In recent years, America has witnessed an alarming trend: the increasing brazenness of far-left protest movements like Black Lives Matter (BLM), Antifa, and anti-ICE coalitions. These movements—often presented by the mainstream media as grassroots responses to injustice—have employed tactics that range from disruptive civil disobedience to calculated acts of violence. Simultaneously, they’ve operated behind masks, both literal and metaphorical, all while attempting to unmask their ideological opponents. This article pulls back the curtain on those efforts, focusing on what happens when radical activism is weaponized, identities are exposed, and the mainstream narrative ignores the violent underbelly of “progressive” causes.
Let us begin with a revealing contradiction: the Left’s demand for anonymity for themselves—yet their obsession with exposing, harassing, and endangering others.
The Push to Unmask ICE Agents and Federal Law Enforcement
One of the more chilling developments in recent years has been the Left’s coordinated effort to force Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, federal officers, and even local police to reveal their identities to the public. These attempts were often carried out under the guise of “transparency” and “accountability,” but the motive was far more insidious. As authors Andy Ngo and Gabriel Nadales—both former insiders or close observers of radical left-wing activism—point out, unmasking federal agents is a strategic prelude to doxxing: the act of exposing a person’s private information for the purpose of harassment or physical harm.
During the 2020 George Floyd riots and beyond, leftist activists and sympathetic politicians in Congress demanded to know the names and badge numbers of ICE officers and Homeland Security agents deployed to protect federal property. AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez), Ilhan Omar, and other members of “The Squad” publicly criticized anonymous federal enforcement officers, likening them to secret police and fascists. What went unmentioned in most mainstream coverage was this: unmasking law enforcement in a digital age often leads to direct, real-world retaliation.
Once names and photographs of ICE officers are leaked online, families are placed at risk. Homes have been vandalized. Children have received death threats. Wives and husbands have had to leave social media platforms out of fear. According to Nadales in Unmasking Antifa, this is exactly what far-left radicals want: “They don’t just want to defeat their opponents; they want to ruin their lives.”
And yet, while this public persecution of law enforcement continued, those doing the harassing demanded protection for their own anonymity. Protesters wore masks, goggles, helmets, and full-body armor to conceal their identities. They hid behind umbrellas, operated in black blocs, and coordinated using encrypted communication apps. If questioned, they justified these tactics as necessary for “safety from fascists.” But the reality is that they feared accountability—legal or reputational—for their own actions.
It is a grotesque irony: the very activists who cry foul at police secrecy are the ones who weaponize anonymity in order to break the law, injure others, and disappear into the crowd.
Tactics of Violence and the Myth of the Martyr
In the streets of Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, and recently Los Angeles, Americans have witnessed a tragic paradox: those who claim to march for peace and justice are often the first to throw punches, launch fireworks, and shout obscenities in the face of police officers. The movements behind these actions—especially Antifa and Black Lives Matter—have used violence not as a last resort but as a calculated political strategy. Their goal, according to Unmasked by Andy Ngo and Behind the Black Mask by Gabriel Nadales, is not simply to “protest” injustice but to dismantle American institutions through fear, chaos, and cultural subversion.
This installment will examine the physical tactics used by these groups—tactics that leave behind shattered teeth, burnt buildings, and broken trust in civil society. These are not peaceful demonstrations gone awry. These are the deliberate methods of an ideological insurgency.
The Arsenal of Antifa and BLM: Deceptive, Violent, and Coordinated
Sap Gloves: The Handshake of a Street Brawler
Appearing harmless at first glance, sap gloves are gloves that contain powdered lead or steel shot in the knuckles, turning every punch into a weaponized blow. In Unmasked, Andy Ngo recounts one particularly disturbing incident during a street clash in Portland: an Antifa member wearing sap gloves targeted a peaceful counter-protester—a Black man attending a prayer rally—and broke multiple teeth with just a few calculated punches. This wasn’t random violence. It was a premeditated assault, and the victim’s race did not deter the attacker in the least. The ideology trumped any supposed commitment to “racial justice.”
