The Portland Narrative of The Right Wing Rally

There was a Right Wing rally in Portland on August 17^th 2019. The rally was to raise awareness for domestic terrorism, particularly to highlight the actions of the group known as Antifa. This rally was in response to the brutal attack, at the hands of Antifa, on an independent journalist Andy Ngo that left him with a brain hemorrhage.

Narrative One

Leading up to this rally there was a lot of hot rhetoric on both sides. This of course caught national attention and the media was attempting to bill this event as the next Charlottesville. Naturally this alarmed the public, no one wants Neo-Nazi’s and White Nationalists gathering in their city.

This narrative was pushed by the mayor, Ted Wheeler, and the mainstream media. The only problem was that the Right Wing groups were not Neo-Nazi’s or White Nationalists. In fact Enrique Tarrio, one of the organizers and head of the Proud Boys is not white at all. Seems a bit odd that a White Nationalist group is led by a non-white person.

The media and the Progressive mayor, not interested in allowing the truth to get in the way of a useful narrative, ignored that fact. The mayor instead doubled down. He made the rounds on major media outlets saying that violence will not be tolerated in Portland.

His statements were a bit vague and any attempt by media personalities to get him to clarify who he was talking about were dodged. He seemed to imply that he did not want groups from outside of Portland to bring violence into the city. It seemed like mayor Wheeler was going to allow the police to do their jobs to keep the peace.

The mayor, along with a group of Portland organizations, held a rally a few days before saying they don’t want outsiders to bring violence into their city. That they don’t want people to come here and say hateful things and spread their hateful message.

In an unrelated and totally coincidental matter, several members of Patriot Prayer had arrest warrants issued for them and were taken into custody. This included the head of Patriot Prayer Joey Gibson, who turned himself in voluntarily to the police.

The Death of Narrative One

The rally was set to start at 11am on Saturday August 17^th 2019. Several groups showed up early to organize people and to share their location on social media. I arrived 15 minutes early and made my way to park where the rally was set to take place. After making my way around the police line and ending up among the black bloc I eventually made my way to the Right Wing group.

The Right Wing groups met up in the park, surrounded by police and screaming protesters. The protesters shouted at the Right Wing groups, called them Nazi’s, fascists, racists, and yelled at them to go home. While the organizers were from out of town a lot of people at the rally lived in or near Portland.

The Proud Boys got between the protesters and other members of the rally, trying to keep everyone focused on the speakers rather than engaging in shouting matches. Most the people at the rally understood that Antifa were a distraction and focused on the speakers. While in the park the Right Wing groups knelt down and said a prayer.

They prayed for Antifa and the city of Portland. To bring light into the city and to bring an end to the hate. This was followed by a signing of the national anthem and chants of USA. After this the organizers announced they would march to another location. They walked across the bridge and ended up at their location. It was here that a man walked into the group and started shouting F*** YOU while pointing at the face of every person he saw.

The Proud Boys acted quickly to keep the crowd away from him and the police quickly removed the man from the situation. No punches were thrown, no one was beat up and the police did their job. Soon after this, around 1:30pm the group was told by the organizers to disperse and head home. People left and made their way home.

The rally was over and it was peaceful. Antifa remained and turned their anger on individuals they singled out as Nazi’s, the police, and even attacked the bus the Proud Boys were attempting to leave on. Seems a bit odd that Antifa members spent hours yelling at the Right Wing groups to leave and the moment they try to leave they attack them.

After the Right Wing groups left a civil disturbance was declared due to illegal blocking of roads and several assaults committed by Antifa. The next day the media tried to carry the narrative forward writing things like ‘violence rocks Portland at Far Right rally’ or ‘13 arrested at Far-Right protest in Portland.’

They seem to have forgot that almost everyone has a cell phone with a camera and can watch the events happen in real time, unedited. These media companies had their comment sections light up as people pointed out that they are attempting to mislead people. Mayor Wheeler came out afterward and said that Joe Biggs, one of the organizers, was no longer welcome in Portland.

Wheeler said that Bigg’s message of hate had no place in the city of Portland. This narrative died as soon as the bus carrying the Right Wing rally goers left the city.

Narrative Two (Plan B)

We the people are not stupid. We understand that Antifa is a huge problem in Portland, but Mayor Wheeler refuses to directly address them and the media refuse to shine the light on this group. The first narrative was false and that falsehood was exposed for the world to see, and public sentiment started to turn against Wheeler and Antifa.

That is when the second narrative was born. In order to shift public sentiment against the peaceful Right Wing groups the media started running stories about how much businesses who closed their shops the day of the rally suffered.

The estimated cost to these businesses was $3 million and expected to grow. The media of course is trying to stand this narrative on the corpse of the previous one. They say if these Right Wing groups would not provoke people than things like this would never happen.

To clarify, the narrative goes like this. If Right Wing groups would stop committing the crime of being Right Wing in Portland than black clad people would not have to violently assault people, destroy property, and attack the police costing millions of dollars of tax payer money and hurting business.

It would seem that the Mayor does not believe the people actually committing the acts of violence and property destruction are responsible for their actions. Instead it is the groups who those people hate. It also seems that Mayor Wheeler believes the Right Wing groups are responsible for the hate and anger of other people because the Right Wing groups are the objects of that hate.

The Mayor of Portland seems to think that Right Wing groups should not be allowed to go into certain places if they are hated in those places. And if they do go into those places they are not allowed to enter, the simple act of being there is justification for the outrage, anger, hate and physical attacks they suffer. Not only that but that they are to blame for the attacks they suffer and any damage done due to those attacks.

The goal of this second narrative seems to be the same as the first, sway public opinion against the Right Wing groups.

A Comparison

Joey Gibson, leader of Patriot Prayer told reporters that he and his group have done around 60 rallies all over the state of Washington. All have been peaceful, no property damage was done, and no one was hurt. A few counter protesters even showed up but they all remained civil and everyone got to exercise their right to free speech peacefully.

 

Antifa protested in Portland after the election of President Donald Trump and cost the city $1 million in damages. There was no Patriot Prayer in the city, the Proud Boys did not exist as a group, and no one was counter protesting them. They were so upset about the election of Donald Trump they attempted to burn down and destroy the very communities they now claim they are protecting.

The question becomes, if Patriot Prayer can have around 60 peaceful rallies (so peaceful they get zero media coverage) all over the west coast, why is it that there is only fighting and violence in Portland? You must also ask, if Antifa protests turn toward violence and destruction even in the absences of Right Wing groups, why does the mayor not address directly the issue of Antifa violence?

The problem at these rallies are not the Right Wing groups (don’t get me wrong the Right Wing groups have problems of their own to be sure, just like any other group), they understand they are under a microscope at these events. They understand that any hint of aggression, any fighting, or any statement will be analyzed, picked apart, twisted and turned if it can be used to support the narrative that the cause of all the problems are Right Wing groups.

The problem is not even Antifa, but rather the culture of Portland itself. A ‘Progressive’ culture that increasingly focuses on a person’s group identity as an indicator of good or bad. A culture that believe the world is a conflict between good and evil people. A culture that believes if words make you upset that is violence, to be met with physical violence justified as self-defense. A culture that applies laws differently depending on your ideological belief and the fact that you wear a mask.