More magnificent things

At the protest Saturday at Portland International Airport, on the first anniversary of the Muslim and refugee ban instituted by our current President, about 400 supporters showed up. We had a few speeches, and then a few refugee families spoke, and a group of Iranian children were scheduled to sing a lively folk song. As a recording of the instrumental background for their song began to play, a contingent of seven Alt Right thugs marched up the driveway to the center of our rally (see 1st Extra) wearing shirts that proclaimed, “Allah is Satan,” and “Proud Supporter of the Muslim Ban.” My heart pounded in my throat as I kept making photographs while several of them had cameras and were making photographs of us. Then another dozen men showed up wearing Trump hats, and they brought a megaphone with which they tried to sabotage our program. They pushed their way into the area directly in front of the stage. 

The cheerful recorded music of oud, flute, and drum continued, and our announcer spoke firmly and calmly into the microphone, “Remember that our first audience for this rally is refugee families. Please remain peaceful, do nothing that would endanger anyone, and ignore the brothers who are arriving. We are going to continue just as we have planned.” I was trembling, but the children came out on the stage (see 2nd Extra; the man in the beret is our announcer). When the children stood on the stage, their families cheered, the 400 assembled people cheered, and the children faltered a moment and then began to sing, and as they sang, they smiled. They sang with enthusiasm, delight, and increasing energy, and the audience clapped the rhythm of their song and drowned out the sound of the Alt Right men shouting into their megaphone about terrorists and spawn of satan. 

As the children neared the end of their song, I climbed to a nearby bridge so I could take a photo of the whole situation, and while I was doing that, a human shield of bystanders linked arms and gently moved the Alt Right group off to the right behind the stage. If you look closely at the 3rd extra, you will see the Alt Right group at the top right of the photo, surrounded by people who created a human shield to protect the children, and you can see the children making their safe exit at the top of the photo.

When I came down from the bridge and re-entered the crowd, I found the children happily doing a circle dance by themselves (main photo). The Alt Right group remained marginal to the protest, and while they continued to attempt to incite people to fight them, no one took the bait. They shouted hate, and everyone ignored them. A number of Antifa were in the crowd, as well as a half dozen members of a “peace team” trained in de-escalation and another half dozen “legal observers.” This collection of unrelated activists who do not share an ideology nor an agreement about strategy, cooperated in isolating and neutralizing the fierce group of disrupters. It was awe-inspiring.

I didn’t want to give attention to the Alt Right by posting their photos on Facebook with the other photos of the day, so I have sent my collection of photos of them to an Antifa group, and I donated the photos of the rally (minus the Alt Right group) to the Refugee Volunteer Organization recently formed. I’m telling the whole story here because it is one I want you to know, and you won’t read it anywhere else.