As Ngo notes, the public rarely hears about such incidents because the media refuses to disrupt the false narrative that Antifa is “anti-fascist” and therefore morally justified in its violence. Sap gloves, while illegal in many jurisdictions, are easily hidden and used precisely because police are unlikely to identify them on masked assailants operating in a black bloc.
Improvised Projectiles: Frozen Bottles, Soup Cans, and Tuna Tactics
Gabriel Nadales details how Antifa and BLM activists are trained to carry objects that double as both lunch and lethal weapons. Cans of soup or tuna, frozen water bottles, and even soda cans stored in backpacks become projectiles capable of inflicting serious injuries. If stopped by police, the protester simply shrugs: “It’s just my lunch.” But the intent is clear. Protest leaders encourage demonstrators to freeze bottles beforehand for greater impact when thrown at police or vehicles. Some activists even bring slingshots to increase range and accuracy.
Ngo recounts in Unmasked how in Portland, these objects were hurled at police nightly for weeks—resulting in concussions, bruises, and at least one fractured orbital bone. Protesters treated it like a game, high-fiving one another after successful strikes.
Fireworks and Explosives: The Celebration of Anarchy
Professional-grade fireworks have become common weapons in the Left’s urban arsenal. Roman candles and mortar shells are fired directly at police lines, vehicles, and buildings. In the 2025 anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles, protestors ignited self-driving vehicles and launched fireworks into law enforcement crowds, causing panic and forcing the temporary shutdown of the 101 Freeway.
Ngo records similar tactics in Unmasked, especially during the federal courthouse siege in Portland in 2020. Explosives and fireworks were not symbolic—they were aimed to injure, maim, and provoke a police response that could then be edited into 30-second viral clips for social media. The narrative that emerges is always the same: police bad, protestors innocent. But the footage rarely shows who lit the fuse or threw the first punch.
Laser Pointers: Blinding the Enemy—Literally
Among the most sinister tactics used in these demonstrations is the deployment of high-powered green and blue laser pointers, specifically aimed at the eyes of law enforcement officers. These aren’t cat toys or classroom tools. They are military-grade devices capable of causing permanent retinal damage.
During the nightly riots in Portland in 2020, federal agents defending the courthouse reported multiple instances of eye injuries, including temporary blindness and retinal scarring. In some cases, officers were forced to retreat from their positions due to disorientation or vision loss. Andy Ngo, who witnessed these assaults, explains that these lasers were used not only to inflict physical damage but also to overwhelm surveillance systems, obscure identities, and create an opening for more violent action.
The coordinated use of these devices is deliberate and part of a larger strategy. The goal is not to protest. The goal is to blind your enemy, both figuratively and literally, and then declare yourself the victim.
Poles and Flagpoles with Sharpened Ends
Many of the signs and banners carried by Antifa and BLM members are affixed to long poles—ostensibly for visibility. But more than once, these poles have been used to jab, puncture, or bludgeon opponents and police officers. Nadales details instances where sharpened metal or wood poles were used in mob confrontations, concealed until the moment of attack.
At one BLM protest in Seattle, an officer was stabbed with a modified flagpole and required surgery. Surveillance footage shows the attacker disappear back into the crowd, shielded by a coordinated group moving in a tight formation. They used umbrellas and banners to block cameras and escape detection—another standard Antifa tactic.
Obscene Verbal Assaults and Demoralization
While the physical tactics are harrowing, the psychological warfare waged by these groups is no less real. Officers are taunted with vile slurs, anti-Christian insults, threats against their families, and crude chants about violence. Protesters have shouted at Black officers, calling them “Uncle Toms” and worse, while others have smeared cops as “Nazis” and “KKK.”
