There are a lot of bad tactics employed by BLM supporters.
One of those is blocking cars from freely going down the road or the highway. We reported earlier how the police and the prosecutor in Rockford, Illinois had the best response to that, something we’ve long needed to hear.
Another is going to the homes of politicians to try to intimidate them into doing what you want.
It used to be understood that going to someone’s home was an off-limits move, even by leftist activists. Now, there are no norms of behavior which these radical leftists will not break.
They’ve made it a common thing in Seattle, going to the homes of members of the City Council as well as the home of the mayor.
But they may have taken on more than they could chew when they went to the home of the Seattle Police Chief, Carmen Best.
More than 200 protesters showed up on the quiet street in the quiet neighborhood where Best lived, with 30 to 40 cars wrapped around the block, according to neighbors.
But you have to hand it to the neighbors, they stood up and had the Chief’s back. They used their own vehicles to block the protesters from getting closer to the Chief’s home. Jamie Roulstone and her husband Whitney explained what happened.
From Q13 Fox:
“It was not peaceful. They were here to intimidate. Scare people. Scare children. There were children out there and they were asking them what schools they went to. They were yelling the most horrible things you’ve ever heard in your entire life,” said wife Jamie.
“You’re coming to a small community. We see all these peaceful protests getting hijacked in Seattle and Portland and other areas,” said husband Whitney. “It just takes one Molotov cocktail, takes one person trying to light something on fire, one firework going off. Then we now have a neighborhood in crisis. We feared that more than anything, was having a crisis here in our neighborhood that we ultimately didn’t deserve.”
Chief Best said that “it certainly felt very personal about me” and “it really does seem like a mob mentality, and bullying, to intimidate a public official.” She was not home at the time.
The Sheriff of the area, Adam Fortney, said he would deploy whatever forces necessary to protect the Chief, her family and the neighbors. He called what occurred a “bullying tactic” and asked that people protest at a government building and not a private residence.
Best apologized to her neighbors for the disturbance at a neighborhood meeting and thanked them for their support.
“She couldn’t believe what the neighborhood did for her. She apologized that this even came here. I told her don’t apologize. We need to apologize to you that this is even happening. it’s unacceptable,” said Jamie.
“We admire her. We see what she’s doing. She’s doing a great job. That this has happened, on her behalf here, we as a neighborhood are rallying behind her,” said Whitney.
Best said that she wanted the elected officials especially the City Council to “loudly, boldly and assertively denounce this kind of behavior.” said Chief Best. She wrote the Council a formal letter demanding action.
These direct actions against elected officials, and especially civil servants like myself, are out of line with and go against every democratic principle that guides our nation. Before this devolves into the new way of doing business by mob rule here in Seattle, and across the nation, elected officials like you must forcefully call for the end of these tactics.
The events of this summer were initiated in a moment of grief and outrage over the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers and so many other Black and Brown people suffering at the hands of injustice. All of us must ensure that this righteous cause is not lost in the confusion of so many protestors now engaging in violence and intimidation, which many are not speaking against.
It’s pretty clear that people have had enough of this, even in largely progressive Seattle. Good on the neighbors for their actions. It may be beginning to turn with people no longer being quiet, standing up and finally calling this all out very publicly.
