by Today, Oregon’s governor, Kate Brown, announced that she has reached an agreement that federal law enforcement agents would begin withdrawing from Portland as early as tomorrow. “Federal officials confirmed an agreement,” says the NY Times, “but hedged on the timing.” At the same time, federal agents are being sent to Detroit, Cleveland and Milwaukee. I don’t know if Suzanne’s approach is one that could save us from an escalation of Trump’s fascistic tactics, but I do think it is worth considering and would welcome your thoughts.
Seattle Mayor Durkan: We Are Seeing A “Dry Run” For Martial Law By Trump—Real Clear Politics
“Umbrella Man” caught in viral video smashing windows during Minneapolis protest is a white supremacist, police say—CBS News
What Has Happened to Police Filmed Hurting Protesters? So Far, Very Little.—ProPublica
July 29, 2020
Take away his excuse for a militia
by Suzanne Brita Schecker, Treehouse Community, Easthampton, MA
Dear Black Lives Matter, Moms, and all of us that support you and your constitutional right to demonstrate against institutional racism, in our police forces, our educational system, our politics and justice system. Everywhere.
I am with you. I support you and honor your right to demonstrate. I am also a German American raised by a mother who came of age during Hitler’s rise to power, who lived through World War II and the Nazi Era. I can see the writing on the wall.
The current administration, many of the Republicans in Congress and the man who sits in our White House, care nothing about democracy or our constitutional rights. He does not obey court orders, even from the Supreme Court, and he will do anything—and I mean anything he can get away with—to stay in power. He is amassing a personal militia (think Nazi SS or Brownshirts) and sending them into our cities, against the wishes of governors, mayors and local police forces, to fight an imaginary uprising and “lawlessness” from the left. He is gaslighting and using fear and propaganda to scare people into supporting him.
If he is successful at creating sufficient unrest, he will try to declare martial law and make a shambles of—if not outright stop—our election, claiming it’s too dangerous to change leadership. We cannot win against these tactics, and a militia that sees itself outside of the law may be all too happy to shoot some liberals. You cannot fight for your rights against a government that does not acknowledge that you have any.
I know this flies in the face of everything that rings true and just and fair, but the best way, perhaps the only way, to deny this president his evil intent for our country is to take the demonstrations off the street. It is time for all of our leaders to call for a united effort to find different ways to demonstrate and fight for our God-given rights.
If we could make that sacrifice for our country, our democracy, our dreams of a new administration by denying Trump a reason to create and deploy his militia, we will be rising to a new level of cooperation, collective love and unity.
Ruth Neuwald Falcon 
There is much truth in Suzanne’s post about protests. There is so much resentment even among supporters that many of us fear that the protests will insure Trumps re-election. I wish I had the wherewithal to say more but am paralyzed. The thought of another four years gives me nightmares.
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I recently read this and I would like to share it with you. I thought your article was thought-provoking… here is another point of view to consider… “What happened in Nazi Germany was what political scientists politely call a “silent majority.” Today, America has one. And for some baffling reason, Americans seem to think a silent majority is a good thing. That a polite majority who say nothing is proof of some kind of civilized nature. Nothing could be more wrong. “Silent majority” is not a compliment. It’s an insult! It’s a disappointment, a condemnation. You don’t want a silent majority in a society. A silent majority paves the way for every kind of authoritarian implosion under the sun, from fascist to theocratic to kleptocratic to all of them put together.”
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Well said, Sheila. Although I acknowledge the reality that right wing extremist sometimes infiltrate the BLM protesters and incite destruction and violence, I believe that being in the streets at this time is absolutely essential. The similarity to what went on in Germany during Hitlers rise to power is so very apparent. We cannot remain the “silent majority”.
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I understand the point of view expressed above, but I am not sure about what people should or should not do. Violence is off putting, and it is quite clear that some of the most destructive people are not in fact supporters of BLM, like the so called Umbrella Man. Trump and Barr believe that even peaceful protesters are troublemakers and anarchists.
A problem is that part of why Trump and the Republicans feel so empowered is that there hasn’t been any pushback. I think that has meant that they have misjudged the people; for example, views on race are so different than what they believe and what the majority of the American people believe. Trump and Barr marinate in the foetid stew of Fox News and it shapes their whole worldview, so they assume that EVERYONE (or every white person) thinks as they do. I agree that demonstrators shouldn’t be baited into random violence. What does seem clear, is that the vast majority of violent acts are from the so called law enforcement officers.
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