Antifa as White Savior
* Antifa As White Savior
Antifa as White Savior: Patriot Prayer-Proud Boys-Antifa: What do they have in Common?
Commentary by Theresa Griffin Kennedy, published to public media March 2, 2021
Antifa is uniting the silent majority with every act of thoughtless violence! — Shannon Dittler, lifetime Portland resident~
The common thread integral to these three groups is that they are all radical extremists. Most Portlanders understand that groups like the ever tedious Patriot Prayer and Proud Boys are radical right wing conservative thugs who like to brawl. It really is just that simple. They like to get together and to appease their warlike natures, “fight the enemy.”
They tend to be young in their 20s and 30s, tend to disregard women’s rights and entertain absurdly traditional ideas about the role of women in the professional realm, and/or the world of politics. They tend to be hard drinking men of “Bro Culture” from working class, blue collar families, have openly racist ideologies, are anti-Semitic and islamophobic. And they tend to be white and male. You won’t find any of them in their late 50s or 60s, because people of those generations have generally moved beyond the stupidity of mindless violence.
The alternate and sad reality is that Antifa, which stands for “Anti-fascism” has also become radicalized in many of the same ways Patriot Prayer and Proud Boys have opted to engage in radicalism. Antifa’s secretive, underground movement becomes more radical every day and this has been documented by former Antifa radicals personal testimony, and any number of other articles or videos uploaded to YouTube, from either general citizen videographers or Antifa radicals themselves who carelessly upload videos which show them rioting, violent, screaming and abusive and basically not at their best or most rational.
This is not to say that Antifa didn’t at one time have some admirable goals, but Antifa as a whole, and Rose City Antifa as well have lost sight of what they once wanted to accomplish and have now become one with other radical groups. They have demonstrated the well known dynamic of “Identification with the Aggressor,” which is a process by which people assume the characteristics of other aggressive persons, adopt their way of behaving and become like them. This is what has occurred with Antifa, nationwide, as cells continue to communicate with one another, become more extremist and adopt Guerrilla warfare tactics.
All three of these groups embrace a Tribal mentality that is ancient, male oriented, destructive and animalistic. And again, I repeat, the vast majority of Patriot Prayer and Proud Boys tend to be white and male, just as the vast majority of Antifa radicals tend to be white and male.
All three of these radical groups have these commonalities — young, white, males prone to violence gathering together to defend their stated values or goals based on any number of ideological leanings that may or may not be logical or rational. Of the three, Antifa is looked upon the most indulgently because they’re supposedly fighting “anti-fascism.” And because of this they are considered the “good guys” fighting against oppression. They feel they need to fight for people of color, defend people of color and go to the streets so they can “tear shit up” for people of color. Rarely do the white male leaders of Antifa, conveniently hidden behind the collective, promote or include black leaders or other leaders of color within their hidden, secretive ranks. The various Antifa cells that exist across the nation occasionally use black persons as “props,” asking them to make statements for propaganda in front of media, but they still do not include them in the power structures of the Antifa cells that currently exist and are operated by white men exclusively.
Why is right and left wing radicalism in Portland, among these three cult-like extremist groups important to me? Well, that’s an easy question to answer — because I live here, Portland is my hometown and I have witnessed the growing threat presented by ALL three of these groups over the past several years.
And I’m sick and tired of it.
All three of these groups feed off of each other, and the toxic masculinity they each represent, project and expect of each other. I know I’m not alone in that sentiment, either. Most of the silent majority in Portland is sick of the nightly riots and the enormous destruction of commerce, or the ability to enjoy downtown area small businesses which were/are and should be an integral part of the continued existence of Portland. I know real people who have lost their businesses, whose lives have been completely upended because of the chaotic cult of Antifa and the other self-styled anarchists who operate in concert with Antifa, whose only real desire apparently, is mindless vengeance.
Recently, during yet another attack, Antifa radicals, dressed in black bloc clothing carried a banner which read: “We don’t want Biden. We want revenge.” On the left of the banner was the Antifa A, signifying who they were and below that, the banner read: “For police murders, Imperialist wars and fascist massacres.” The issue with what Antifa says they want — revenge, is that their idea of revenge doesn’t really have a direct impact on the US government, does it? It does however, have a direct impact on real working people. The working class people who rely on employment and self-supported housing in order to survive and who have been victimized by violent riots with Antifa committing most of the destruction, they are the one’s most adversely impacted by Antifa’s endless violence. They have all lost a great deal when their small businesses go under, all while trying to survive during a Global viral Pandemic.
