Unease about white supremacy grows after Portland stabbings
Unease about white supremacist activity in Portland deepened after the fatal stabbings of two men who tried to shield young women from an anti-Muslim tirade, and some people worry that the famously tolerant community could see a resurgence of the hostilities that once earned it the nickname “Skinhead City.”
The attack aboard a light-rail train happened Friday, the first day of Ramadan, the holiest time of the year for Muslims. Authorities say Jeremy Joseph Christian started verbally abusing two young women, including one wearing a hijab. When three other men on the train intervened, police say, Christian attacked them, killing two and wounding one.
Christian, 35, was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday to face two counts of murder and other charges.
The deaths stunned the city, but also underscored nervousness about recent events, including a series of apparent hate crimes in the region and contentious public rallies that have drawn national attention.
The Pacific Northwest has a long and violent history of white supremacist and other racist activities, despite its more recent reputation for being one of the nation’s most socially liberal regions.
“The idea that Portland is so liberal supersedes this dark, hidden secret about racism,” said Karen Gibson, a professor of urban studies at Portland
State University.
Many of the early settlers to Oregon were from Southern states and brought with them negative attitudes about blacks, Gibson said.
Only about 6 per cent of the Portland population is black, while more than 70 per cent is non-Hispanic white, statistics show.
On Monday, Mayor Ted Wheeler asked the federal government to revoke a permit it issued for a June 4 rally in downtown Portland, saying he fears it could further enflame tensions.
The Saturday event organized by the group Patriot Prayer is billed on its Facebook page as a Trump Free Speech Rally in “one of the most liberal areas of the West Coast.”
Several counter-protests are planned, including one that bills itself as an anti-capitalist march and another that calls itself anti-fascist.
Christian attended a similar
rally in late April wearing an American flag around his neck and carrying a baseball bat. Police confiscated the bat, and he was then caught on camera clashing with counter-protesters.
Wheeler has also asked the federal government to cancel a June 10 rally that targets Sharia law out of fears it could create unrest.
In a video posted on Facebook, Joey Gibson of the group Patriot Prayer, condemned Christian and acknowledged that some rallies have attracted “legitimate Nazis.” He described Christian as “all crazy” and “not a good guy” during the April 29 event. He hurled insults at rally organizers as well as counterprotesters and was not a Trump supporter, Gibson said.
“To say that any of my speakers are racist, that’s ridiculous,” Gibson said of the upcoming event. “I haven’t seen the evidence. I haven’t seen the proof.”