I sincerely hope that our North Olympic community has not forgotten about the armed vigilantes who showed up at the peaceful Black Lives Matter march on June 3 in Sequim, or those people who terrorized an innocent family from Spokane who travelled here just wanting to camp in Forks.
Both frightening incidents were triggered by totally fabricated alarms sent out to right-wing leaders here and across the country.
Clearly these alarms were never intended to protect businesses from harm.
Rather the intent was to disrupt and intimidate people participating in a peaceful protest against racism.
Our community can be proud that so many of our friends and neighbors, including families with children, felt compelled to exercise their First Amendment rights and speak out against injustice and prejudice.
I urge us all to be vigilant and push back on any self-styled militia groups, white supremacists, or hate groups who might feel emboldened to repeat these actions.
It’s vital that we see results of a thorough investigation by local law enforcement, and that the perpetrators be brought to justice.
We must feel safe when standing up for human rights and against injustice.
These frightened, misinformed bullies must not gain power in our community.
We outnumber them.
Shadowy groups like these cannot survive the bright light of truth, or the awareness of a courageous and caring community.
Lisa Dekker
Port Angeles