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Cliven Bundy
Bundy in 2014
Born (1946-04-29) April 29, 1946 (age 78)
NationalityAmerican
Known forBundy standoff
ChildrenAmmon Bundy
Ryan Bundy
Cliven Lance Bundy

Cliven Bundy is an American cattle rancher from Bunkerville, Nevada.[3] He vocally advocates a philosophy opposed to what he views as federal government overreach. He is well-known for instigating a standoff with law enforcement over grazing rights. Some view him as a hero for leading a movement of ranchers and other disaffected populations,[4] while others consider him dangerously provocative. He is the father of Ammon Bundy, who in 2016 initiated a militia occupation of a federal facility in Oregon.

Bundy participates and has links with various related movements, including anti-government activism (which opposes federal government involvement in favor of state and local control, or even no government) and the sovereign citizen movement (members of whom hold that governments have no jurisdiction over themselves).

Bundy generated considerable controversy after remarks suggesting that African-Americans might have been better off under slavery.[citation needed]

Worldview

Bundy advocates for limited federal government involvement in local affairs, particularly in ranching.

Bundy has channeled the sovereign citizen movement, which suggests that the federal government is illegitimate and does not have jurisdiction over individuals, meaning that laws do not apply to them.[5] He has asked for the support of members of the Oath Keepers, the White Mountain Militia, and the Praetorian Guard.[5]

Bundy has said he does not recognize federal police power over land that he believes belongs to the "sovereign state of Nevada".[6][7] Bundy also denied the jurisdiction of the federal court system over Nevada land and filed an unsuccessful motion to dismiss the Bureau of Land Management case against him by claiming the federal courts have no jurisdiction because he is a "citizen of Nevada, not the territory of Nevada".[7] Bundy also believes that federally owned land in Nevada actually belongs to the state.[8][9] According to The Guardian, Bundy told his supporters that "We definitely don't recognize [the BLM director's] jurisdiction or authority, his arresting power or policing power in any way," and in interviews he used the language of the sovereign citizen movement, thereby gaining the support of members of the Oath Keepers, the White Mountain Militia and the Praetorian Guard militias.[10] The movement is considered by the FBI as a major domestic terrorism threat.[11][12]

J. J. MacNab, who writes for Forbes about anti-government extremism, described Bundy’s views as inspired by the sovereign citizen movement, whose adherents believe that the county sheriff is the most powerful law-enforcement officer in the country, with authority superior to that of any federal agent, local law-enforcement agency or any other elected official.[13] On April 12, 2014, Bundy "ordered" Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie to confront the federal agents, disarm them and deliver their arms to Bundy within an hour of his demand, and later expressed disappointment that Gillespie did not comply.[13][14][15]

The Southern Poverty Law Center has described Bundy's views as closely aligned with those of the Posse Comitatus organization, and it has also asserted that such self-described "patriot" groups were focused on secession, nullification, state sovereignty and the principles of the Tenther movement.[16][17]

In May 2014, Bundy changed his political affiliation from the Republican party to the Independent American Party.[18]

Religion

Cliven Bundy is Mormon and has claimed divine assistance in his cause. As The Guardian reported:

He cast the showdown over grazing fees as a miracle in which Jesus Christ and the founding fathers helped vanquish the BLM’s “army” without a shot being fired. “I believe in prayer ... I felt I’ve been guided a lot of times by the heavenly spirits.” He was certain divine intervention delivered victory. “It was amazing to go against an army and not be scared.”[19]

Standoff

Main article: Bundy standoff

The Bundy standoff was an armed confrontation between protesters and law enforcement that developed from a 20-year legal dispute between the United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and cattle rancher Cliven Bundy, over unpaid grazing fees on federally owned land in southeastern Nevada.

The ongoing dispute started in 1993, when, in protest against changes to grazing rules, Bundy declined to renew his permit for cattle grazing on BLM-administered lands near Bunkerville, Nevada. According to the BLM, Bundy continued to graze his cattle on public lands without a permit. In 1998, Bundy was prohibited by the United States District Court for the District of Nevada from grazing his cattle on an area of land later called the Bunkerville Allotment. In July 2013, the BLM complaint was supplemented when federal judge Lloyd D. George ordered that Bundy refrain from trespassing on federally administered land in the Gold Butte area of Clark County.

On March 27, 2014, 145,604 acres of federal land in Clark County were temporarily closed for the "capture, impound, and removal of trespass cattle". BLM officials and law enforcement rangers began a roundup of such livestock on April 5, and an arrest was made the next day. On April 12, a group of protesters, some of them armed, advanced on what the BLM described as a "cattle gather." Sheriff Doug Gillespie negotiated with Bundy and newly confirmed BLM director Neil Kornze, who elected to release the cattle and de-escalate the situation. As of the end of 2015, Bundy continued to graze his cattle on Federal land and had not paid the fees.

