Trump ‘Protesters’ Spread Lies in Communities of Color
At a Seattle protest today, Trump backers were handing out flyers intended to deceive people in my neighborhood
I just checked out an impromptu pro-Trump voter rally held today, Oct. 24, in the parking lot of a Safeway grocery store a few blocks from my house at MLK Way and Othello Street in South Seattle.
I counted only about two dozen protestors who were under the watch of at least four police squad cars, one parked behind a vehicle decked out with Trump propaganda, two in the parking lot near the protesters and one street-patrol car driving around the protest.
About half a mile away, a neighborhood community center that has a ballot drop-box in its parking lot also was invaded by Trump protesters who were met there with Biden counter-protesters. Reports I received from a source who observed the scene said there was a strong police presence at the community center as well.
If that same police presence is near the polls, ballot drop-boxes and other areas where Trump militias or other disrupters are seeking to wage voter-suppression efforts up and through the election, I feel confident such tactics will be nipped in the bud.
I spoke with one of the police officers and expressed appreciation for their presence and efforts to protect the vote, and he and another Seattle cop gave me a nod and a thumbs-up. (I find encouraging good policing as a tactic useful in encouraging more of it.)
A prior Trump-inspired protest held several blocks away a week ago — where police were not immediately present — ended with an anti-Trump protestor getting attacked and beaten by pro-Trump protestors. His story appeared on a neighborhood-group Facebook page.
“Not mincing words, I was attacked at a Trump rally in my neighborhood, Othello, this past Saturday, October 17, at around 3:00 PM,” the victim wrote in the Facebook post. “Before continuing, know that I’ve already gotten the most important feedback I could receive.
“From my wife: ‘I would’ve preferred you weren’t there, but I agree with why you went.’ From my Krav [martial art] instructors: ‘You made it home alive, which is the point of Krav. Good job.’
“… Considering I was in a 6-versus-1 fight where three used flag poles as weapons, Krav 100% saved my ass. Unequivocally.”
The protest today at the Safeway store ended shortly after I arrived and only lasted about half an hour — without any violence that I observed. My neighborhood is the most diverse in the city, with a large immigrant population, including a large Vietnamese community.
Most protesters were white, and many were spreading an ugly lie via flyers, claiming Biden opposed the relocation of Vietnamese to the United States after the Vietnam War. (See flyer below.)
Here’s proof it’s a fabrication.
The other political pamphlet being handed out was paid for by the King County Republican Party, so put two and two together and you have a good idea of who organized and paid for the signs and other expenses for the staged rage protest.
The takeaway: the GOP and Trumpers are desperate, trying to suppress and also pick off votes by spreading lies in communities of color. Be on guard for these tactics and expose them when you can. If we as believers in democracy and the power of the vote stay united, the lies will not work.
And Vote!