But Antifa folks don’t care about that. They care about their agenda, not real people. They care about their ideology. NOT real people. We can see this when they scream at, intimidate, menace and pontificate at regular working class people just trying to get home. When they prevent parents from getting home to their children, when they prevent ambulances from getting to car accident or stroke victims because they think it is their right to block the roadways and prevent the free movement of regular Americans trying to survive in a world that is harsh for everyone.
Antifa radicals don’t care about people. They care about ideas — words — ideologies, but NOT people.
They demonstrate this reality every time they destroy a Portland business, or torch a residents car, including the small struggling businesses of black Portlanders, and their cars. They demonstrate that the world of ideas is more important to them than the real world every time they engage in violence or seek to terrify elderly people in wheelchairs or cars, who just happened to find themselves trying to get out of downtown Portland for any number of reasons, not knowing there was a “peaceful protest” going on. I think the rage of the white men of Antifa has more to do with their disenfranchised lives, their possible mental illness, likely addiction issues and general dissatisfaction with themselves. The fact that many are outsiders, who live below the poverty line and have achieved very little in their lives — most are unemployed and a high percentage are high school dropouts who never attended college, cannot be ignored. They are the original social outcasts. Those people who “fall through the cracks” and decide to hate the world as a result. The kind of ignorant simpletons who think “getting revenge” is okay, either morally or sociologically, or that it will accomplish anything of meaningful value.
Are their fractured lives or their failures entirely the fault of the US government? How much of our own lives are WE responsible for? Is everything to be handed to us? Is work and sacrifice just something that “old people” from WWII and The Greatest Generation talk about? Are millennial’s unable to comprehend that they are responsible for creating their own lives, either good or bad in much the same way my parents had to create lives for themselves or I had to create a life for myself? Is that so hard for Antifa radicals to comprehend?
As a woman of 55, a lifelong Portlander, a writer, poet, author, editor and publisher, and all around experienced woman, I am also a pessimist by nature. I don’t like most people. And I don’t trust the desires or motivations of most people, but particularly those of most men. Most men, I believe, are tribal and this is not meant as a positive or a compliment. The tribal urge toward violence is inherent in most men, especially young men and I have seen this my entire life. The cult of violence is alive and well with American men.
Forgive me Dear Reader, if I sound bitter but as a woman I see only too well the colossal cost of the tribal mentality which results in lost human capital. The cost of toxic masculinity and the damage it causes to women and children, (the most vulnerable in any society) comes at an astronomical cost in lost human capital, and in personal futures. And we are seeing this dynamic play out in Portland right now, with these three radical groups that could all be described as CULTS, which have far more in common with each other than I am sure they would honestly care to admit. All three of these groups operate for and by white men, to the detriment of the entire community at large. ALL of Portland has suffered because of these three groups and it is about time people recognized them as the threat to democracy that they are, as the Hate Groups that ALL three have become.
Patriot Prayer, Proud Boys and Antifa are cultish groups for MEN who seek out a fight to fight, in accordance with the tribal mentality they embrace. The first two are recognized as organizations but only Antifa continually claims, comically, that it is not a group but rather an “ideology.” Of course reasonable people see through this blatant lie for the gas-lighting deception that it is.
Of course Antifa is a group. Of course it is. It is an underground group, with countless cells that communicate with and support one another other, secretly and consistently. Cells that try but generally fail to maintain secrecy regarding their activities, (most of which are illegal) their methods, and of course their often mysterious sources of financial support.
If Antifa are capable and willing to engage in violence to achieve their goals, vague and undefined as they are, and if they are becoming more and more aggressive and dangerous, it seems to me they too should be also recognized as a Hate Group. In much the same way the Southern Poverty Law Center recognizes the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer as a Hate group, I believe other legal agencies and authorities should recognize Antifa as a Hate group. For what they are doing in Portland, Oregon, alone, for what they have done to the economy of this city and for what they have done to specific individuals, including the families of those they have attacked or killed. And for what they have done elsewhere, all in the name of Antifa.
