“Back the Blue Events” organizer couple James Michael Andrews (aka James Anderson) & Ashley Noel Ramos of Bradley, IL

In the wild year that has been 2020, few things have stood out more than a small but troublesome influx of pro-cop and anti-protester rhetoric and ad-hoc groups popping up as resistance to Black Lives Matter and police murders of unarmed black citizens. But here we are, wrapping up the year going on a deep dive into some Back the Blue bootlickers with criminal backgrounds.

In the Chicagoland area, one hosting organization is called Back the Blue Events and has held rallies across the state. As previously articulated by comrades at Shield Wall Chicago, we also believe that organizations that worship authority, value property over human life, and are complicit if not supportive of racist, classist laws that negatively affect people of color are a direct threat to those of us who want to build another world.

Therefore, we cannot let them slink by, we must shine some light on who they are, what they do, and most importantly, all the details we can find. Back The Blue Events and groups like them are a threat to our community so let’s learn all we can. Back The Blue Events organizers are a married couple James Michael Andrews and Ashley Noel Ramos, who live over an hour from Chicago in Bradley, IL. Ashley Ramos and James Andrews began hosting MAGA rallies and events in the suburbs without much attention or fanfare, other than their Back the Blue Events Facebook. As analyzed by comrades at Shield Wall Chicago, Back the Blue Events debuted in support of the Chicago Police immediately following protesters attempting to remove the statue of noted colonizer and génocidaire Christopher Columbus. During the removal attempt, civilians defended themselves and others against pepper spray and physical attacks from Chicago Police as they protected the statue. For full recap, see hyperlocal treasure Block Club Chicago. In response to feeling threatened by Decolonize Zhicaagoong, Ashley organized the Chicago Police support rally with the assistance of John Catanzara, that Chicago Police FOP president who’s in currently in hot water for racist posts, but to their dismay Lori took it down. At the small and uneventful rally, Back the Blue Events became the place various of Republican candidates and various other right wing actors met up for the first time. As explained by Shield Wall (all photo credit to them!):

For a deeper reportback of the event, see Shield Wall’s recap and analysis.

Back the Blue Events’s pro-cop rallies increased in frequency after BLM Chicago protesters demanded that the mayor decrease the police budget and instead invest in small businesses, mental health services, public education, homelessness aid, and general neighborhood investment. Back the Blue Events has held counter-protests at Defund CPD actions, including one at Homan Square, the notorious Chicago Police ‘black site,’ where detainees have been disappeared for days or longer. Seems like a great cause to support!

The danger of pro-cop rallies in an age of police brutality and massive civil unrest about the government’s racist and inhuman treatment towards people of color cannot be overstated. Aside from a slap in the face of grieving family and community members, Back the Blue and Blue Lives Matter events are seen as general acceptance and support of police abuse and murder.

The “Thin Blue Line” flags, flown and displayed prominently at Ashley and James’s Back the Blue events, has a long history, and is often featured with rhetoric like ‘all lives matter.’ The flags and their accompanying rhetoric were spotted at Charlottesville during the deadly Unite the Right rally in 2017, where one protester was killed and dozens more injured when a white supremacist drove his car into a crowd. The Marshall Project platforms both sides and explores the history of the Thin Blue flag and how people perceive it, despite the official company’s muddied intentions and statement, saying “the flag was not a direct reaction to the first Black Lives Matter protests—an idea suggested by a previous origin story in Harper’s—but he allows he may have first seen the thin blue line image after those protests spurred the circulation of pro-police imagery online.” Read more:

Further, a 2016 Complex article goes even further drawing connections to SPLC-designated hate group White Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, and presumably any offshoot messaging:

Speaking of that hate group, we recently outed Champaign-Urbana area White Lives Matters members Kenneth Gary Zrallack and Travis Beau Golie, currently living in Chrisman, IL. We wonder if they made the 90 minute drive to rally at the IL Statehouse for Back the Blue events. If you’ve seen them there, let us know!

