shouted obscenities at passing drivers, many of whom shouted comments to him.
He was then officially on the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) right-of-way. So his antics weren’t something the city of Salida could do much about unless he had begun shooting at people, which he did not.
This summer, the man, his gun, and his flag appear to have transferred his dubious presence to downtown Salida’s F Street pedestrian plaza, where the summer vehicle closure for tourists has given him a street platform.
At least one day a week, he stands there, and occasionally a tourist or resident will confront him. Typically the result is a shouting match sometimes including obscenities.
This armed man has been appearing on the streets of downtown Salida over the past few weeks. It appears to be the same AR-15 carrying-flag-waver man who last summer would stand along U.S. 50 and U.S. 291 on the edge of Salida. Image by Tom Cole.
Ark Valley Voice has been watching his actions and Senior Reporter Dan Smith spoke with him a few weeks ago, so we have a sense of his views. But as journalists who cover extremism, it is not our role to provide a platform for those extreme beliefs. So we will not directly quote him.
It should be noted that the First Amendment protects freedom of speech and that Colorado is an open-carry state — so Taylor is within his rights to carry a gun, and believe whatever it is that he believes. He says that making people aware of their rights is part of the reason he’s on F Street, which may or may not be the real reason.
The Salida Police Department has said that when they checked his assault rifle, it wasn’t loaded.
But last week an article by The Mountain Mail about Taylor said the opposite — referencing him as “armed with a loaded AR-15 and an upside-down American flag.”
The reporter Lijah Sampson, also wrote that Taylor and his friends “meet in Buena Vista with the Chaffee County Patriots”. That may be true. While AVV has covered the Chaffee Patriots since its inception, we have not confirmed his membership.
A few weeks ago, Ark Valley Voice invited downtown business owners over to talk over coffee, listening to their concerns about an obviously armed man downtown at the height of tourist season. They shared genuine concerns regarding safety for themselves and their young employees and customers.
As long-time downtown businesses, they say they are worried about what his presence says about Salida’s welcoming reputation.
One shop owner said he could support any form of protest, but he strongly objected to someone walking around displaying a semi-automatic firearm.
Another said she was seriously thinking of changing her Sunday hours if the armed man remained there. “I’m afraid,” she said.
Another said he had tried to talk with his city council member, but felt that his concerns weren’t taken seriously.
During our meeting with these business owners, the idea was raised to attend the Salida City Council meeting to publicly express their concerns. But no one appeared at that meeting or subsequent sessions, and one expressed “not being comfortable being on the YouTube recording.”
Three times one is three
Over the past few weeks, Taylor has been joined off and on, on F Street by two other armed men. One of them has brandished a long gun. One man identified himself as Mike Berndt, and the other man wanted to be known only as Jeff. Both are apparently local.
They stood with Taylor at the intersection of First Street and F Street, alongside the barricades blocking the street-turned-pedestrian-mall.
Now with the appearance of more armed supporters downtown, one business owner wondered just how many more armed people might gather.
Salida Mayor Dan Shore did comment at the Aug. 1 Council meeting’s end that he had received comments from people concerned about the armed individual downtown saying, “I hear you, I share frustration …”
But he pointed out First and Second Amendment rights, assuring the public that Salida Police “are on top of the situation”, adding they had checked his weapon many times and “it has never been loaded.”
“There is nothing in his background to suggest that he can’t have a weapon, and so our hands are tied …” said Shore. He pointed out that the only time there was a legal conflict (one decided in district court some time ago) was when people confronted Taylor.
From the Streets to Social Media and Membership
Taylor goes by a social media handle “Smthgwicked”.
While the phrase originally referred to Shakespeare’s MacBeth, the words are also the title of Ray Bradbury’s 1962 horror novel, Something Wicked This Way Comes. Most recently the group known as Trash Talk released the song “Something Wicked in 2020 (https://radio.callmefred.com/en/song_story/something-wicked-trash-talk/ ).
Per the CallmeFred site, “The song’s lyrics talk about someone with a new attitude who is facing something bad (referred to as “something wicked”). They don’t know how to deal with it and the protagonist commits to “total warfare” and dropping old propaganda. The lyrics also mention a possible romantic partner flirting with disaster and predicting World War III; taking a stand while facing a difficult situation.”
Ark Valley Voice has confirmed through a journalistic source the communications shown here, revealing that the gun-flag guy has attempted to join the fascist street gang the Proud Boys. His social media presence reveals a white supremacy identity.
As described by the Southern Poverty Law Center, “The Proud Boys is a domestic terrorism group established in the midst of the 2016 presidential election by VICE Media co-founder Gavin McInnes. The Proud Boys are self-described ‘Western chauvinists’ who adamantly deny any connection to the racist ‘alt-right.’ They insist they are simply a fraternal group spreading an “anti-political correctness” and “anti-white guilt” agenda.”
The truth is decidedly darker. There are at least 31 hate groups spread across the state and The Proud Boys are only one group.
