Last modified: 2016-12-26 by rick wyatt
Keywords: florida | republic of florida militia | united states | jereb |
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image by Tomislav Todorovic, 27 November 2015
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The Republic of Florida Militia (ROF) appears to be a small neo-Confederate and anti-gun control militia group, located in the Tallahassee area of Florida. The ROF militia claims to be "the armed forces of the provisional government of
the Republic of Florida" and the "prime force at arms to protect the republic." Their self-proclaimed mission is to "fight and die for the white star flag."
In April of 2015, they joined with the anti-Semitic League of the South (LOS) to demonstrate against a Florida State student group, the Students for Democratic Society (SDS), who had burned a Confederate flag in protest of increased KKK recruiting in the Tallahassee area. The ROF counter-protest culminated with the burning a Soviet flag in response to the Confederate flag burning.
The current ROF leader seems to be Jordan Jereb, who barely a month after being released from jail on burglary charges, professed his love for Molotov cocktails and recommended a video giving instruction on when it's okay to shoot a police officer.
Pete Loeser, 26 November 2015
The ROF White Star Flag is white, charged with a blue fimbriated white star over a blue saltire, from which it is separated with another white fimbriation which merges into the field. Above the star, there is inscription "Republic of Florida" in blue on a white ribbon outlined also blue. On white field beneath the star, there is blue inscription "For liberty we will fight."
Tomislav Todorovic, 27 November 2015
The information about the ROF flags is from a brief series of courteous
electronic contacts with ROF leader Jordan Jereb and myself. There are more
images and text from those contacts at:
http://www.loeser.us/flags/hate3.html#rof
Pete Loeser, 30 March
2016
image by Pete Loeser, 26 November 2015
The ROF [also] uses a "White Star" flag on its rather minimal Facebook page, but at the Tallahassee demonstration they also used the traditional Bonnie Blue flag of the West Florida Republic. The ROF White Star flag seems to center a blue Burgundy Cross, superimposed with a blue fimbriated white star, on a plain white field.
Pete Loeser, 26 November 2015
The image sent by Pete does look attractive, but seems to be just one of several flagoids the ROF uses. Most of these display a simple saltire, like the one on the current state flag, and usually combine the star and saltire with various inscriptions.
Along with the White Star Flag and the Bonnie Blue Flag, the ROF also makes use of the first official state flag, a modified Chase Flag (with more oblong canton than the original), the current state flag, the Army of Northern Virginia battle flag, and the Gadsden flag. The flags photos also reveal that the White Star Flag is not entirely symmetrical - note the position of saltire endings in the corners.
Source: Republic of Florida Militia photo gallery at Facebook: www.facebook.com/ROFMILITIA/photos_stream?ref=page_internal.
Tomislav Todorovic, 27 November 2015
image by Pete Loeser, 2 February 2016
The family flag of ROF militia leader Jordan Jereb is a variant of the Republic of Florida Militia flag which features the St. Andrews Cross and white fimbriated star utilizing the colors black and white. Above the cross and star appear the words "Republic of Florida" and "Jereb Family" in block lettering and a justice scale. Beneath the cross and star it contains the Latin text "virtute et armis" (power and weapons). An Irish or Celtic Trinity Knot (Triquetra) Symbol appears to the right, or fly side, of the cross. The symbolic meaning of the Trinity Knot depends on who you ask, because it holds meaning to both Christians and non-Christians, but their definitions differ based on personal belief. It can be "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit", or "Earth, Air, and Water", or "Life, Death, and Rebirth", etc. The St. Andrews Cross is further defaced with the symbols of a bull on the upper left and scorpion on the upper right arms of the cross.
It should be added that the three symbols on the Jereb Family Flag (from left to right) of bull, justice scales, and scorpion are the Zodiac signs for Taurus, Libra, Scorpio, those belonging to Jereb, his daughter and wife.
Pete Loeser, 2 February 2016
I contacted the Republic of Florida Militia leader and he claims all the
flags shown above are used, but so-far has only provided photos of the main flag
shown at the top of the page and the Jereb Family Flag I've seen photos of these
and so can definitely say they exist in cloth (attached FYI).
Pete Loeser,
30 March 2016
According to the Republic of Florida Militia leader there is also a ROFM
Naval Operator's Flags, a ROFM Crusader Flag, and different ROFM Company flags.
I attach examples of these designs. I have not seen them in any other form
except as vex-vapor on ROFM websites, and would need to see them in a photograph
as final proof of existence.
Pete Loeser, 30 March 2016
image by Pete Loeser, 30 March 2016
The 1810 date appearing on one of the variants of their flag traces back to
the short-lived Free and Independent Republic of West Florida (September 23 to
December 6, 1810). This was actually the first appearance and use of the use of
the Bonnie Blue flag. Called "West Floriday" in a marching song, it was a brief
rebellion against Spanish rule in the southern part of the future United States
(extending from Florida to as far west as Louisiana). The song lyrics went:
“West Floriday, that lovely nation, Free from king and tyranny, Thru’ the world
shall be respected, For her true love of Liberty!” A nice summery of this story
can be found at:
http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/84-the-free-and-independent-republic-of-west-florida,
written by Frank Jacobs.
The modern Republic of Florida Militia is located in
the Tallahassee area of Florida and is under the local leadership of Jordan
Jereb. Their flags all feature the St. Andrews cross and white star (as a
variation of the Bonnie Blue flag) and utilize the colors black, blue and white.
They have produced several easily found youTube videos and maintain some
Facebook pages (example:
https://www.facebook.com/ROFMILITIA/). Their leader was rather
disrespectfully and flippantly mentioned in an article by the Southern Poverty
Law Center after Jereb failed to show up for an interview at
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2014/militiaman-down.
Apparently he and a lieutenant had been arrested by local authorities the night
before, and the reporter was insulted when they failed to show up. The militia
group itself seems to consist mainly of several different individuals, family
groups, siblings, and their children. Unfortunately they are well-armed and that
makes them a concern in today's political and social climate.
Pete Loeser,
30 March 2016
image by Pete Loeser, 30 March 2016