Wednesday, July 29, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
In the
PINES
By T. Lee Brown
Oregon is not
a TV show
Last week, I promised to
come back with more word-
nerdery about the roots of
words like <cakewalk= and
<taking the cake.= Instead
my attention was diverted to
Portland, Oregon, just over
the pass and up I-5 apiece,
where I lived for some 20
years. When the President of
the United States of America
wants the public9s attention
diverted 4 from plagues
and pandemics, mischief and
mayhem 4 he sure knows
how to do it.
That9s what a real-
ity TV guy brings to the
Oval Office: the spectacle
and outrageousness one
expects from fake-real tele-
vision shows. For those
who believe the line that
the protesters are <bussed
in= from elsewhere, please
adjust your reality goggles
from <what someone on
TV told me= to <actual real-
ity.= Real live human beings
in Portland, folks I know,
tell me that they and their
friends and neighbors4
genuine Oregonians, true
Portland citizens4are out
there protesting.
Some are demonstrat-
ing on behalf of the Black
Lives Matter movement.
Some, like the Wall of
Moms and their ancillaries,
the leaf-blower dads, are
deliberately creating a sea of
protection between unwel-
come federal paramilitaries
and local protesters. Yep,
seriously. Moms of tod-
dlers are out there sucking
tear gas to support the Bill
of Rights for their fellow
citizens.
Others are generally
infuriated that their city has
been invaded by the White
House9s private army:
Have a story
idea for
The
Nugget?
heavily armed <goons,= to
quote a Sisters local who
carries an American flag
and a handmade sign on
Cascade Avenue. These
goons spray rubber bullets,
send teargas into the streets,
and leap from unmarked
vans to kidnap innocent
citizens4not just in the
small area of Portland that
sees regular intense protest
action, but wherever the
heck they feel like nabbing
people.
According to a pretty
darned convincing Facebook
post, they surrounded an
interpreter heading to work
at the Multnomah County
Courthouse. Six armed men
intimidated and swore at
Felipe Nystrom, a U.S. citi-
zen with Costa Rican ori-
gins, asked for his ID, then
refused to allow him to get
his wallet.
At that moment, some-
one Nystrom had interpreted
for in a grand jury case hap-
pened to walk by. The goons
tried to wave that poten-
tial witness away 4 but
whoops, it was a Deputy
District Attorney.
<For doing nothing more
than going to work while
being a U.S. citizen but
brown I was very close to
being taken and the worst
part is that I have no idea
by who or where I would
have been taken,= Nystrom
posted.
Combined with the virus,
at first glance my old town
looks like a dystopic fantasy
movie about an authoritar-
ian regime taking over the
USA. The spectacle makes
one wonder what, exactly,
the TV producers are hoping
we fail to notice elsewhere.
Anything interesting out
there?
Let9s see: the U.S.
COVID death rate is awful;
when confronted by a jour-
nalist on Fox News about it,
the President lies. Attorney
General William Barr gets
U.S. attorney Geoffrey
Berman fired for investi-
gating the President9s pals
(remarkably, Berman refuses
to step down). Nothing to
see here, folks! Pay no atten-
tion to the man behind the
curtain!
Those TV guys sure are
good at focusing our atten-
tion, aren9t they? Impressive.
Too bad this isn9t a tele-
vision show. It9s our coun-
try, our state, and our fel-
low citizens4including my
smart, beautiful stepdaugh-
ter, whom I pray will not be
shot in the head (even with
<less lethal= munitions) for
daring to walk down the
street, peacefully exercising
her First Amendment rights.
That9s what happened to
Donavan LaBella, described
by a friend as <completely
nonviolent,= someone
who helps <de-escalate
situations.=
No wonder they shot
him. They9re not interested
in de-escalating anything.
The feds are in town to esca-
late. They9re in town to amp
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the national anthem on the
Portland State University
campus, harmonizing with
a Black opera singer who
walks by and asks to join
in. Hundreds of moms in
yellow and white T-shirts
march along looking inno-
cent and hopeful, if tired.
None of these people
look like hyped-up extras in
an apocalyptic sci-fi movie.
They don9t look like celeb-
rity contestants on <The
Apprentice.= They certainly
don9t look like the anar-
chists or America-haters the
President claims to think
they are.
They look like me and
you. Everyday people.
Oregonians. Americans.
What do they want?
Freedom. Justice. The pur-
suit of happiness4not just
for TV personalities, not just
for White people, not just for
rich people, but for every-
body. And the federal gov-
ernment wants to shut them
down with unconstitutional
violence.
Doesn9t that take the
cake?
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up fear, intimidation, blood,
conflict4all the stuff that
makes American television
so entertaining.
A few protesters look to
be young people who want
to light fires and make big
noises. They9ve got some-
thing to prove, just as many
of us did when we were 18
or 20. Maybe they, like their
President, just really, really
want attention. Maybe blus-
ter and violence are the only
tools these kids, like their
President, know how to
wield.
If you click past the
dramatic front-page pho-
tos, things in Portland look
downright sweet. Common
people post their phone
footage online. It shows the
B-reel, the unspectacular
video snippets that com-
pose the bulk of our lives.
These show the hard, dull
work being done by enor-
mous waves of everyday
citizens, taking to the streets
because care about their
country, their city, their fel-
low citizens.
A White singer belts out
7
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