Even Portland’s very own DA, the very young and inexperienced Mike Schmidt is close to Antifa persons, including a close personal friend from his college days, who is also an unapologetic Antifa radical. Schmidt is known in the public and by law enforcement as “the catch and release guy.” He is not respected, even by those he works with who secretly resent him and consider him a coward — too young and afraid to take on the volatile Antifa underworld whose secret machinations keep him busy and rumor has it, also anxious and afraid for his safety and his wife and child’s safety.
In my informed opinion, Men are naturally aggressive and warlike. I know I keep going back to this, but its important to reiterate. Because its true. Now, obviously, not all men are motivated in this way, but the reality is that quite a number of men have a period in their lives, during their 20s and 30s, and sometimes even into their 40s when all they want to do is fight. They just want to fight. They’ll find any cause, good or bad, to satisfy this urge. They will attach themselves to any cause, using it as the crutch they need to justify their love of violence. They will find any reason or cause that freely allows them to engage in “the good fight” they hunger for.
And if that results in a pat on the back and a smile of reassurance that what they’re doing is the right thing, somehow, then they feel validated and the cycle repeats itself. They find a cause where they can feel they’re making a difference; they’re creating change for “the greater good” and if violence is needed to make that happen, well so be it. These are the many lies they tell themselves. Patriot Prayer. Proud Boys. Antifa. They justify their violence, sometimes deadly violence and the toxic masculinity it represents because they naively believe that violence will make the difference while fighting for their cause or for the “oppressed.” The truer reality is that the violence is what draws them to join these movements in the first place. It is the VIOLENCE that serves their unconscious needs, not in fighting for the downtrodden or the oppressed. It is in feeling morally superior to the enemy group, and deluding themselves into the deception that violence is necessary that gives them the satisfaction they crave.
For while they are powerless and unaccomplished in their everyday lives, these individuals, when caught in the glory and excitement of pushing their bodies to the limit with violence — it is then that they feel most alive and most powerful, in control, even special.
I think most Portlanders and certainly the silent majority, can agree that radical groups like Antifa, Patriot Prayer and Proud Boys accomplish virtually nothing for the city of Portland or for the communities they profess to want to help or protect, other than cost the city far too much money in property damage and needed police presence. They merely create problems for Portland residents and law enforcement by organizing violent protests and counter protests that have no social or cultural value. These violent uprisings lead to innocent people being hurt, (even pedestrians or motorists simply trying to get home to feed their children) and to the endless destruction to property we have seen for almost a full year now. These radical groups have assaulted people and destroyed property, which is a clumsy and ineffectual way of making their points regarding their questionable belief systems. Particularly as all three of these groups lack the intellect, education, or understanding of the proven methods of nonviolent protest strategies that actually result in meaningful and lasting social, cultural or political change, as shared by brilliant author and political scientist Gene Sharp.
Radical extremists are often unemployed, and to sustain their illegal activities, they beg working people for donations for their upkeep and feeding, if they don’t have big time financial donors who support them. They couch surf and literally beg for free money, to pay their their cell phone bills and for “snacks” during protest/riot/looting events.
Many of them struggle to survive, including leader of Patriot Prayer Joey Gibson who lives off of his long suffering wife, who supports him and their children. Gibson is also supported by what amounts to charitable donations, as he is unemployed and has been unemployed for quite a while, which began long before the Covid-19 Coronovirus Pandemic plunged millions of Americans and Oregonians into unemployment. Or they gain favor and support by being informants, as in the case of Proud Boys leader, Enrique Tarrio who has been a snitch for several years now, providing law enforcement with generous amounts of information.
And now enter ANTIFA, the “White Saviors” of people of color. They are no different and no better than Patriot Prayer or Proud Boys. Antifa is more similar in their tactics and methods than they are dissimilar to both conservative groups, including occasional Antifa radicals acting as police informants. Antifa may have a more complex, though hollow justification for their existence, but the reality is that they are just as mediocre as their Patriot Prayer and Proud Boys brothers, just as violent, just as transparent in terms of how their hunger for violence serve their needs. They are all examples of toxic masculinity run amok, with the need for violence, the hunger for it, acting as their primary need to be fulfilled by gathering and brawling, with each group mistakenly believing they are the good guys and their enemies are the bad guys.