Nadales, a Latino who once identified with the radical Left, recounts how these movements especially despise minority law enforcement officers and conservative people of color, viewing them as “traitors” to the cause. The goal is humiliation and moral demoralization.
Bodily Fluids and Homemade Irritants
Few tactics demonstrate depravity like the use of human bodily fluids as weapons. Police officers and journalists have been spit on, doused with urine and feces, and pelted with balloons filled with unknown substances. In one notorious incident during the 2020 riots, bags of feces were launched at federal agents in Portland. Homemade chemical irritants were also found in discarded bottles, often mixed with paint or bleach to increase damage and reduce visibility.
Roadway Blockades: Deadly Disruption
Highway takeovers have become a hallmark of radical protests. In cities like Seattle, Chicago, and Los Angeles, activists have blocked major highways—jeopardizing ambulance routes, trapping commuters, and in some tragic cases, causing fatal accidents.
The 2020 death of protester Summer Taylor on Interstate 5 was one such example. She was struck by a vehicle unable to stop in time because the road was unlawfully occupied. Despite the facts, the media narrative painted the driver as the villain and portrayed the blockade as a righteous stand for justice.
Masks, Armor, and Tactical Uniforms
Perhaps most ironic is the radical Left’s obsession with anonymity. While demanding that ICE agents and law enforcement “unmask” for the sake of public accountability, these same activists dress in tactical armor, gas masks, helmets, and full black uniforms—forming the infamous “black bloc.”
They claim it is to protect against police brutality, but Nadales and Ngo both argue that it serves another purpose: evading responsibility. Black bloc formations move as a unit, allowing members to carry out attacks and retreat into the crowd before authorities can identify them. The use of umbrellas and body shields helps block surveillance drones and cameras. In short, these activists want to remain unaccountable while forcing law enforcement and political opponents to live in fear of exposure
Who Are the Masked Radicals?
The American public is often told that violent protests are the result of “frustration,” “oppression,” or “economic anxiety.” But the reality—when studied up close—is far more calculated. According to Andy Ngo and Gabriel Nadales, the people who make up the militant arms of Antifa and Black Lives Matter are not helpless victims reacting impulsively. They are often middle-class, highly educated, politically radical individuals with deep contempt for America’s institutions, its Judeo-Christian heritage, and its constitutional foundations.
This installment peels back the mask—literally and figuratively—to examine who these activists are, what they believe, and why they willingly adopt tactics that mirror the fascism they claim to oppose.
The Radical Profile: Young, Angry, and Ideologically Indoctrinated
Demographics and Background
In Unmasked, Andy Ngo describes many Antifa members as “suburban radicals”—young adults, often white, college-educated, and living comfortably before becoming immersed in radical politics. Contrary to the media narrative that frames them as downtrodden victims of systemic injustice, these individuals often come from relatively privileged backgrounds. They are not starving, unemployed outcasts; they are ideologically driven revolutionaries, shaped by far-Left university environments, online forums, and activist networks.
Gabriel Nadales, in Behind the Black Mask, reflects on his own experience as a young Latino who was drawn into Antifa through college activism. What attracted him wasn’t poverty or desperation—it was a powerful sense of moral superiority and purpose. Antifa promised a cause, a community, and a fight against “fascists”—a term they apply liberally to anyone who disagrees with them.
Psychological Traits
Both Ngo and Nadales emphasize the psychological profile of radical protesters. Many display traits of authoritarianism masked as liberation. They obsess over ideological purity, ostracize dissenters, and cultivate a siege mentality. Their enemies are not just racists or nationalists—they’re police officers, churchgoers, military veterans, and small business owners who represent the “structures” they believe must be torn down.
This results in a militant sense of entitlement. Because they view their cause as righteous, anything becomes justifiable: breaking windows, punching strangers, setting fires, hurling bricks, or doxxing families. Nadales writes that once he stepped away from the movement and looked back, he realized that many of his former comrades had lost their moral compass. They no longer cared about justice. They cared about domination.
