Enid City Council Election: Blevins Controversy and Community Impact

TFD – Delve into the Enid city council election aftermath, centered on the controversy surrounding Judd Blevins and the impact on the community. Get insights into Derwin Norwood’s role and the ongoing efforts of the Enid Social Justice Committee at TheFoxDaily.

A Black man intervened to spare a public servant in a small Oklahoman city from a vote of censure that denounced his recent affiliation with White nationalism, at least for the time being.

During a public meeting last autumn, a number of Enid citizens chastised city council commissioner Judd Blevins for his involvement in the 2017 “Unite the Right” marches in Charlottesville, Virginia, which resulted in the death of one counterprotester and numerous injuries. They also emphasized hurtful remarks he was said to have made on the internet while using a false identity.

Others stood up for Blevins, arguing that he was entitled to free expression and that the attempt to penalize him was a political trick orchestrated by Enid’s tiny progressive community.

However, at the conclusion of the meeting, Derwin Norwood, the lone Black commissioner on the city council, delivered a passionate speech chastising the neighborhood for fighting instead of reconciling. Then, Norwood, who usually sits next to Blevins during council meetings, urged him to get up, hugged him, and declared his love for him.

Cheers and applause broke out in half the room. The other half either clapped courteously or sat in silence.

In an interview with CNN this week, Norwood said, “I realized that in forgiving him, I freed myself from becoming what he was or still may be.” “I had to get myself free.”

A local group of activists who had been raising concerns about Blevins’ history suffered a crushing defeat when the city council decided to postpone the censure vote a short while later.

However, the Enid Social Justice Committee proceeded with its strategy of gathering enough signatures for a recall petition, which ultimately compelled this week’s special election.

According to a CNN Decision Desk projection, voters on Tuesday chose to remove Blevins—who has denied being a White nationalist but has also made ambiguous statements about his past—in favor of a different conservative in a race that has sparked a deep ideological divide in the city over issues of forgiveness, accountability, and US history.

enid city council Commissioner Derwin Norwood said he forgives Blevins.” enid city council Commissioner Derwin Norwood said he forgives Blevins.”

Blevins rejects White nationalism and claims to have attended a gathering.

Enid is a 50,000-person town in northern Oklahoma that leans heavily Republican in elections. The city is home to Vance Air Force Base and is well-known for its imposing grain elevators.

In February 2023, about a month before Blevins was elected, the local newspaper featured a report from Right Wing Watch, a left-leaning organization that keeps an eye on far-right extremism, from 2019. According to the study, Blevins was the Oklahoma recruiter for Identity Evropa, an organization that the Anti-Defamation League classified as a White supremacist group but has since disbanded.

Though two local Democrats attempted to approach Blevins about the story during a candidate event just before the election, Blevins was generally ignored and went on to win the Ward 1 race by 36 votes. There were 808 votes cast in total.

The tiny Enid Social Justice Committee launched a more outspoken effort to draw attention to Blevins’ recent past after he assumed office in May. They staged rallies and raised concerns during city council meetings. The group’s head, Kristi Balden, expressed her shock upon learning of Blevins’ ties to White supremacist activities.

She described it as “very, very frightening and disturbing.” “How is this still happening in this year?” was my thought.

Blevins admits that he was present at the Charlottesville protests, where he was captured on camera several times. Blevins stated that he “felt it was important to protest the removal of statues of American soldiers” at a candidate forum last week.

He declared, “It’s important to me.” It’s our past. It comes from our ancestry. It is our identity.

On the communication app Discord in 2019, the left-wing organization Unicorn Riot disclosed thousands of messages from participants in the Charlottesville protests. Someone who used the alias “Conway – OK” was posting in one of the forums. Later, Blevins was revealed to be the author by Right Wing Watch.

Blevins has acknowledged in public that he was the author of the internet postings and has refuted them in a city council meeting; yet, he denied using the alias during a candidate forum last month.

The claim that Blevins ever identified as a White nationalist or White supremacist has also been refuted.

