By: Trevor Loudon | The Epoch Times

A police officer stands watch as a looted pawnshop burns behind them, in Minneapolis, Minn., on May 28, 2020. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

The recent surge of rioting, looting, arson, and violence in the aftermath of the May 25 death in police custody of George Floyd in Minneapolis was not a “peaceful protest” hi-jacked by “extremists.” It was violent from day one—and it was always intended to be that way.

The Minneapolis-based, Chinese Communist Party-aligned Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) has actually claimed credit for “sparking” the riots. The group specifically praised by FRSO comrades for “sparking” the “uprising” in Minneapolis was the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar (TCC4J)—an anti-“police brutality” organization formed after the police killing of Minneapolis teenager Jamar Clark in 2015.

TCC4J is led by several FRSO comrades—especially Loretta VanPelt and Jess Sundin.

According to a June 18 interview with Jess Sundin on the Green Flame podcast, Sundin was involved in planning and organizing protests within hours of the death of George Floyd.

The interview is chilling for its casual approach to mass violence and destruction. It’s a must-listen for anyone wanting to see into the mind of a hardened communist revolutionary,

The Green Flame describes itself as a “Deep Green Resistance podcast that brings you revolutionary analysis, practical skills, and artistic expression from the grassroots movement to dismantle global industrial civilization.”

The podcasters introduce Sundin this way:

“Jess is a community organizer in Minneapolis. She has done solidarity work in El Salvador and Iraq. … She was involved in the Anti-War Committee that organized against the RNC [Republican National Convention] in St. Paul in 2008, and her home was raided by the FBI in September 2010 as part of a coordinated attack on that movement.

“Afterwards, she helped create the Committee to Stop FBI Repression. Jess has been a member of the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar, which works for justice and police reform, since the 2015 murder of 24-year-old Jamar Clark …”

Sundin starts out making her ideological position very clear: “Myself, I am a revolutionary. I’ve been a communist for more than 20 years.”

Sundin makes it very clear she was a key player in the “uprising” and fully approved of the resulting violence and looting.

Sundin admits to having played a major organizational role in the Minneapolis protests:

“It’s been 20 days … the first two weeks after George Floyd was killed saw an intensely high level of organizing all day and all night every day. During the day we would have marches and rallies, and at night the focus was often at the Third Precinct, which is the police station where George Floyd’s killers were working out of. Those demonstrations I know the whole world saw.”

When discussing the spectacular arson of the Third Precinct police station, Sundin casually says, “I can’t tell you the joy it brought all of us to see the Third Precinct destroyed.”

According to Sundin, buildings were destroyed within a radius of 5 miles:

“Lots of buildings were destroyed. Some by fire, some by brute force … golf clubs, baseball bats. … That said, there was a really powerful unity between those night actions and the rallies and marches during the day, and it was clear to all of us who live here every day that all of the demonstrations were demanding not only justice for George Floyd but expressing this deep well of rage against the violence that police commit in our communities, over and over and over again. …

“While the spark was lit by the horrific murder of George Floyd … it really was about so much more than that.”

Sundin makes it plain that massive destruction and looting that went on during the night “demonstrations” were all part of the plan.

“There has been a lot of confusion sown … about whether those night demonstrations are in fact legitimate. And I want to be absolutely clear as an organizer—what I did most of the last three weeks was organize rallies … and marches—those night demonstrations, the emptying of the Police Department, the emptying of Target and other major stores … is absolutely tied to, connected to, and part of the movement.”

Sundin emphatically denies claims that Antifa or “white supremacists” turned peaceful demonstrations violent. She is very clear that the violence was very much part of the movement she helped to lead.

“The narrative that has tried to suggest that those more advanced actions, more militant actions, were specifically either carried out by Antifa or by white supremacists. … It’s also a huge mistake and it’s not true to say the main thing that happened that was destructive in the Twin Cities over the last few weeks was outside forces. … The myth of the outside agitator is just that.”

Incidentally, Sundin is the wife of FRSO political secretary Steff Yorek. On the day President Trump was inaugurated, Jan. 20, 2016, Yorek announced to a Washington protest, “We need to stay in the streets the entire four years opposing Trump and making the country ungovernable.”

These demonstrations would have happened without the George Floyd killing. Another spark would have been found had George Floyd never been killed.

FRSO comrades went on to lead demonstrations in several cities. They still are.

Are there grounds for RICO charges here? Under RICO statutes, leaders of organizations can be held liable for crimes committed by underlings if certain levels of proof can be met.

In September 2010, the homes of several members of the FRSO in Minneapolis, Chicago, and Michigan were searched by the FBI for alleged material support for Middle Eastern and Latin American terrorist groups. Fourteen people were subpoenaed to appear before a Chicago grand jury, plus another nine in the following months, but all refused to testify.

Those subpoenaed were facing decades-long jail sentences if indicted. But, in the end, the Eric Holder Justice Department did not charge them.

Had those cases been prosecuted may be U.S. cities wouldn’t be burning today.

Trevor Loudon is an author, filmmaker, and public speaker from New Zealand. For more than 30 years, he has researched radical left, Marxist, and terrorist movements and their covert influence on mainstream politics. He is best known for his book “Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists and Progressives in the U.S. Congress” and his similarly-themed documentary film “Enemies Within.” His recently published book is “White House Reds: Communists, Socialists & Security Risks Running for U.S. President, 2020.”