If ever you doubt the assertion I’m making, then just remember what Antifa like to remind people when they tell them they will achieve their goals “By any means necessary.” What that means literally is they WILL use violence, they WILL assault and they WILL use homicidal violence, in essence, MURDER in their radical tactics. When people tell you who they are, believe them! Antifa has made this statement many times in the last several years, no doubt thinking it makes them seem cool, but in reality it reveals the level of criminality they are willing to sink to. Think about what the words mean, and believe them when Antifa radicals tell you that violence and murder are NOT beneath them.
But why has Antifa taken on this fight? Because people of color don’t have leaders themselves? Or perhaps it’s because people of color can’t defend themselves or advocate for themselves adequately, or be heard, perhaps? These same Antifa radicals, often repeating the tired explanation that Antifa is “not a group or organization” but rather only an ideology routinely proclaim that they must fight for the downtrodden and for people of color because no one else will. But is that actually true?
And where in the Antifa literature does it explain why they must be the White Saviors of people of color? That dilemma is rarely if ever broached because if it was, the incredible condescension and white supremacy of the Antifa mindset would be revealed as the racist and sexist mindset that it is, just another extension of white supremacy, given that most Antifa cell leaders are in fact white and male.
This is important to understand because there are some young people — people of color, who may be drawn into the cult of Antifa, only to discover that Antifa cells are white dominated and male dominated. The reality is that there are many leaders of color in Portland, in Seattle and all across the country. But Antifa does not promote them, disseminate their philosophies or even just listen to them. Why is it that Antifa, which is largely white and male feel they must advocate for black people themselves, rather than promote black leadership for black communities? Perhaps the white male structure of Antifa, for example Rose City Antifa, might one day grace Portlanders with an explanation for this. But I won’t hold my breath. They don’t feel they have to, as they delude themselves into believing they exist on a superior plane of morality — a moral high-ground so to speak.
The reality that Antifa does NOT have black leadership and is primarily dominated by white males cannot be ignored. Because what it shows is a deep distrust of people of color in the lily white ranks of Antifa cells across the country and that in itself is fascistic, elitist and racist.
This being the beginning of March 2021, most Americans already know about Andy Ngo’s well-researched and well-sourced bestselling book, Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy, where Ngo exposes the hypocrisy of Antifa and their growing radicalism, and increasing dangerous violence. Ngo also exposes information about who have been killed in Antifa run areas, such as the CHAZ in Seattle during 2020.
Of the four shootings that occurred there in the CHAZ, four men were shot. They were ALL black men, and two of them died. They were shot by suspected Antifa radicals, who likely as not were also white males. Why would white male Antifa members shoot black men, or in one instance black teenage boys who just happened to take a wrong turn, ending up in the CHAZ? If Antifa love black folks so much, why would they shoot and kill them?
If Antifa radicals are so interested in saving the world from fascists and want to create a better world, then why would they continue to assault and stab people?If Antifa care so much about all people, why would a longtime, well known Antifa radical, (and also a convicted sex offender targeting children and a known collector of child porn) then stab a black Trump supporter, calling him the N word, when five minutes before he was screaming “BLACK LIVES MATTER” on a Portland street corner to anyone willing to listen?
If Antifa radicals care so much about people of color, why would they scream “Nigger! at black Portland Police officers? Why would they indulge in the stupidest, most base, racially stereotypical insults towards African American police officers imaginable, by saying: “You have the biggest nose I have EVER seen!” Why would Antifa radicals tell black female PPB officers that they “deserve” to be “raped” during a protest that quickly descended into a riot?
Antifa has become the Monster they claim to abhor. Antifa has become the fascists they claim to fight against.
If abolishing racism within the world is so important to Antifa radicals, and if people of color are so important to Antifa, why are Antifa radicals also exhibiting the same reprehensible racist behaviors they object to? Why are they so blind to the darkness within themselves? Why do they shamelessly use the idea of Antifa as a crutch so they can indulge in the worst kinds of predatory and criminal behaviors?