Further, Back the Blue Events has promoted and attended juvenile detention center rallies in support of Kyle Rittenhouse, another cop-worshipping counterprotester, who murdered two BLM supporters and injured another in the protests after Kenosha police shot Jacob Blake in the back. At one Back the Blue Events MAGA, Ashley buddies up with Emily Cahill of Protest the Protesters, which is another pro-cop organization. Emily is also known for looking like a one-person circus with all of her accouterment.

Below, a picture from the IL Gun Owners Together (IGOT) rally in support of Kyle clearly shows James Andrews on the far right (lol!) and Remy Del Toro, a known member of the Chicago Proud Boys in the center. [Photo credit to comrades at Anne Frank Army and readers are strongly encouraged to check out their peek inside the alt-right militias struggling to grow in the suburbs.]

For the blissfully unaware, the Proud Boys are a pro-Trump, neo-fascist, males-only far right national group that has been connected to countless acts of violence across the country. As a condemnation of their behavior and beliefs, Proud Boys have been rejected by major service providing companies like Stripe, PayPal, Tindr, Facebook and even, the manufacturer of their official black and gold polo shirt uniform, Fred Perry. In Chicago, Trigger Tom Christensen, former president of the chapter, served a several year sentence in prison for gutting someone at a Dropkick Murphy’s concert in 2017. For more reading on the Proud Boys, see The Guardian, the NYT, Barrons, and of course, the SPLC.

Other than the suburbs, Springfield and the shadow of Trump Tower in the Chicago Loop, Back the Blue Events has hosted pro-cop, MAGA rallies in Peoria and St Louis along with traveling to Washington DC for the Proud Boys MAGA rally in early December.

At the close of the December 12 rally, roving bands of reportedly drunk and incredibly violent Proud Boys burned Black Lives Matter banners torn from a historic Black church, attacked dozens, creating street brawls, and stabbed four people. Guess who else was there for the blood?

Yep, to the left is Ashley Noel Ramos and James Michael Andrews, of Bradley IL, marching with Proud Boys in DC, while some chud throws up the OK sign that’s been re-categorized as a hate symbol in the watchdog group ADL’s hate symbols database.  That image was taken from The Guardian article, which includes video of violent encounters. You can spot Back the Blue Events organizers at :47.

That’s either James or Paul McElwain hanging with Ashley, flashing that hate symbol. In an article, Politico published thousands of words on their journey to the far-right entertainment sphere, where artists and acts have refused to work with them because of their ties to the Alt-Right and white nationalists. We’ve excerpted a portion below:

Another known Back the Blue Events supporter is Jon Alexander Argumedo aka Jon Heathen, a white power skinhead we’ve previously identified. We advise everyone to use caution around Jon, as he’s known to be volatile and dangerous.

 

So just who are these Back the Blue bootlickers Ashley and James?

 

James is 39 years old, having recently celebrated a December birthday. We find him easily on Facebook and then start digging. We find his previous address, 2020 W Station St in Kankakee, IL and then we uncover this fascinating piece of information about James in the local paper from 2012 in the Daily Journal:

But James Andrews is such a common name! How do we know that this James Andrews is the same one as the husband of Ashley Ramos?

We’re glad you asked! Remember the 2020 W Station, Kankakee address? We find someone else who has lived there, at the same times James did and who was also charged with theft:

And it’s Ashley Noel Ramos!

James Michael Andrews was a getaway driver for a bank robbery of Chebanse, IL, his hometown. We wonder if his Back the Blue Events cop friends, anti-crime associates, militia chuds, Proud Boys, and any other law-and-order types were aware that James has a criminal background, served time in prison, and cannot legally own a firearm. We also wonder if Ashley has shared her past record. Also, if James and Ashley chose not to disclose his and her pasts to their cop buddies, what they think of them lying by omission and if there is anything else that this couple is hiding.