Personal life

Bundy lives in the family home he built with his father.[19] He is Mormon.[3]

Bundy can trace his heritage to the Mayflower.[19] He presides over a large family, with 14 adult children[3] (including Ammon Bundy) and 60 grandchildren.[19]

Ryan Bundy, 43, is another of Cliven's sons.[1] As he was being arrested in January 2015 in Cedar City, Utah, on a warrant for interfering with a law enforcement officer, Ryan allegedly resisted arrest and was additionally charged.[20] Bundy does not carry a weapon, out of concern it would make him a target by the government.[19]

Cliven Lance Bundy, 36, sentenced in February 2015, is serving a two-to-eight year sentence in the Ely Conservation Camp of the Nevada Department of Corrections in Ely, Nevada for burglary and firearms charges. [21]

Racial comments

About a week after the climax of the standoff, on April 19, 2014, Bundy spoke about witnessing a civil disturbance, the 1965 Watts riots.[22] Bundy described his views about unhappiness at that time and criticized what he saw as government interference and its influence on African Americans. He recalled later seeing a public housing project in North Las Vegas where some of the older residents and the children sat on the porch. He said:

They didn't have nothing to do ... they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do? They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I've often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn't get no more freedom. They got less freedom.[23][24]

In reference to Mexican people, he said:

They come over here against our Constitution and cross our borders, but they're here, and they're people ... Don't tell me they don't work, and don't tell me they don't pay taxes. And don't tell me they don't have better family structures than most of us white people.[22]

A year later Bundy called the reaction to his statements a "misunderstanding," saying he was not racist and that he should not have used the term "Negro." He added: "I’ve never had a black person or a brown person ever say anything bad about me." He then proceeded to make further statements about race, comparing "welfare and housing" to slavery. He expressed support for Blacks who have "raised themselves up to a point where they are equal with the rest of us." As an alternative to government jobs and programs, he touted private-sector work. "We don’t need leeches feeding off us and eating off of us," he said. "We need producers."[19]

Response by public officials

Ranking Democratic Senator Harry Reid condemned the Bundy statement and said Bundy had "revealed himself to be a hateful racist. But by denigrating people who work hard and play by the rules while he mooches off public land he also revealed himself to be a hypocrite... It is the height of irresponsibility for any individual or entity in a position of power or influence to glorify or romanticize such a dangerous individual... For their part, national Republican leaders could help show a united front against this kind of hateful, dangerous extremism by publicly condemning Bundy."[25][26]

A number of Republican politicians and talk-show hosts who previously had supported Bundy, forcefully condemned his remarks as racist,[27][28] including junior NV Senator Dean Heller, who previously had described Bundy defenders as "patriots”, and Senator Rand Paul.[28][29] On April 23, Heller said through a spokesperson that he "completely disagrees with Mr. Bundy’s appalling and racist statements, and condemns them in the most strenuous way".[23] On April 23, Bundy defended his comments by saying "the statement was right".[30]

Response by the media

Sean Hannity, who had supported Bundy in his Fox News talk show, had interviewed Bundy several times,[31][32] and had called him "a friend and frequent guest of the show",[33] later said that Bundy's remarks were "beyond repugnant". Glenn Beck criticized Bundy's comments, saying that the rancher is "unhinged from reality" and urged his supporters to "end your relationship" with him.[34][35]

Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Patt Morrison saw the incident as one of many where an ordinary person is "turned into the poster boy or the poster girl of some political battle du jour."[36] Morrison wrote, "It happens so often that Las Vegas may have a betting line, not on whether these folks will implode but when. The Cliven Bundys of American politics, bit players who are suddenly promoted to center stage, are never as good as their adherents want them to be. They are not empty vessels, but they are flawed ones."[36]

Ben Swann questioned whether Bundy's "inarticulate" comments were given a "truthful representation", and published a video segment which includes the comments preceding and following the quotation published by Adam Nagourney of The New York Times.[22][23] Joseph Curl, writing for The Washington Times, described Bundy's views as incorrect and noted that the New York Times failed to print an entire transcript of the remarks.[37]

Other

According to Geoffrey Lawrence, deputy policy director at the Nevada Policy Research Institute, Bundy lost his personal credibility with his racist remarks. Lawrence argues that the discussion about federal land use in the West should not be abandoned, and that Congress should act to correct the "harsh and unfair federal misuse of state lands".[38]

