‘Bigg’ Talk From Portland Rally Organizer Should Cause City to Question Its Future

So the series of fascist rallies in Portland continues on Aug. 17, and organizer Joe Biggs is making no bones about his violent intentions. After the mass shootings of the past two weeks, we should making no bones about ours to shut this down if we can.

PORTLAND, OR In the wake of three mass shootings in two weeks, two of them directly attributed to neo-Fascist activity and two individuals in Canada believed to be fans of neo-Nazi sentiments being sought in the murders of three people, some have begun to focus on a neo-Fascist rally still being allowed to go on even though the organizer has been openly expressing his plans to use the rally to engage in violent activity.

Joe Biggs, a former reporter for the conspiracy theorist website Infowars and a Florida-based member of the neo-Fascist Proud Boys, called for an Aug. 17 rally at the Tom McCall Waterfront Plaza in response to the June rally that saw a number of clashes with antifa and so-called ‘alt-right’ figures. According to Rose City Antifa, Biggs posted a series of death threats against antifascists on his social media accounts in June and July while promoting the Aug. 17 rally, resulting in many of them being suspended. “Free speech was fought for and paid for with blood, it will not be lost for anything less,” he said in one post. His latest video features him showing off a spiked bat with a flag motif with the words “Make America Great Again” slogan written on it and a bullet casing embedded in its bottom.

3) Joe Biggs excitement for violence is nothing less than disturbing #Antifas pic.twitter.com/SA0mfCfbZ1

— John #ProtectMaunaKea (@Johnnthelefty) August 4, 2019

In a press release, Portland Police Bureau (PPB) Chief Danielle Outlaw noted the “concern about the criminal intentions being expressed in the publicly available forums which suggest some attendees plan to engage in violence,” and that they “are taking this into account and developing an appropriate plan with adequate resources to prepare for this eventuality.” The PPB however has come under fire for having a close association with the Proud Boys that some outlets have termed a “protective relationship”, up to and including one officer warning Gibson against bringing Tusitala “Tiny” Toese to a rally, as there was an active warrant for his arrest. That officer, Lt. Jeff Niiya might have violated a PPB directive that states, “Members shall not provide information directly or indirectly that may enable any person to avoid arrest, punishment, or to conceal or dispose of goods, money, or other valuable things stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained.” Toese, who had been charged with felony assault over a 2018 attack on a critic in Portland, is currently a fugitive believed to be in his native America Samoa. Proud Boy Donovan Flippo, who joined with Toese that day, pled guilty to the assault last month and was given probation and an order to stay away from mass protests in Multnomah County, OR.

Over the past month the concern has risen regarding racist and White supremacist activity, bolstered by remarks by Donald Trump against four congresswomen of color, and especially the recent murders and mass shootings in Gilroy, California, El Paso, Texas and in regards to Canadian fugitive murder suspects Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18 who have expressed an obsession via social networks with Nazi Germany and White nationalist groups. On Monday, Trump publicly denounced “racism, bigotry and White supremacy in a televised address to the nation, saying, “These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart and devours the soul.” Trump’s words, however, rang hollow to many as they see him as fueling that hatred while in the White House. El Paso Rep. Alexsandra Annello expressed that sentiment in a tweet where she urged him not to come to the city in the wake of the shootings. “Our resources are strained and we are still trying to figure out how to recover after a brutal, racially motivated attack, that his racism and hate obviously influenced,” she posted.

I do not support President Trump’s visit to El Paso and I respectfully ask him not to come. Our resources are strained and we are still trying to figure out how to recover after a brutal, racially motivated attack, that his racism and hate obviously influenced.

— Representative Alexsandra Annello (@CityRepAnnello) August 6, 2019

Should the rally go on as planned, groups are indeed coming out to oppose the event, and unlike Biggs, none have called for any violent aggression against them. One group called PopMob, for example, is planning an event called The Spectacle, where they’ve asked participants to “come out with the biggest, weirdest, most spectacular costumes, performances, and other fun activities” in hopes of out-weirding the Proud Boys, according to news accounts. “Let’s show them we won’t let them scare us into hiding our true selves,” PopMob says on their Facebook event page.