Are Antifa really the genuine well meaning saviors they want us to believe they are? Or are they only hollow and tedious White Saviors who are involved in their underground movement for what it can do for THEM and how the movement can satisfy THEIR needs? And when Antifa radicals are debated on social media or in person, their habit of accusing everyone of “lying” if they point out the faults of the underground movement must be seen for what it is — a desperate attempt at pathetic gas-lighting. Can everyone be lying, even those on video who have been filmed being assaulted by Antifa radicals?
Is everyone else a liar if you’re an Antifa radical?
When hysterical Antifa radicals claim Andy Ngo was never assaulted, and say he just made it all up, don’t you want to just laugh? Are we not to believe our eyes or the documented ER doctors’ reports stating unequivocally that he was injured as the result of a beating? In his case, it was a salivating mob of screaming Antifa radicals, who on video gleefully attacked him. This is now naïve many Antifa radicals are. They really believe that they can present their “alternative facts” and people should or will believe them. Laughable.
Not only are Antifa radicals capable of shooting and killing innocent people who just happen to be walking down the street, (albeit during a protest) because they’re a conservative, as in the case of Michael Forest Reinoehl when he killed Trump supporter Aaron “Jay” Danielson by shooting him in an ambush attack in the chest, and killing him, but they will also assault black Trump supporters, all while screaming “BLACK LIVES MATTER!” They will do this, because they truly believe they exist on a moral high ground which absolves them of having to treat other people with any respect or consider the morality of their violent and hypocritical behavior.
They believe they are above the law but they are not.
Shouldn’t all black people be allowed to create and maintain their own belief systems? Or should black people have their beliefs and values hand-fed to them by white male Antifa radicals, who know better, are smarter, more intelligent? How does that work, I wonder? How do Antifa radicals explain to black people that they are better at advocating for them than black people themselves? One cannot help but wonder what will be the possible political outcome, if in the next year Antifa or other offshoot Anarchist groups connected to Antifa, perhaps even the Satanic Portland Antifascists, continue with the nightly protests and the constant destruction to property in Portland?
THE BIG QUESTION EVEN ANTIFA HAS NOT CONSIDERED:
What dynamics is Antifa setting into motion? Do they even know? Do they have the educational background to understand how history repeats itself? Do they have a general understanding of history? Are they smart enough to understand what they are setting into motion?
Now that Antifa and the anarchists have designated The Pearl District as their next target area of Portland to be destroyed, in which they plan to… “Burn it to the ground!” as they often say — what changes will their attacks create? What political changes during this dramatic past year of constant violent attacks on our city, with Antifa and the anarchists at the helm of those attacks, bring about?
My prediction is that this violent pattern will allow a conservative mayor to run and win in the city of Portland at some time in the future. Antifa is going to help usher in a Republican mayor or perhaps an Independent mayor. Their violence and predatory behavior will dictate that this eventually happens in “liberal Portland.”
Am I the only person who sees this happening in Portland’s future?
This is exactly what happened in NY during the 1970s and 1980s. The city was overrun with violence and crime and when a conservative leader took over, the city became safe again. Rudy Giuliani was often praised as the force behind that reckoning, but it was actually not Giuliani, but rather the NY police chief, William Bratton who created that shift. Portland will be no different, in the long haul. Portlanders are fed up. They are tired of the destruction to property. They are tired of being bullied by radical Antifa youth, parading though residential neighborhoods screaming obscenities at residents trying to care for their families or rest during a pandemic and shelter in place.
They are tired of Antifa targeting OLD people to assault, threaten and terrify, throwing paint on them when they protest Antifa’s mindless destruction. They are tired of Antifa morons saying brilliant things like: “It’s not your world anymore!” to old people, proving by virtue of their ignorant statements that they are also Ageists as well as racists.
The silent majority will speak with their vote when a conservative runs for mayor and begins saying the words we all want to hear — Law and Order — Law and Order — Law and Order.
Of course Portlanders want social justice. Of course we do, of course we want the houseless of Portland to be helped, but when stats prove that 8 out of 10 of Portland’s houseless are also hardcore drug addicts, this process will not be easy. But of course we want those folks to be helped. And of course we want racial equity for our black families and our black friends, of course we do. But we also want and must have law and order. There can be no social justice without law and order.
As the nature of man is daily shown to be savage, by virtue of the murders, rapes, child rapes, and burglary and robbery that occur daily, the need for a policing system will continue, as it has for millennia. There is no culture, no society in the last 2,000 years that did not need a police force of some kind. And we, now, today, as the Human Animals that we are, are no different. Because it is the savagery of man that police must keep in check.