References

  1. ^ a b Siemaszko, Corky (January 4, 2016). "Meet Ammon and Ryan Bundy, the Activists Leading the Oregon Standoff". NBC News. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  2. ^ Sepulvado, John (January 3, 2016). "Explainer: The Bundy Militia's Particular Brand Of Mormonism". OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting). Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  3. ^ a b c http://abcnews.go.com/US/cliven-bundy-controversial/story?id=23468481
  4. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/us/politics/rancher-proudly-breaks-the-law-becoming-a-hero-in-the-west.html
  5. ^ a b Daniel Hernandez, Joseph Langdon and (April 13, 2014). "Federal rangers face off against armed protesters in Nevada range war". The Guardian. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  6. ^ Strasser, Max. "For Militiamen, the Fight for Cliven Bundy's Ranch Is Far From Over". Newsweek. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  7. ^ a b "A rancher's armed battle against the US government is standard libertarian fare". The Guardian. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  8. ^ "Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy: "The citizens of America" got my cattle back". CBS / Associated Press. April 27, 2014. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  9. ^ Bundy doesn’t understand Constitution, Ian Bartrum, Las Vegas Review-Journal, April 27, 2014
  10. ^ Henandez, Daniel (April 3, 2014). "Federal rangers face off against armed protesters in Nevada 'range war'". The Guardian. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
  11. ^ "Examining the Sovereign Citizen Movement in the Obama Era". Politics & Policy. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
  12. ^ "Sovereign Citizens: A Growing Domestic Threat to Law Enforcement". FBI. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
  13. ^ a b MacNab, JJ. "Context Matters: The Cliven Bundy Standoff -- Part 3". Forbes. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  14. ^ "Political cause growing in Bundy's dispute with BLM". KLAS-TV Las Vegas. Archived from the original on May 7, 2014. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  15. ^ Kavanaugh, Shane Dixon (April 14, 2014). "American Militias Emboldened by Victory at Bundy Ranch". Vocativ. Retrieved April 29, 2014.
  16. ^ "Bundy saga reveals the risk of cozying up to extremists". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 27, 2014. The SPLC puts "patriot" groups in a separate category from white supremacists and others organized around hate. The patriot groups make a constitutional argument to justify antipathy toward the federal government; this can be seen in the noise about secession, nullification, "state sovereignty" and the primacy of the 10th  Amendment.
  17. ^ "Antigovernment 'Patriots' Gather Near Scene of Nevada Rancher's Dispute Over Cattle Grazing Rights". SPL. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  18. ^ "Cliven Bundy drops Republican affiliation". Associated Press. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  19. ^ a b c d e f http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/01/cliven-bundy-standoff-grazing-rights-nevada-ranch
  20. ^ "Ryan Bundy arrested after allegedly resisting arrest in Cedar City". KSTU. January 18, 2015. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  21. ^ http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/cliven-bundy-s-son-sent-prison-burglary-gun-charges Cliven Bundy's son sent to prison on burglary, gun charges], Las Vegas Review-Journal, David Ferrara, February 4, 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  22. ^ a b c Swann, Ben (April 25, 2014). "Truth in Media: Cliven Bundy's "Racist" Remarks Were Also Promoting Hispanic Culture? What MSM Isn't Telling You". Ben Swann. Archived from the original on April 25, 2014. Retrieved April 26, 2014. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; April 26, 2014 suggested (help)
  23. ^ a b c Nagourney, Adam (April 23, 2014). "A Defiant Rancher Savors the Audience That Rallied to His Side". The New York Times. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  24. ^ "Rebellious Nevada rancher's slavery remarks dim Republican support". Reuters. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  25. ^ "U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid >> Reid Calls For Leaders To Unite In Condemnation Of Cliven Bundy's Dangerous Extremism".
  26. ^ Burr, Thomas (April 24, 2014). "Utah's Bishop calls Bundy's race comments 'degrading'". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  27. ^ Glionna, John M. (April 24, 2014). "Cliven Bundy's 'better off as slaves' remark about blacks draws fire". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  28. ^ a b "Republicans denounce rancher Cliven Bundy's racist comments". CBS News. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  29. ^ "Cliven Bundy, Rancher At Center of Feud With Feds, Condemned for Racist Remarks". ABC News. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  30. ^ Abdullah, Halimah (April 24, 2014). "Cliven Bundy: Another conservative folk hero exposes racial nerve". CNN. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  31. ^ "Cliven Bundy takes on the Nevada ranch rhetoric". Fox News Channel. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  32. ^ "Sean Hannity: 'Our government is simply out of control'". Fox News Channel. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  33. ^ "Cliven Bundy, the Wild West hero. Or not". CNN.
  34. ^ "Glenn Beck: Cliven Bundy 'unhinged'". POLITICO. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  35. ^ "Hannity: Bundy remarks 'beyond repugnant'". POLITICO. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  36. ^ a b Morrison, Patt (May 3, 2014). "How not to pick a hero: The Cliven Bundy story". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  37. ^ Joseph Curl (April 27, 2014). "CURL: Racism everywhere, Obama and Democrats agree". The Washington Times. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  38. ^ "Cliven Bundy Is A Racist, But Federal Ownership Of State Land Is Still A Serious Problem". June 30, 2014. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
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