The Ongoing Effort to Remove Clint Halftown
Updates, plus Chief Sam George urges renewed support
On Wednesday, August 3rd, the mercenaries of Clint Halftown brutally dragged a 64 year-old woman from her house, and demolished the house.
In the two days after, a number of settler supporters (this writer included) showed up in Seneca Falls at the request of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ people. Food and funds were donated, and the many logistical chats never took a break.
This continued through today, Friday, August 5th (this is being written late at night). Also today, a non-Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ ally, Charlie Bowman, hosted a protest in front of one of the Halftown-held businesses. Though not organized by HalftownMustGo, some of us organizers stopped by for a little, where this video was taken of Chief Sam George (Hoya:neh Shoyǫ:we:s).
As I write, many of us are camping in multiple locations at the request of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ people. We have a patrol of legal observers going around. We have a rotating switchboard operator to handle requests and needs as they come in through the night and into tomorrow. As long as Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ people request this form of support, we will need more people perform these roles.
On the media side, we’ve also continued to do media outreach, and it’s started to pay off. The Ithaca Voice put together an article that did the issue some justice, as it’s clear that the journalists put in the effort and care to get the facts right. This is great, because on this particular Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ struggle, media coverage has often been shoddy.
But beyond that, we have some national media coming through in upcoming days. I have to say, too, that your dear writer is also proud of banging out our last article at top speed on Wednesday night before the journalists got on the story. This task was undertaken not a matter of pride (though there is some of that) but because is was crucial to get ahead in the war of narrative.
See, we knew that Halftown and his hired friends were going to lie immediately and continuously when he conducted his most recent attack. So it was imperative that we show the truth — in both words and images — as fast as possible.
Clint Halftown is clearly on the side of evil, and anyone who has the ability and time to come and see will be able to understand without any further explanation.
But in this world, truth does not just win out. Truth has to fight in a media environment that is often hostile to it. Falsities can be delicious. Lies can be convincing, entertaining, infuriating, and impossible not to talk about — yet they are still lies.
Halftown and his PR team deals in lies. This is a necessity for them. It’s a necessity because what Halftown does is so wrong that he must lie. His decisions traumatize families, destroy homes, and harm the very community that he was once born into. His actions even threaten to fragment that community irreparably. And for what? For personal enrichment. For a casino.
The truth of this is so vile that Halftown has no choice but to issue lies to cover up what he’s doing by confusing the public. To do this he has hired one of the most heinous crisis communications firms, Levick. His hired mouthpiece from Levick, Maria Stagliano, represented the management of the Surfside Condos after their negligence resulted in the deaths of 98 people when the condo building collapsed. Stagliano herself again represented the caterer whose cost-cutting made National Guard service members sick from low-grade and under-cooked food. Now, she represents Clint Halftown.
But the other side are families and communities that are fighting back. Ir you’re reading this, then it’s very likely that your community is helping out in that fight.
It’s important to note that this fight will not end in just one or two media cycles. Halftown has the funds to wait us out if we think this will be over in one night, or a week, or a month even. This must continue until Halftown is gone.
He has the money on his side; there are credible allegations that he has pocketed about a quarter million dollars by withholding Covid relief funds meant for Gayogo̱hó:nǫ people. He has brutal force on his side; he has hired ex-military and ex-intelligence personnel who have detained people at gunpoint and just tore a grandmother from her home and forced her to watch as her home was destroyed. He has professional liars on his side; that’s how Maria Stagliano makes her living
He has all these things, and still he will lose — so long as enough of us have the resolve to push for what is right for as long as we need to do it. As another core ITU organizer has been saying, “It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.”
So here’s what we’re going to need in the upcoming days:
If you are *unable* to come to Seneca Falls
- We could use funds for food, gas, and the ongoing mutual aid support that will be required over the next few days.
Donations for that can be sent via Venmo @solidarityithaca (Kim Knight)
or through this solidarity fund, to counteract the wage garnishments that Clint Halftown is using against those who oppose him: https://givebutter.com/ZgM2lT# - And please retweet and repost our updates and mutual aid requests:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/HalftownMustGo https://www.facebook.com/IthacaTU
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/halftownmustgo/
https://www.instagram.com/ithacatenantsunion/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ithacaTU
If you are able to come to Seneca Falls
If you can see this, we have an active need for more on-the-ground suppport. We want to make sure we can “staff” at least a couple people at multiple houses, and to do this continuously. We need people to serve as lookouts so that they can both document events and alert others if something starts to happen.
Whatever your skills or abilities may be, we can find a way to get you dialed into the efforts here. The more people we have, the better. Since we rotate shifts, including overnight ones, more people here means a more even distribution of sleep for many of us.
We are trying to get as many people as possible spread across all the homes where people feel Halftown may try to demolish buildings, but we also . You can come stand in solidarity. Support needed through the weekend of, August 6–7 through the day/night and likely through the weekend.
- See this contact sheet, where you can get in touch with people who can direct you to where you’re needed, see supplies or external support that you can help with, or find media contacts.
As long as this section of the article is visible, people are needed in the Seneca Falls area and your presence will be welcomed. - If you able, also please bring:
- power banks to charge phones and other devices
- water
-food
-tents (for camping)