BLM vs. Antifa: Differences and Overlap
Andy Ngo carefully distinguishes between BLM and Antifa, though he acknowledges their alliance on the streets. BLM is more centralized in terms of branding and leadership, with a specific racial justice agenda and national fundraising structure. Antifa, by contrast, is decentralized, more anarchist in ideology, and committed to violent revolution as a core principle.
However, the two movements have significant overlap in practice. During the 2020 George Floyd riots and many subsequent events, BLM provided the public moral justification—protesting racial injustice—while Antifa provided the militant street tactics. BLM leaders often used language of oppression and systemic racism to galvanize crowds. Meanwhile, Antifa coordinated logistics, encouraged vandalism, and attacked police under the protection of the larger BLM crowd.
Gabriel Nadales refers to this partnership as a form of ideological “host-parasite” relationship. BLM offers public legitimacy. Antifa provides the muscle. Both share a hatred of American law enforcement, capitalism, and biblical morality.
Tactics, Objectives, and Long-Term Vision
Disruption, Not Reform
Nadales and Ngo agree that the goal of these movements is not reform but disruption. They are not interested in dialogue with police or legislation in Congress. They want to dismantle what they consider a colonial, patriarchal, and capitalist state. That includes abolishing ICE, defunding the police, toppling statues, rewriting history, eliminating gender distinctions, and de-Christianizing the public square.
Antifa in particular embraces the anarcho-communist model. Their literature openly states that their objective is to bring about “anti-fascist revolution.” This is not metaphorical. They intend to overthrow not just specific policies but the entire political order—including representative democracy, the free market, and private property.
Soft Targets and Asymmetric Warfare
One of the hallmarks of Antifa’s tactics is asymmetric warfare: attacking weaker targets when the risks are low. That includes elderly Trump supporters, lone journalists, or small businesses in neighborhoods with little police presence. They also rely on coordinated harassment campaigns—doxxing individuals, threatening families, and destroying reputations online.
They rarely engage in direct confrontations with organized opposition unless they vastly outnumber their target. Nadales explains that this tactic reflects a cowardly form of mob violence wrapped in the language of liberation.
The Myth of the Martyr
Perhaps the most powerful tool in their arsenal is the manipulation of victimhood. When arrested or confronted, these activists instantly portray themselves as the oppressed, often using carefully staged video footage to make it appear as if they were attacked first. The truth—who threw the first punch or launched the first firework—can be obscured by masks, umbrellas, and editing software.
Ngo refers to this as the “martyr complex.” Antifa knows how to lose a battle on camera in order to win the propaganda war. If a protester is tackled after punching a police officer, that footage is clipped just in time to show a cop kneeling on their back. The resulting headlines will mention “police brutality,” not attempted assault.
Media Complicity and Progressive Political Protection
One of the greatest weapons the modern radical Left possesses is not found in the streets, nor in the backpacks of masked protesters, but in the newsrooms, courtrooms, and political backrooms of America’s major institutions. While activists throw bricks and set fires, they are shielded—sometimes literally—by a media complex that distorts reality and by politicians and prosecutors who refuse to uphold the law. This installment explores how this protective apparatus functions, with special attention to how certain nonprofits, journalists, and elected officials serve not the public good but the progressive agenda.
The Media’s Disappearing Act: Sanitizing the Radical Left
In Unmasked, Andy Ngo devotes significant attention to the way major media outlets shape public perception by what they choose to omit. When Antifa activists attacked Ngo himself in Portland in 2019, leaving him hospitalized with a brain hemorrhage, most legacy outlets either ignored the story or downplayed the violence. Some commentators even justified it. Why? Because Ngo is a conservative journalist who dared to expose Antifa’s violent tactics and organizational structure.
