On Saturday morning, Portlanders awoke to news that a right-wing, anti-Semitic extremist entered a Pittsburgh synagogue and killed 11 people attending Shabbat service.
The next day, the Oregonian ran a love letter to the leader of the Portland area’s own far-right extremist group.
Titled “The Misunderstood Joey Gibson,” Oregonian columnist Elizabeth Hovde wove a sympathetic story about a hopeful young man doing the thankless job of uniting a divided community.
You just don’t get him like I do, claims Hovde, who saw Gibson speak for the first time last week. From Hovde’s perspective—standing among a small crowd of supporters who had gathered to hear Gibson speak at a gun-rights rally held on the grounds of Washington State University Vancouver—Gibson is a pretty okay guy.
“Gibson didn’t look like the harasser and violent bully I’ve been reading about,” Hovde wrote.
It’s nice that Hovde had a pleasant interaction with the leader of Patriot Prayer—a militaristic group of far-right provocateurs based in Vancouver, Washington that’s known for hosting disruptive protests in Portland. It’s also not surprising: Gibson has perfected a brand of eyebrow-furrowed sincerity that, when paired with his oft-mentioned spirituality, can seem genuine, at least to a Patriot Prayer first-timer.
Most of us, however, are far more familiar with the genuine fear and violence that Gibson regularly leaves in his wake.
We’ve seen the tense, testosterone-fueled yelling matches and fist-fights between Gibson and the black-clad members of Portland’s anti-fascist community. We’ve heard the police reports of Patriot Prayer members lugging rifles and ammunition to a “peaceful protest” in downtown Portland. We’ve spoken to our LGBTQ friends and Muslim neighbors about how they feel they must stay indoors or leave town altogether whenever Gibson has planned a protest. We’ve felt the nervous knot in our stomachs the morning of a scheduled Patriot Prayer rally as we wonder what a breaking point looks like.
Portlanders are also familiar with another participant in Patriot Prayer’s rallies: Jeremy Christian, the man who marched with Patriot Prayer before being accused of fatally stabbing two men on the MAX after they confronted him for spewing anti-Muslim remarks at two African American girls.
Even Hovde seems to understand that Patriot Prayer’s Portland provocations have become a problem. “Mayor Ted Wheeler and the Portland City Council need to make it clear that Portland’s streets are not open for takeovers and violent behavior,” she writes. “Free speech can happen without hijacking other citizens’ ability to move about safely.”
Ideally, yes. But that’s not what we’ve seen when Gibson brings his “free speech” demonstrations to Portland.
Every single protest in Portland that ended in violence over the past year and a half was organized by Patriot Prayer. That consistent, predictable, and seemingly remorseless violence inspired Mayor Ted Wheeler to pen a hasty ordinance earlier this month in an attempt to limit violent protests. It’s also why Clark College canceled classes and shut down campus for Gibson’s recent visit, which was organized without the school’s permission or participation.
Hovde’s simplistic attempt to soften the reputation of the man at the helm of a group that attracts white supremacists and senseless violence doesn’t just fall flat—it also carelessly normalizes a movement that has planted, and now nurtures, the seeds of hatred and fear in our community. It’s the same kind of movement that inspires angry people in Pittsburgh, Louisville, Charleston, and other seemingly peaceful cities and towns to pick up a gun and make a statement.
Media outlets have the privilege—and the responsibility—to present the public with various perspectives on divisive issues, often in the form of editorials. We rely on these outlets to present us with opinions that are rooted in objective truths, regardless of whether or not we agree with them.
Hovde’s opinion column offers a snapshot of Gibson that, intentionally or not, repeatedly crops out the hateful rhetoric and violence that’s inherent in his organization, all under the guise of giving Patriot Prayer the “both sides” treatment. But her column is more than that: It’s a silent endorsement from the Oregonian’s editorial board that says groups like Patriot Prayer aren’t that bad, that groups like Patriot Prayer are the real victims, and that groups like Patriot Prayer are worth listening to.
At a moment when lethal hate crimes from right-wing extremists have nearly become weekly occurrences, Hovde’s piece is an irresponsible distraction from reality.
Her words serve as a reminder that some of the most dangerous movements are disguised by friendly first impressions and “challenging” conversations. But at what cost?
Just a complete abdication of editorial responsibility by the O. When your editorial and commentary editor goes on Twitter to hide behind “It’s Opinion,” you’re no longer the paper of record.