If the police suddenly disappeared, the world would descend into even more chaos and mindless violence. Perhaps people should remember the folks of the Wild Wild West and how they begged lawmakers for a local sheriff and deputies because predators were raping their wives and daughters and stealing their horses and killing husbands and fathers, leaving women and children wide open as targets. I mentioned that dynamic a few days ago, on social media to a person defending Antifa violence, and also blissfully unfamiliar with even simple American history. That person had no idea what I was alluding to with the reference.
There cannot be needed commerce without law and order and without small businesses being protected by a local police force given the thumbs up by the mayor to do their jobs. This changing political climate is what Antifa is setting up, and they may well not even be aware of it, but they sure as heck had better start thinking about it, because they may be more than a little surprised when their endless crimes lead to a conservative mayor being elected in good old “keep it weird” Portland.
What we need in Portland is moderate leadership and balanced leadership. What we do NOT need is radicalism in our leaders.But does Portland really want a Republican as Mayor? I know I don’t. But do I want a Democrat, either? Do we want another repeat of the disaster that Ted Wheeler has perpetrated on our city because of extreme liberal policies that simply do NOT work? And his apparent disregard for the necessity of the presence of trained law enforcement to maintain order among a chaotic group of radicals like Antifa? Ted Wheeler has had his head in the sand for over a year, pretending Antifa mean well when they have proven they are nothing more complex than a bunch of predatory, sadistic thugs who use Antifa as the crutch that serves their needs, and the crutch that allows them free reign to express their rage and genuine desire to hurt others or those they deem to be against them.
The fact is, Ted Wheeler is an Antifa Apologist. He has courted Antifa in the press numerous times. He has thanked them for protesting/rioting/looting. He has kowtowed, he has flattered, and he has tried to convince Antifa, a violent group of misfits, that he was on their side. That is how naïve Ted Wheeler was/is. Until they sprayed him with mace, spit on him, hurled obscenities at him, threw things at him, stalked him, threatened his family, and violently punched him.
Ted Wheeler now has a security detail, to insure his physical safety, which he needs given the radical nature of Antifa and their twisted and backward ideas on what social justice is. But we cannot forget when Ted famously came to that bright epiphany of his, and announced to a bemused Portland: “My good-faith efforts at de-escalation have been met with scorn by Antifa and anarchists bent on destruction. There are just some people on this planet who are bent on criminal destruction. There are just some people who want to watch the world burn.” Ted Wheeler’s statement January 1st of 2021 underscores his sheltered upbringing, his ignorance of the nature of true predators and his extreme lack of experience with any form of mundane “street” criminality. Ted said those words as if he had just experienced an epiphany. And I’m sure he had. Why? Because he does not have the background, and never has at ANY time had the background or the innate ability to be mayor of Portland. He lacks background in either urban development, criminal justice, or police work to be competent on the job and he has not a clue how how to handle Antifa deceivers and Antifa predators.
Ted Wheeler wasted MONTHS experimenting with his extreme liberal policies that just don’t work in 2021, and getting good old fashioned OJT in the process. On. The. Job. Training. At OUR expense. At Portland’s expense. Heck, if Ted Wheeler wanted to have someone tell him the ways of the world, all he needed to do was respectfully invite a PPB Sergeant or homicide detective or PPB Lieutenant to lunch and they would have been more than happy to tell Ted: “You know, Ted, there are just some people on this planet who are bent on criminal destruction. There are just some people who want to watch the world burn.”
But at no time did Mr. Ted Wheeler defer to the police experts on crowd control, or hate groups — hate groups just like Patriot Prayer, or Proud Boys OR ANTIFA.
Ted didn’t do that because he was too busy pretending he had all the answers. He was too busy trying to convince himself he was smarter and more intelligent than men and women who could easily surpass him in numerous ways, including in just having better common sense. Ted was too busy throwing PPB under the bus at every turn, questioning their integrity, accusing them of racism, and of profiling the homeless, and tying their hands and telling them what HE thought they ought to do in any given situation of extreme violence, of which he has NO experience.