The same pattern holds for broader coverage. When BLM or Antifa rioters throw fireworks, the media calls it a “mostly peaceful protest.” When officers respond to bottles, bricks, or acid attacks, the footage is cropped to show only their pushback—not the provocation that warranted it. Gabriel Nadales points out in Unmasking Antifa that violence by right-wing actors is rightly condemned and reported with moral clarity, but similar actions by the far-Left are softened with euphemisms: “unrest,” “protest violence,” “clashes.”
Even more disturbing, Ngo notes, is the way newsrooms bury stories entirely when the facts contradict their ideological narrative. If an arsonist, attacker, or shooter turns out to be affiliated with Antifa or BLM, that fact is often buried or excluded. The result is not just misinformation—it’s the active concealment of domestic extremism.
Progressive Politicians and the Two-Tier Justice System
During the 2020 riots, then-Senator Kamala Harris promoted the Minnesota Freedom Fund—a bail fund that helped release rioters and looters arrested during BLM protests. Hillary Clinton also raised money for similar efforts. The recipients of that generosity included individuals with serious charges: felony assault, weapons possession, and even attempted murder. The message was clear—if you riot for the right cause, you won’t face consequences.
Andy Ngo chronicles in Unmasked how local officials in Portland, Seattle, and Minneapolis repeatedly dropped charges against arrested rioters, even when they were caught on camera committing violence. Progressive district attorneys—many funded by organizations linked to George Soros—refused to prosecute cases involving arson, assault on police, and destruction of public property. In some jurisdictions, rioters were booked and released within hours.
Gabriel Nadales argues that this judicial leniency emboldens radicals. It tells them that there is no price to pay for terrorizing a city if it’s done under the banner of “social justice.” When laws are enforced unevenly—harshly against political opponents, but softly against ideological allies—justice dies, and tyranny begins to bloom.
NGO Involvement and the Funding of Disorder
Several nonprofits and NGOs have indirectly supported radical protest movements by providing legal defense, logistical support, or ideological education. While some of these organizations frame their work as “civil rights advocacy,” in practice they provide cover for radicals.
Groups like the ACLU and National Lawyers Guild have sent legal observers to protect Antifa and BLM operatives at protests. In Behind the Black Mask, Nadales recounts how protest training sessions—including how to resist arrest and manipulate legal proceedings—are often hosted or promoted by nonprofit coalitions operating under the guise of community empowerment.
Meanwhile, major donors—often unaware or willfully ignorant—pour millions into organizations with radical branches. Corporate America, too, got involved. In 2020 alone, companies like Nike, Amazon, and Coca-Cola donated to BLM-affiliated causes, despite widespread evidence that the official Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation lacked financial transparency and had leadership accused of personal enrichment. The supposed fight for justice became a fundraising grift that helped fund more destruction.
Political Endorsements and the Culture of Excuse-Making
Perhaps the most insidious element of this ecosystem is the rhetoric used by left-leaning politicians. Rather than condemning riots outright, leaders like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley downplayed the violence or rationalized it. Pressley even called for “unrest in the streets” as a form of protest.
The consequences of such language are real. When mayors refuse to allow federal assistance, when governors call law enforcement “stormtroopers,” and when prosecutors let violent offenders walk free, the radicals feel empowered. Their movement is no longer fringe. It is protected.
Ngo and Nadales both document how these politicians have created a revolving door between protest and politics. Former organizers are now political aides. Activists become spokespeople. Lawbreakers are elevated as civil rights heroes. The line between street radical and city councilman is growing blurrier by the year.
When Truth Violates the Narrative: Ngo and Nadales in Contrast to the Left’s Identity Game
One of the great ironies of the modern political climate is that those who fit the Left’s “identity” mold—minorities, immigrants, LGBTQ individuals—are welcomed only so long as they parrot the Left’s political doctrine. Dissent is not tolerated. Independence is punished.
