By Melanie Brozosky
Most of the country sat mouth agape on Wednesday afternoon, watching as an angry mob of Trump supporters overcame the meager police presence to invade the Capitol Building. As hundreds beat their chests in the streets, practically foaming at the mouth, I recalled the image of the “F—— your feelings” Trump flag flying proudly on a main street in my own small town. But these protestors didn’t seem to be f-ing their feelings very well at all. In fact, it appeared as nothing but an outpouring of blind emotion. Then I realized why this extraordinary scene seemed naggingly familiar. I’d seen it before, except it wasn’t outside the Capitol, it was outside Northfield City Hall during a “Back the Blue” rally in July.
The players and even the stage in this unfolding drama were at the natural crescendo to the white grievance event that was the summer’s “Back the Blue” rally. My deja vu recognized the wilder version that played out in the nation’s capital had percolated in my town six months prior. We performed the off-off Broadway version. The costumes were not as elaborate. One man donned tacky American flag parachute pants, and some were dressed ready to re-enact their Call of Duty fantasies, but nothing on the scale of the shirtless, painted Viking man that flooded social media feeds. Similarly, our set was not as grandiose either. The Northfield City Hall building fits neatly into the one square mile town, but pales in comparison to the regal Capitol Building. Still, like most small town theater, what we lacked in production value was more than made up for in passion.
On a July day, Northfielders passionately waved Trump 2020, Gadsden, and “Blue Lives” flags, with a few American flags making an appearance as well, on one of the town’s busiest thoroughfares that had been blocked off for their demonstration. What was marketed on the community Facebook page as an event to support police quickly turned into a Trump rally. A local radio personality singled out one of only two Northfield women on City Council, condemning her support for the Black Lives Matter movement and falsely claiming that she was bringing a proposal to defund the Northfield Police Department. The fact that this rally was predicated on a lie meant very little to people who sought any excuse to publicly air their hatred of BLM, as well as their support for Trump. This was their opportunity and the radio personality had given them plausible deniability to hide their far right agenda behind a “Blue Lives” flag.
Enter a handful of BLM protestors and their flag waving and ire quickly turned on the small group situated at the far end of the street. What ensued was an intense exchange that ultimately resulted in the rallies attempting to surround the protesters while loudly chanting “All Lives Matter.” Calls for social justice were met with taunts for the protestors to get jobs, move out of their parents’ basements and (if the protestors weren’t white) they accused them of being outside agitators. Several “Blue Lives” supporters followed the BLM protestors in a pickup truck as they walked from the rally, threatening to run them over if they used the crosswalk. The rally clearly wasn’t to support police, it was to express anti-Black sentiment.
The “Back the Blue” rally foreshadowed the unraveling we witnessed recently in the nation’s capital, and we cannot divorce ourselves from the outcome when this same ideology is celebrated in our streets. We’ve either perpetuated or allowed for the fascistic brand of politics we have today. For example, a newly elected councilman promoted the “gun sanctuary” resolution with ties to the 3%ers, (a hate group as classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center), which easily passed the Republican-held Board of Commissioners. Monied interests have similarly been poured into many local Republican races from Donald Trump Jr.’s Smithville fundraiser, which begs the question, “Are those who lined up to fill their pockets with Trump’s campaign donations now disavowing the reaping of all that was sown?” And still we have the audacity to act surprised at the indignity and horror we witnessed in D.C.
Ultimately, until our community is ready to recognize the various ways that we contributed to the events of Jan. 6, we should not afford ourselves the luxury of clutching our pearls and gasping “That’s not who we are!” It’s not enough to condemn violence perpetrated by Trump’s less suburban looking sycophants while electing those with matching ideologies to local government. It’s not enough to shake our heads in dismay about the cult following of Q-anon while giving voice and a large following to a local radio personality who lied to bring aggrieved white folks into the street that July day. If we are truly disgusted with the downfall of democracy, let’s be honest about how we got there. After all, you saw it here first, folks.
Melanie Brozosky is a resident of Northfield.