Port Townsend has avoided the mayhem and destruction that has hijacked many of the otherwise civil demonstrations against the murder of George Floyd. Another George Floyd demonstration is planned for Friday, June 5. This event, entitled “Justice for Black Lives: Standing in Solidarity with Minneapolis,” is being organized by high schoolers.

Sequim saw a large demonstration on June 3. Rumors flew about Antifa exploiting that event to wreak mayhem and commit wanton violence against innocent people, businesses and police. Those rumors were shown to be baseless. No violence occurred and local law enforcement handled the situation exceptionally well.

Concerns about possible trouble for Port Townsend’s youth march were brought to our attention, and we passed them along to law enforcement. We learned Port Townsend police had already been alerted and had some of the same information and names that had come to us.

It would have been nice to disregard out of hand worries about people bent on trouble and not justice for Mr. Floyd. But that wasn’t possible.

People already known to the police through past encounters and criminal acts were associated with the concerns. When we put out an inquiry on our Facebook page for more information, what we’d been told over the phone was confirmed in comments and personal messages. A local circle of cop haters held themselves out as  part of something called A.C.A.B.. That acronym stands for All Cops Are Bastards.  There is no established organization with that name, but they had been using it loosely to identify themselves or give the impression they were part of something larger.

Sadly, we also learned more about a culture within our community that celebrates violence against police. Last year the words “Kill Cops” were scrawled on the side of the Uptown Theater. A woman–whom we were told had held herself out as A.C.A.B.–posed for a photo shoot by that message and the image was picked up by the widely followed Jefferson County Washington Facebook page. Not everybody reacted with disgust and disapproval. The words and photo were defended, even applauded by some. Those who objected found themselves targets for derision.

The woman posing with those hateful words was arrested in mid-April and is facing charges of vehicular homicide. She is charged with killing the passenger in her car when she went off Center Road at a high speed. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s office reported that drugs or alcohol appeared to have contributed to the fatal accident. She is on bail pending further proceedings.

In comments to our inquiry we were told that “there are a lot of youth in this town who don’t like cops” and messages such as “Kill Cops” may have been painted “out of frustration and anger.”

Words matter, especially words that encourage murder. In the past week people with the words “kill cops” on their minds have shot and beat police, set them on fire, run them over, hit them in the head with bricks and sent them to the hospital by the hundreds. The officers who have been murdered were Black, as are many of those seriously injured, a tragic irony against a backdrop of protests demanding that all Black lives be treasured.

It’s not just frustrated and angry youth defacing buildings that make it difficult to dismiss breezily concerns about potential violence here. Some individuals in our community celebrate the idea of murdering police. There is “Murder Police for Satan” clothing designed and produced locally. The artwork depicts a police officer on his knees, apparently begging for life and about to be stabbed with a blade the size of his forearm. He kneels against the background of the anarchists’ encircled five-pointed star. The same “artists” behind that clothing line put out lyrics fantasizing about the bleached bones of murdered police officers. “By logic and reason, it’s always in season to murder police for Satan,” goes one of their lovely ditties.

People among us wear that clothing and listen to those songs.

Suggestions have been offered on local social media on how demonstrators can arm themselves with bricks, street signs, fence posts, even flower pots to “protect” themselves against police. “Happy protesting!” Wink, wink.

“Murder _____________________ for Satan.” Fill in a name of one of the living, breathing men and women who protect our community. Fathers, mothers, wives, sons, and daughters. Your neighbors. Say their names and try to swallow the explanation that these hateful exhortations are “just harmless art.”

With this vile subculture exposed it can better be contained and resisted. It is now highly unlikely there will be any stealth hijacking of a youthful assembly honoring a good and decent man who suffered a horrific, unjust death. [Since I wrote that description of Mr. Floyd I have learned it is far from the truth. While he did not in any way deserve the death he suffered, based on his long criminal record George Floyd was not a “good and decent man.” He was found guilty for a home invasion in which he pressed a loaded gun into the stomach of a pregnant woman. He had an earlier armed robbery conviction as well and a string of drug and other offenses in between. At the time of his death he was under the influence of fentanyl and methamphetamine. To repeat, none of that warrants a death sentence, but I wanted to correct my misstatement as to his character].

The lead organizer for Jefferson County Black Lives Matter issued a statement on Wednesday June 3, that the organization does not condone violence against police.  Bravo. That is a step up from his earlier exchange of messages with me in which he had declined to disavow violence against police.

Concern still remains about outsiders. Somehow our “welcoming community” has fixated on outsiders lately. First it was tourists who might bring COVID infections. Now it is Antifa and others who may see Port Townsend as a soft target.

This is no idle concern.  The looters and thugs of Seattle’s riots took their act to Bellevue, and then attempted to hit smaller towns where they calculated they could avoid the kind of ramped up law enforcement and National Guard presence now securing Seattle’s streets. Groups of rather heavily armed citizens deterred the criminals from venturing into Marysville, Snohomish and elsewhere. Those citizens had seen that the police could not protect them and formed their own defensive line. It worked and their communities were spared.

We have been informed that a number of Jefferson County residents intend to follow those defensive examples. We won’t know until the day arrives if they will follow through. They say that on Friday while the youth march works it way from the police station to the traffic light at McDonald’s they will take up positions elsewhere at intersections and business locations  They tell us they intend to send the message that the violence and looting that has happened elsewhere will not be tolerated here. Jefferson County, they insist, will be a community of only peaceful demonstrations.