Gibson is a egomaniacal shill with a huge chip on his childish shoulder.
He is a bigot, a homophobe, and a useless piece of shit.
And now The Oregonian is exactly the same. Any scrap of relevance The O had is gone.
This editorial is also a reminder of how many “reasonable Republicans” are just a hair’s-breadth away from extremism.
Hovde and others who support Trump, knowing what he represents, aren’t wearing swastikas themselves, but they are nonetheless full members in this horrific movement. She and they own this.
It’s amazing to read someone actually just tell the truth about Gibson and the violent group of racists, white nationalists, neo-nazis, and violent militia members that he brings with him where he goes.
This group has been travelling out of state to provoke riots intentionally for nearly two years and then openly bragging about that violence and hatred online – more if you consider their time with the bigoted “Hell Shaking Street Preachers” who routinely assault gay and Muslim people.
Gibson has consistently feigned his own ignorance to the neo-nazis and white nationalists in the midst of his group after being repeatedly advised in person of their own statements outlining their self described beliefs.
The simple truth is, Joey Gibson allies himself with violent fascist groups to glorify and enrich himself, much like any similar authoritarian cult leader does: make no mistake that’s exactly what he is.
Why is there no mention of who the Patriot Prayer protests had violent engagements were with? The police, bystanders, an opposition protest group? By no means am I condoning or supporting this extremist but you can’t attack a so called biased article with another biased article. This is what’s wrong with the media.
“By no means am I condoning…” The hell you aren’t. You only have to go back to earlier this summer to see PP having “violent engagements” with counterprotesters who aren’t the ones you’re alluding to. As for Antifa, it’s funny that they don’t show up unless PP does, huh? Also which one is coming in from a different city and state just to fight with the other? Patriot Prayer isn’t “protesting” and hasn’t in years. It’s coming to fight and gets what it comes for.
“It’s the same kind of movement that inspires angry people in Pittsburgh, Louisville, Charleston, and other seemingly peaceful cities and towns to pick up a gun and make a statement.”
As a matter of fact, it is the very movement that inspired Jeremy Christian to murder two people on the Portland MAX last may.
Thank you for this response. I’m beside myself at how the Oregonian could publish this. Sad.
““Mayor Ted Wheeler and the Portland City Council need to make it clear that Portland’s streets are not open for takeovers and violent behavior,” and yet the streets are taken over with violence every day and nobody seems to care.
“Free speech can happen without hijacking other citizens’ ability to move about safely.”
And so far that’s how it has happened here in Portland. Nobody’s right to move about has been infringed by any protests.
You People, who intentional disrupt your political enemy’s assemblies and intimate the attendees of the assembly, should know that I love you, anyways. Bless your cold heart and hate fill mind.
The Snoregonian has always been run by corporate whores, ever since I grew up in Portland decades ago. Nothing has changed. Every time you try to call a Nazi a Nazi on their comment board, it gets censored. And their comment board is a haven for repressed right-wing haters and racists. And of course, the Boregonian mounts constant attacks on public employees, Kate Brown and the state pension system. Even though most PERS recipients get perfectly reasonable pensions, the Whoregonian constantly focuses on the few whose pensions are outrageous. And every time there’s a forest fire, this lousy excuse for a newspaper uses it as an excuse to argue for more clearcutting, monoculture tree farming and environmental rape. Further, the Boregonian fills its site with incredibly stupid listicles (25 top spots to pick your nose in Portland) instead of doing real journalism. It has always been a pathetic rag, and is now much much worse than ever. It deserves to die. Too bad the Portland Tribune is a pathetic alternative and that the Mercury and Willamette Week are too filled with cultural crap to put enough effort into real reporting instead of carping from the sidelines with amateurish attempts at journalism.
It was a Choregonian to read all the way through your comment, HailUtahistan, but I do appreciate your commitment to what you thought was a winning concept.
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Yes.
Trolling can certainly be Taxing…
You People, who intentional disrupt your political enemy’s assemblies and intimate the attendees of the assembly, should know that I love you, anyways. Bless your cold heart and hate fill mind.
Imtimidate.
You People, who intentional disrupt your political enemy’s assemblies and intimidate the attendees of the assembly, should know that I love you, anyways. Bless your cold heart and hate fill mind.