Andy Ngo is a gay Vietnamese-American journalist. His parents fled communist Vietnam in search of freedom in the United States. You might expect the Left to consider him a profile in courage. But because Ngo documents the violent actions of Antifa and questions the moral claims of Black Lives Matter, he is treated as an enemy. He has been smeared, attacked, hospitalized, and disinvited from speaking engagements simply for documenting the truth—truth the media works very hard to conceal.
Gabriel Nadales is a Latino immigrant, a former Antifa radical who turned against the movement after realizing it was built on hate, not justice. As someone who lived inside the black bloc world, Nadales has more insight into the Antifa mindset than most law enforcement experts. Yet the Left treats him as a traitor to his ethnicity because he now defends law and order, constitutional values, and civic dialogue.
This reveals a fundamental truth: for the radical Left, your skin color, sexual orientation, or national origin only matter if you agree with their agenda. Step out of line, and you are no longer one of the oppressed—you are the enemy. The Left claims to champion diversity, but they despise diversity of thought.
Ngo and Nadales show us that courage is not conforming to the mob, but standing firm when the mob turns against you. Their lives are powerful rebuttals to the lie that all dissent is rooted in bigotry or fear. On the contrary, it is their clarity of thought and strength of character that threaten the radical Left the most.
What We Must Learn—and What We Must Do
Recognize the Reality of the Threat
The greatest danger to America’s future is not simply found in the Molotov cocktails or broken windows—it is in the normalization of lawlessness. When mobs can dominate cities, blind federal agents, dox their enemies, and still be called “peaceful,” the fabric of civil society begins to unravel. We must call it what it is: not protest, but coordinated revolutionary activity.
Reject the Victimhood Mask
True justice cannot be built on lies. The person who assaults a police officer is not a victim. The activist who blinds others with lasers or pummels someone with sap gloves does not deserve sympathy. The woman who throws urine at a journalist is not “speaking truth to power.” Americans must stop treating lawbreakers as moral authorities just because they scream louder or claim deeper wounds.
Ngo and Nadales both urge Americans to strip away the false mask of martyrdom and view these groups through the lens of action, not rhetoric.
Hold Institutions Accountable
We must also hold media outlets, nonprofits, and public officials accountable. Why did mainstream journalists whitewash the burning of police precincts? Why did Democratic officials raise money to bail out arsonists? Why did district attorneys funded by globalist elites refuse to press charges in cases involving video evidence of felonies?
These are not rhetorical questions—they demand answers. And they demand political action: voting for prosecutors and leaders who respect the rule of law, withdrawing support from corporations that enable lawlessness, and refusing to fund charities that serve as shields for radicals.
Encourage Courageous Witnesses
Finally, Americans should amplify the voices of truth-tellers like Ngo and Nadales—not because they belong to protected identity groups, but because they speak the truth. Their stories prove that our republic still produces brave citizens who love liberty more than safety, and truth more than tribal loyalty.
They are living proof that patriotism is not about skin color, sexual orientation, or political party. It’s about standing against deception and violence, even when the mob turns its wrath upon you.
Conclusion: Unmasking the Future
The greatest threat to the American experiment is not that radicals exist. They always have. The danger lies in what happens when radicals are empowered, protected, and mainstreamed. When lawbreakers become moral guides, when revolutionaries are treated as reformers, and when mobs wear the cloak of justice, the Republic is in peril.
But we are not helpless. Armed with truth, clarity, and courage, ordinary Americans can expose these lies. We can unmask the tactics, motives, and strategies of the radical Left. And in doing so, we can remind our nation that liberty is worth defending, that justice must be blind—not ideological—and that courage is still the best antidote to tyranny.
Andy Ngo and Gabriel Nadales are not heroes because of their backgrounds. They are heroes because of their backbone. And that, not identity, is what America desperately needs in this cultural moment: men and women willing to speak truth, confront lies, and stand for what is right—no matter what mask the enemy wears.
S.D.G.,
Robert Sparkman
MMXXV
christiannewsjunkie@gmail.com
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