But never at any time was the Ted Wheeler ever able or willing to LISTEN to the experts within PPB, the men and women who clearly know better than he, how to best resolve violent conflicts via proven methods of crowd control.
Wheeler’s former work, before becoming mayor of Portland was in finance. And as the “financial wizard” he is reputed to be, one has to wonder why a man of his wealth and privilege would out-of-the-blue decide to burden the city of Portland by running for and then later becoming mayor? What motivated him given his glaring lack of background in politics? And can any of us trust a man who was also once a Republican? Wheeler only changed his political affiliation in 2001. Before that he was a registered Republican. And though Wheeler was once described as a “moderate Democrat” he has turned out to be every Portlanders worst nightmare — a typical, hand wringing, overwrought, hysterical liberal who is contemptuous of police and terrified of allowing them to do their jobs for the simple reason that he doesn’t understand the complexities of police work in quite the same way they do, or how police science works. Ted still thinks of police officers as bumbling Columbo types with gum on the soles of their shoes.
Ted Wheeler has shown all of us that all he does is talk. He is all talk and no action and he’s proven he doesn’t care. He doesn’t have to. Either way, I don’t really care about Ted Wheeler. He will be more than content once he leaves politics. But in his time as mayor, he has proven to Portland his complete unsuitability for politics and for the role of mayor, by allowing Portland to burn for a nearly an entire year. By allowing violent criminals to assault and injure hundreds of Portland police officers and to not ONCE express any condemnation for that, or ask how those injured police officers might be doing.
But I am invested in making sure that the next mayor of Portland is not just another Ted Wheeler prototype who will not be able to intelligently run the city of Portland, protect commerce, (in other words the small and larger businesses in Portland or others that might want to come to Portland).
Wheeler has further proven he cannot and will not protect citizens from violent extremist radicals, namely, ANTIFA, who have done FAR more damage to our city than Patriot Prayer or the Proud Boys ever have.
I want to make sure Portland has a leader who is brave enough to make the tough choices, without caving, without tantrums and false bravado, making lots of big promises, only to cave the next day, as Ted Wheeler has done repeatedly. I want to make certain our next mayor actually gives a damn about Portland and is not just man who has never experienced hardship or gone without. I want to make sure our next mayor knows what its like to come from a working class family, to sometimes have to work hard at a job you hate, to be broke once in a while, to struggle to pay the rent, to have to eat cheap, crap food when you’re broke, to be a real, regular person like the rest of us are.
The final result of ANTIFA destroying Portland Oregon and Ted Wheeler’s refusal to accept reality and actually allow PPB officers to do their job, is that the next mayor may end up being conservative. But if a conservative mayor would actually promote law and order, and the protection of citizens and small businesses in Portland, I would support that change. And I know thousands of other Portlanders who will, too.
Ending violence and chaos starts with a less tolerant attitude toward smaller low level crimes, as the precursor to social disorder and more serious crimes occurring. These are the building blocks of recovering social order and maintaining the peace for all residents. This is what Ted Wheeler needs to understand if he wants to be known as anything other than a complete and utter FAILURE as a Portland mayor.
ANTIFA and Ted Wheeler are going to usher in a conservative mayor. And a conservative mayor will NOT tie the hands of PPB. A conservative mayor will promote law and order and the people of Portland will vote for that person. This is my prediction for the not so distant future.
And I stand by it. Just wait and see, its gonna happen.
Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
Theresa Griffin-Kennedy: I am freelance writer of creative nonfiction, a poet, fiction writer, history writer and contributing columnist for The online Portland Alliance Newspaper, the news website GoLocalPDX and the literary online magazine Live Encounters. I have been published in Pathos Literary Review, Street Roots Newspaper, and with Portland Monthly Magazine. I’m a social activist fighting for social change through writing as a social act. I paint abstract with mixed media and volunteer as a writing coach. I am the author of a book of poetry, Blue Reverie in Smoke: Collected Poetry: 2001–2016, and a book of short stories Burnside Field Lizard and Selected Stories, which was a finalist for the 2019 Next Generation Indie book award for Regional Fiction. both published through the Indie publishing company, Oregon Greystone Press. In 2021 my first novel will be published, Talionic Night in Portland: A Love Story, also by Oregon Greystone press, and The Lost Restaurants of Portland, published by The History Press. Learn more.
Online since 2007
