Portland Stands Strong Against Fascist Proud Boys

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

The Proud Boys, a fascist organization calling itself a fraternal order of Western Chauvinists, descended on the city of Portland, Oregon, yesterday in an effort to provoke violence and sow discord in what is one of the more progressive cities in the United States.  Portland is one city where the mob of male protestors, many sporting beards and beer guts, knew that they would foment a reaction.

And to begin with, that was the objective:  to create some havoc in the streets, disrupt commerce in the downtown area, and cost the city some money for an extra police presence.  But then Donald Trump waded into the picture, as he is prone to do, and issued a tweet saying that he was on the verge of declaring the “ANTIFA” (the anti-fascist response group) a terrorist organization.   At that point the group bringing the protests to Portland changed its stated goal and declared that its aim all along had been to have ANTIFA forces labeled as terrorists – and Trump was describing the ANTIFA forces as being terrorists, so the Proud Boys had won the day – at least inside of their own heads.

Last month Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced a non-binding resolution in the Senate that would have labeled ANTIFA as a terrorist organization.   That effort has gone nowhere largely because the ANTIFA “forces” are not a formal group but a loose assemblage of people supporting various causes and opposing fascist groups like the Proud Boys – and none of the people calling themselves ANTIFA have ever been charged with committing serious crimes.

The Proud Boys, on the other hand, routinely incite discord and violence and have been labeled at a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Portland had 700 police assigned to respond to trouble related to yesterday’s demonstrations. Police estimated the total crowd size of the demonstrators to be twelve hundred.  Thirteen arrests were made, and the Proud Boys vowed to return to Portland, the Rose City, on a monthly basis.

One must suspect that, Trump or no Trump, Portland will be ready for them!