Video of a white woman being dragged from a public meeting in northern Idaho after she and others jeered a speaker during a public meeting should send a chill down the spine of every Black American.
If a white woman can be summarily hauled out of a meeting by two unidentified men with no obvious connection to law enforcement, how long will it be before a Black woman - protesting, say, a district’s dress code on behalf of her son or arguing against the ban of a book by a Black author - is dragged out or more? She won’t be a ticked off Mom; she’ll be Antifa or BLM. Who will come to her defense?
What’s particularly jarring about the Idaho video is not simply the actions of men who appointed themselves the arbiter of order at that meeting. It’s the reaction of some in the crowd, who shouted invective at the woman as she was being removed. A few tried to stop her forcible removal by telling the men they were hurting her, and the brave souls who recorded their actions did the public a service despite threats that they would be pepper sprayed.
The men are members of a private security firm, whose contract has been pulled by the town of Coeur d’Alene. Local police have said they are investigating the incident. So far, though, no assault charges have been filed.
The meeting video is only the latest sign that we are entering a new era, one that echoes the violent crushing of dissent in Nazi Germany or McCarthy-era America.
The video is of a piece with the announcement by the White House that it will pick pool reporters who travel with and are in close proximity to the president. Pool reporters have typically been determined by a rotation among journalists covering the White House. Now, the Trump Administration has decided it - not the journalists themselves - will determine who serves as pool reporters.
Why is this important? Because pool reporters see and hear what others don’t on foreign and domestic trips. They file reports that are shared by journalists who didn’t have their access.
Presidentially hand-picked pool reporters might not accurately report on that behind-the-scenes gaffe or flare of temper. They might not accurately report on anything unflattering to the president who picked them, depriving the public of information about the inner workings of their government.
A free press and the right to assemble and protest are, in most instances, protected by the Constitution. A diminishment of those protections won’t be limited to northern Idaho.
Already, Black Americans are manhandled too frequently when simple discussion would do the trick. And that’s from folks who are in uniform.
There is no reason to expect more from self-appointed, unidentified meeting vigilantes.