The Vermont legislature has been lackluster in this regard, which is why the armed extremists keep winning. That’s what laws are for, that’s what government is for, that’s what democratic governance is for.
As someone who grew up in a peace church – from a long line of Amish and Mennonite pastors and preachers – and as someone who has studied and promoted peacebuilding and conflict resolution work globally, the last thing I’m going to do is weaponize to “win.”Ĭapitol riot: Trump's exit won't end the far-right violent terrorism threats he fueled Throughout this process, Vermont friends have advised me to weaponize and fight back, to not let the armed bullies win this one. Since I received death threats over the July 4th weekend, it’s been shocking to see how limited local police are in disarming these active threats. After attempts to institute a simple noise ordinance to contain the hours-long recreational and erratic assault weapons use on my road in Brandon, not only did my town’s leaders refuse to recognize the problem, they also emboldened the armed white extremists on my road by gaslighting my concerns.Ī post shared by Michael Shank then, inspired retaliatory gunfire at all hours of the day, imperiling my legal property rights to quiet enjoyment, and my farm – a 76-acre animal sanctuary that is home to some two dozen horses, cows, pigs, sheep, goats, ducks and dogs, all of them rescued from abuse, neglect or slaughter. And it just keeps escalating. I had no idea how bad it really was.Īnd that’s why I’m moving. 6, I feared for my country, my colleagues, my husband.
#Shanky bot ppl crack free#
This state is not a safe place if you are non-white, unarmed or both.Īll of this sends a strong message to armed white extremists that there’s nothing standing in their way and that they are free to rule the roost here.Ĭonnie Schultz: On Jan. In fact, if you’re a person of color here in Vermont, the bias and discrimination shown by Vermont State Police are pervasive and persistent.
#Shanky bot ppl crack crack#
Not only does Vermont’s Department of Public Safety fail to crack down on armed white extremists, due in part to lax local laws, the State Police discriminate against the people of color running from those very extremists. And as I pack up my farm and move out, this is becoming all too clear to me.Īrmed militias do well here. As one local official told me, this is the Wild West of the Northeast. The Giffords Center gives its gun laws a C minus. The Brady Campaign once called Vermont’s gun laws the worst in the nation. There’s little to keep you accountable or keep you in check here.
#Shanky bot ppl crack driver#
It’s why NBC’s "Saturday Night Live" did a sketch with actor Adam Driver suggesting that Vermont was a neo-Confederate paradise. In states like Vermont, it’s easy to be an armed white extremist. I’m selling my farm this summer, in fact, because the assault-weaponed bullies are winning on my road, and I refuse to stoop to their level and weaponize myself to fight back. It’s bullied countless people of color in Vermont – who had to flee their communities because it became increasingly hostile and unsafe for them – and now it’s pushing me out, too. It’s even in Vermont, where I live, which some people mistakenly consider a progressive haven. This movement isn’t going away anytime soon.
The Jan. 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill was just the tip of this seething iceberg, as last week’s anguished police testimony to Congress made clear. And while the movement clearly got new wind in its sails under the Trump administration, it’s now self-sustaining. They’re enraged, they’re feeling entitled, and they’re taking ground wherever it’s given. It’s well armed, it’s extreme, and it’s led largely by white men. There’s a movement metastasizing across America.
0 kommentar(er)