Less than a month before the 2017 demonstrations, Conway wrote a message endorsing Adolf Hitler with the words, “Hitler never would have allowed this sh*t.” Conway also penned an insulting message directed at a woman who is Jewish. The posts’ contexts are not entirely obvious.

And less than two weeks prior to the Charlottesville demonstration, Conway wrote in a message: “I just can’t feel safe if I’m not wearing my Southwest Indian Armband and packing an AR with a 100 round drum.”

“Today, I am a different man.”

At a city council meeting on November 7, Blevins, who declined to speak with CNN for this story, had a hazy response to certain revealed incidents from his history. He did not address his supposed affiliation with Identity Evropa explicitly, instead citing the significance of the First Amendment rights.

“We don’t have rights if we have to apologize for using them,” he continued, emphasizing how crucial it is for the American people to stand up for their beliefs.

He went on, “I am a different man now than I was yesterday.” “My heart is not filled with hatred. The desire to obey the Lord is everything that exists. However, I will not provide an apology for who I was never.”

His comments were mocked by the Enid Social Justice Committee, which led to a yelling war between Blevins, the mayor, and one of its members. In the end, the member of the social justice committee was asked to leave the meeting.

Balden expressed her doubts about the sincerity of Blevins’ remarks made during that meeting.

“He would specifically criticize those organizations if he truly thought that way. She stated, “He would apologize for his involvement in all those actions if he actually felt that way.

Blevins’ remarks were insufficient to appease the mayor and other conservative council members of the city. Their “failure to explain and apologize” for his involvement in Charlottesville, they claimed, “has continued to fester and has caused disruption and discontent among the residents of Enid.” Two weeks later, they placed the censure resolution on the agenda.

At a city meeting on November 21, following yet another wave of vehement public comments, Blevins maintained his position on the freedom to express one’s beliefs and principles while adopting a slightly more apologetic stance by declaring his opposition to all forms of racial hatred and discrimination.

“We have all made dumb statements in our lives. We’ve made regrettable comments in the past, particularly over the phone, where our words can be misconstrued to paint you in a negative light. Some of the worst times in my life have been exposed to the public,” he continued. “And I ask for forgiveness if I’ve offended anyone here.”

Shortly afterward, Norwood extended that public pardon, which turned out to be a crucial point in the broader discussion regarding Blevins’ background.

Balden called Norwood a “good” and “forgiving” man, but added that the city council member and his allies gained more traction as a result of Norwood’s embrace of Blevins.

“On a personal level, I understood why Derwin (Norwood) did that,” the woman remarked. “We were very frustrated because it seemed to change the course of what was happening.”

As for Norwood, he’s a self-described moderate Republican who doesn’t regret anything. “I felt guilty,” he remarked. “It was difficult for me until then, but I’m glad I forgiven him.”

At a candidate forum last week, Blevins was also questioned in-depth about his past by moderators, although he occasionally maintained his defiance on his personal opinions.

He declared, “I am against racial discrimination and hate in all its forms.” “However, I refuse to engage in this game where I take concerns that the media portrays as difficulties from America’s history but which are not issues now and play them off as major problems. They aren’t.

When asked directly about his affiliation with Identity Evropa, Blevins contended that his position as a commissioner on the city council had nothing to do with an organization that has dissolved.

He went on, saying he had attempted to “push back on this anti-White hatred that is so common in media and entertainment,” but if speaking out against what was and is being done to this country is illegal, he would gladly admit to it.

“A cut where a bandage is being torn off”

For the past week, Blevins’ detractors have been knocking on doors in his area, bringing up his background and urging people to choose seasoned conservative Cheryl Patterson.

Speaking to CNN shortly before Tuesday’s election and months after publicly endorsing Blevins, Norwood expressed his opinion that Blevins had not done himself any favors by attending the candidate forum last week.

He stated that the electorate held the power to decide the outcome of the election, and he has made an effort to limit his own voice.

He had before stated, “I think there would be a healing process if Ms. Cheryl Patterson wins it.” “However, it will be akin to a bandage being removed from a wound if Blevins continues to serve on the council and Ward 1 votes him in.”

According to a CNN projection on Tuesday night, Patterson, a former teacher, has been elected by Enid residents to serve on the city council.