As SPLC points out, hate groups have this in common: “All hate groups have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people typically for their immutable characteristics.”
Salida’s armed man apparently still wants to join the Proud Boys, which is his right. But the public also has the right to question his intentions.
Editor’s Note: Two Ark Valley Voice journalists contributed to this article, Stephen Hall and Jan Wondra.
CLARIFICATION: Ark Valley Voice in the above reference to Taylor’s potential gun-toting on F St. originally did not identify competitor (the Mountain Mail), and their reporter (Lijah Sampson), because it involved a question as to whether or not the gun was/is loaded. Sampson reported it was loaded. The city says that so far as they have been able to ascertain, it is not.
Featured image: A man identified as Danny Taylor (right) with two supporters in downtown Salida on Aug. 6. Photo by Dan Smith.
We all knew guys like Dan in middle school and earlier, needing attention. Then, as adults, they present their fears and craving for attention in the guise of some lofty philosophical ideal, but they are still children working through fear. We moved here from NW Montana many years ago, and it’s loaded with guys like Dan up there. When you sit in bars, it’s so hard to keep a straight face when they lay out some silly argument about America as if it’s 1776. They have beards, cowboy hats, aviators, hilarious costumes and trucks. It’s “a whole identity thing.” Yes, the generally poorly-informed philosophies are embarrassing, but 99% of them are harmless and would rather be fishing. Hopefully, Dan is ushered out of town because scaring children, and hurting hard working business owners is just mean spirited. Dan, if you’re reading this, we understand you have strong beliefs—Many of us do. But, we comfort children, help local businesses, and keep our firearms locked up at home. That’s what we do here in America. Here in Salida, and in Montana, the real badasses don’t need to show their metal. Public schools need help, not to feel threatened. Police are busy, and don’t need to spend time and resources dealing with your approach. Leadership is all about the courage to believe in the character of mankind when it would be much easier to show blood on your hands as evidence of your power and authority. Loaded or otherwise, many people in Salida with martial arts training are able to disarm you with no weapon in mere seconds, and others have extensive knowledge regarding constitutional law because it is what they studied. So, while you are less of a threat than you may think, you are, nonetheless, hurting businesses, wasting our time and scaring children. Be honest with yourself and recognize these irrefutable facts. You and your friends in Buena Vista have gotten the attention you desire. You have opinions. You can act tough. You own guns—We got it guys. We see and hear you, so please stand down because you have made your point, and it’s getting tiring.
Wow, Billy D: love this. So well worded, I appreciate every word you wrote. ” . . keep our firearms locked up at home” and “public schools need help, not to be threatened.” Thanks for submitting this. Maybe these guys will see this? ? Nahhhhhhhh.
You have your beliefs . He has his. That’s what made America better than other countries. More people will stand with him . If the left keeps sensors our free rights AVV POST But sensors comments ?
DOESNT everyone have a voice..
He is no threat to any of us..
LETS SEE IF IM BLOCKED.
Bill of rights is what built America.
Jim, I appreciate your active engagement in commenting on many other’s posts. However, you and others must understand this is not a free-for-all social media site. As an accredited publication, it is our responsibility to censor information that is patently false or is found to be mis/disinformation. In other cases such as yours, though, we can and will use your comments as an example of misinformation. In this case, The Bill of Rights is just one part of The Constitution of the United States not the thing “that built America” as you suggest. The Constitution and its parts were never meant to be separated. Moreover, because of the, “Supremacy Clause” contained in Article IV of The Constitution state and local governments (this includes Salida) must uphold the U.S. Constitution first. To that end, government officials at all levels of government, swear an oath to uphold The Constitution not to interpret it or uphold just one part of it.
As a local parent it sucks to know my child is growing up around people carrying machine guns like we live in a war zone, something none of us parent-age people had to grow up with. This community shouldn’t have to tolerate these mental midgets with a chip on their shoulder they got from watching flu klux klan sympathizers on fox “news”
If I might be so bold as to paraphrase the basic message of these guys, it would be “Look at me! Look at me!” Their desperate need for attention, and their misplaced sense self-importance is pretty funny.
They’re goofs. One of them apparently can’t even get into the Proud Boys. I hate to have a racist career advice, but maybe he should start with a smaller group of racist street thugs, like the Patriot Front, and work on building his resume until it is at a point where the Proud Boys will consider letting him join.
I would encourage you to stop supplying the attention these people so desperately crave.
These men are not supporting any rights and they know what they are doing. They are terrorizing this community and getting away with it. I thing we should all do our best to assure that tourists and short term renters know that our community is not safe and that our police will not protect their security as visitors. This is not an exercise in free speech and the leader expresses the willingness to violate the law and join a militia other than our National Guard – the only option. His actions say to me that if he had the honor and integrity to be in such a group and truly wanted to protect this country he would join them. Our police refusal to act is bull. There is surely a way to stop this before it balloons into more men and more danger. The best way I can see to fight this is to publicize the danger to the tourists as often as it happens.