Update: Sheriff Protest from Wednesday

This is an update of sorts on the 'protest' this last Wednesday staged by the Anarchists here in Lake Worth. It was done in other communities around the nation, on that particular day, to draw attention to extreme uses of force by police departments on the people that they are to serve and protect. Yours truly, in advance of the event, shared a Facebook invitation put together by a familiar cast of Lake Worth characters that have gone on record many times as being against PBSO and many of their tactics. In the invitation, they cited individual circumstances of what they thought was excessive force. The event announcement was not restricted or private. It was a public announcement about the time and location of the protest, along with who was invited and who was attending. I shared it on the Lake Worth Voice Facebook page, which serves as a community forum. All that was done beyond that was to point out who the organizers were. I would think that if you are organizing an action and promoting it on Facebook, you would want people to know about it.

Well, apparently the posting of the event was seen as a way of "mocking" it and gave people an opportunity to pull out the stops with a personal attack upon me. In essence, yours truly has been blamed for the failed 'protest' because I reported the event and took pictures, along with posting the invitation somewhere the organizers did not want it posted. I made a simple, non-editorial collage (I never knew making a collage could be considered an act of aggression). I posted it here too - really innocuous. I also took a picture of a sign that was part of the protest which read "PBSO Deputies are Worthless."

The claim immediately was made the people carrying that particular sign were "scruffy" and asked to take it down, but they wouldn't. People that were part of the protest say that they actually asked PBSO for help in getting those two particular people with the sign to take it down. Really? I am sure that the organizers could control their message on their own and give those people another sign if they thought it was so offensive, or shun them in some manner. That didn't happen. I didn't see any ruckus or animosity between those "two" and the rest of the group. The implication is that they were somehow "plants" and that I, or others, played a role in them being there. That just is NOT the case and presumes powers or interests that I don't have. Really.

The reaction from some people was completely disproportionate to what I might have done. I hope that we are not entering a time when taking pictures from a public street of others assembled on a public street is a serious offense to anyone.

Apparently, it was. Which leads to some interesting questions. If there really is an issue with the overuse of force by the sheriff department, shouldn't the entire community be aware of it? Or should it be only the province of a few individuals that think they know more than anyone else? Wouldn't activating and communicating with the entire community, not just certain people and affinity groups, be a better way of addressing the problem? Or, do the organizers really not want the problem addressed in a meaningful way and just jump in front of a parade for the sake of publicity, period? The people behind the protest: our local cast of Anarchist friends. What this event did was to try to divide the community - the implication was that if you were not with them, you were somehow for excessive force against a portion of the city's population and an implied racist.

Things have taken a turn from the disturbing to the amusing to the bizarre. Some background: Steve 'Fire Ant' Ellman of the Broward New Times is leading the charge defending the Anarchists and their attempt to besmirch the Sheriff. This is all taking place on Facebook and I've resorted to blocking people like Mr. Ellman (for the second or third time). I have though many loyal readers who monitor Mr. Ellman and the Anarchists and I get regular updates on what is being said.

Note this screen grab of Mr. Ellman I received yesterday:

This was clearly THEIR protest and all that was done in response was to post two pictures of the event and make people aware that it was happening before it took place. Mr. Ellman then proceeds to defend the Anarchists by writing this: "[...] anarchist's purpose is 'social destruction'? That's another stupid idea." (above)

Before addressing Mr. Ellman's assertion that Anarchists like Panagioti Tsolkas, Cara Jennings and Lynne Purvis are NOT promoting 'social destruction' I will refer you to Cara Jennings' Greater Bay deposition that you can read here. Here is the part where Cara Jennings confirms she is an Anarchist in the deposition:

Q. [MR. CHASE] I've got to ask you this one too, and it seems like an appropriate time: Have you or are you or have you at any time been an avowed anarchist?
A. [CARA JENNINGS] I am an anarchist. I identify with that political philosophy, yeah.

This screen grab is from Panagioti Tsolkas' EarthFirst! Newswire:

Here is the definition of an "Anarchist" from Dictionary.com:

The majority of the people at the 'protest' against PBSO on Wednesday were Anarchists and members of their affinity group, Trans Womyns Action Camp (TWAC), Father O'Loughlin with the Guatemalan/Mayan Center and an assemblage of what appeared to be part of the local Guatemalan community. That is undeniable.

Anarchists like Panagioti Tsolkas and Cara Jennings continue to use wedge politics to divide us all in Lake Worth. They derive their power not from civility and inclusiveness, but by pitting neighbor against neighbor and community against community. It comes down to the question: Was this sort of protest the best way to address what may be a legitimate problem? Or was it a way to be judge and jury over past events that, while unfortunate, have already been examined and investigated as they should have been? Perhaps we will never know the truth. Events like this do not help matters.