Kyle Rittenhouse - Conservative Hero
Kyle Rittenhouse joins the likes of people who run over protesters blocking freeways amongst the most admired among the wingnut right.
What the actual fuck?
Nestled along the Columbia River in Portland’s northern edge, the historic park was built on the remains of Vanport, formerly the second largest city in Oregon. The city had been constructed in under a year and housed thousands of war-time shipbuilders in poorly constructed homes. The city had its own post office, nine schools, a hospital, a library, playgrounds, cafeterias, and a police station.
Known as the ‘Miracle City’ due to the speed with which it was built, Vanport is now remembered for the speed with which it was destroyed. On Sunday, May 30, 1948, rising flood water crashed into the city, wiping out all of homes and leaving the town of nearly 40,000 people destitute.
Now 72 years removed from the tragic flood, the lost city—home to a significant portion of Portland’s Black population—has been reduced to a public municipal park complex where a number of far-right groups converged on Saturday, Sep. 26.
Organized by the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group of self-proclaimed “Western Chauvinists,” the event brought together several hundred people. They sang the national anthem, prayed, and cheered as speakers, including Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio, stood against the backdrop of an oversized American flag and took aim at leftists and local officials like Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler.
“F*** Ted Wheeler,” one of the Proud Boys onstage chanted to the crowd, which responded with cheers before reciting the insult.
While many in attendance were clad in bulletproof vests, camouflage attire, and armed with guns and shields, several others wore T-shirts celebrating Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who was charged in the fatal shootings of two people during a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, earlier this year. One of the more popular shirts was printed by a company called Right Wing Death Squads emblazoned with the phrase, “Kyle Did Nothing Wrong” (based on the alt-right meme “Hitler Did Nothing Wrong”). The back of the shirt featured a picture of Rittenhouse and read, “The Tree of Liberty Must Be Refreshed from Time to Time with the Blood of Commies.”
More - Kyle Rittenhouse, Kenosha, and the New Far-Right Battleground