Dartmouth College historian Mark Bray, author of Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, credits the ARA as the precursor of modern antifa groups in the United States.[19] In the late 1980s and 1990s, ARA activists toured with popular punk rock and skinhead bands in order to prevent Klansmen, neo-Nazis and other assorted white supremacists from recruiting.[62][74][75] Their motto was "We go where they go" by which they meant that they would confront far-right activists in concerts and actively remove their materials from public places.[61] In 2002, the ARA disrupted a speech in Pennsylvania by Matthew F. Hale, the head of the white supremacist group World Church of the Creator, resulting in a fight and twenty-five arrests.[62] One of the earliest antifa groups in the United States was Rose City Antifa which was formed in Portland, Oregon in 2007.[11] Other antifa groups in the United States have other genealogies. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, a group called the Baldies was formed in 1987 with the intent to fight neo-Nazi groups directly.[50] In 2013, the "most radical" chapters of the ARA formed the Torch Antifa Network[76] which has chapters throughout the United States.[77] Other antifa groups are a part of different associations such as NYC Antifa or operate independently.[78]
