Another Open Letter to Portland Residents
A few months ago, I penned a short letter to people living in Portland, Oregon regarding the rising tide of far-right extremist violence. It seems that despite the repeated warnings by myself and countless other individuals (and some organizations) the wave of fascism has been allowed to grow and spread across the coast. I speak of Joey Gibson, Patriot Prayer, Proud Boys; and all the violence, hatred, and destruction they leave in their wake.
Since that chilly night outside of the Arlene Schnitzer hall that prompted the first letter, the horrifying acts carried out by these individuals has only continued to metastasize and grow like cancer upon our society. The question I pose to every single person with a shred of humanity is this: How much longer can we allow this to continue?
On multiple occasions, Proud Boys (a certifiable hate group) have been witnessed ordering law enforcement around. People unaffiliated with political groups have been assaulted in mall parking lots by Proud Boys actively seeking out violence. Riots have been declared in less than 10 minutes of the start of a Patriot Prayer march. Young people overflowing with potential have had the trajectory of their lives irrevocably changed because grown men feel threatened that not everyone likes their favorite reality TV character. Portland police confiscated ammunition, that was no doubt brought to a protest, by so-called patriots, about free speech with the intention of silencing someone who disagreed with them.
It has had an increasingly chilling effect on residents of areas infested with Proud Boys. In my own experience,
I wake up daily to private messages from people across the political spectrum seeking a way to live with the effects of the political violence they inflicted and have been afflicted with, or even just been witness to. Since Patriot Prayer has begun to exponentially ramp up their violence, I have had exponentially more people reach out to me with complaints of insomnia, nightmares/terrors, flashbacks, irritability, apathy/depression, and many other symptoms that would easily fall into the diagnosis of PTSD if expressed to a licensed mental health practitioner (a resource often inaccessible to the working class);
and a wild desperation to find a way to persist alongside the compounding trauma inflicted by far-right extremists of and in Joey Gibson’s wake. I will even admit that the 4th of July was rendered intolerable to myself because the sound of fireworks was too reminiscent of the flashbangs thrown by PPD when Patriot Prayer members began to assault an unconscious young man, again.
The trauma is real and we must cut it out at the core. Even those masquerading as masculine and committing the acts of violence are in turn traumatizing themselves. You can only put yourself into emotional debt for so long before the checks come due.
Even people from outside the range of Joey’s usual targets for terrorism are at risk from his presence, especially the upcoming August 4th “rally”. As they have done previously, Patriot Prayer is importing paid agitators
to come to the city to cause damage so Joey’s personal agenda can be furthered. Haley Adam’s is spending days slaving away over a keyboard and in front of webcams trying to coerce people, some as young as 14, to come to Portland to beat up wrong-thinkers in the name of free speech. The acts committed by these riot tourists do not occur in vacuums, and being bussed out by cultists to engage in the violently cartoonish hyper-masculine aggression typical of modern conservatives, will only serve to encourage them to further terrorize their own communities. Far right extremist figureheads from Alex Jones to the Crying Nazi are expected to impose themselves on the people of Portland, gorging themselves on violence before carrying that same energy back home; spreading the malaise Joey has sickened the PNW with to the rest of the country.
Unfortunately, the simplest way of cutting the rot out at its root and restoring a sense of peace to our communities would mean Joey Gibson giving up his cult and pathetic grappling for some sort of validation. It does not seem that Joey or his sheep are capable of comprehending the concept of doing something (It would actually be easier for everyone for them to do nothing) that benefits more than themselves. It is understandable, empathy is not commonly found in insects.
Even more, unfortunately, is that Joey’s negligence or encouragement (depending on how you look at it) of his fanbase leaves the onus on human beings with humanity to cut out the core root of the trauma. Exponentially, unfortunately, since Joey has no intention of standing down and simmering down his cult of thugs, his brand of enabling far-right extremism will most likely only die when individuals begin to and the state is forced to hold violent abusers like Donovan Flippo accountable. Hopefully, it is not too late, and we can avoid more bloodshed in the name of this deranged cult leader.
As cliche as it is, it is true that love trumps hate. But it is not love alone that trumps hate. It is fearlessness. It is not averting your eyes when you see someone being talked down to because of the color of their skin or economic class, but instead openly telling the racist piece of shit in front of you to fuck right off. Sometimes it is even not doing things that help trump case, as exemplified by the Vancouver Mall security guard who did not have to aid Flippo and Toese in assaulting people. It is these small acts of defying fascism, that stifle it from growing. to not do so is to willingly render yourself powerless, you may as well lay down in the dirt and roll over to be tread upon.
Back to the main question: when will it be enough? Go ahead and take a moment to breathe and find an answer within yourself. At what point will it be too much violence perpetrated by alt-right groups? How often will humans with humanitarian intentions be mowed down before you to start marching against the extremists mowing people down? Yearly? Monthly? Weekly? Daily? How far are you willing to let far-right extremist like John “tiny” Toese go before you step up? And police are not an option here. Cops and Klan go hand in hand is more than a catchy phrase. Multiple times law enforcement has shown itself to be incapable or unwilling to protecting us. Sometimes law enforcement even appeared to act under the order of 20 something young men with warrants, like Tiny Toese.
For myself and many other activists; it has been too much for far too long. Allowing these people to walk around saluting nazis and radicalizing murderers is condoning them and encouraging them. So again, when will it be too much for you? Where will you draw the line between actions you’ll allow to happen and actions that will spur you into action?
If the concept of a state-sanctioned right to bearing arms, free speech and other constitutional rights appeal to you; you should oppose Joey Gibson and his proud boys. If you support those same things but without state sanctioning, you should also oppose Joey Gibson and his proud boys. People have already died and more will unless each individual begins to take steps in their daily lives to make this sort of fascism unwelcome.
It will be tiring work. Those already doing it are exhausted themselves. But we must persist. We will persist because our opponent is too dense to realize he must stop for everyone’s sake. If Joey truly believes in freedom of speech, peace, love, and all the other “Christian virtues” that Joey pays lip service to; then he would be expending his energy elsewhere. Until he is done, we are not finished. The work may be tiring, and we must be prepared to meet their brutality with an equal amount of our own, but many hands will make the work lighter for everyone.
It has been enough; if you haven’t figured that out by now.
