Over the weekend Portland, Oregon was once again the site of protests and counter-protests by Patriot Prayer and Antifa.
DC Writer Greg Rucka, who will be writing Wonder Woman: Diana’s Daughter for the DC Black Label, decided to weigh in on the protests and labeled anyone who was part of Patriot Prayer and expressing their First Amendment right to protest as a Nazi. Not only that, but he was encouraging their right to protest to be revoked and put down by the Portland Police and the Mayor of Portland Ted Wheeler.
You know why the Nazis came to Portland today? Because they knew @PortlandPolice would be on their side. How dare cops ask us to trust them when they won’t protect the people and communities who employ them?
— Greg Rucka (@ruckawriter) August 4, 2018
There is one problem with Rucka’s Nazi theory. The leader of Patriot Prayer, Joey Gibson, is bi-racial. He has Japanese and Irish ancestry. Not only that, but he openly disavows white supremacists.
Not only is Rucka labeling these marchers as Nazis, but he is actively calling for police to not allow them to exercise their first amendment rights to protest and to assemble peacefully. He uses the excuse of “protecting communities” so that those rights can be banished. It’s as if he expects a certain group to use political violence to marginalize another group.
Rucka went on to talk about how Patriot Prayer members exercised their right to protect themselves and how he believes they should have been stopped by the Portland Police and Mayor Wheeler.
One important detail of course left out is the fact that Antifa protestors, again and again, have shown to be the ones who enjoy initiating violence against others. During last month’s Patriot Prayer event, Antifa showed up to counter-protest and get violent. So it’s no surprise that people were ready to defend themselves this time.
Politico has also reported that the Department of Homeland Security has labeled Antifa’s activies as “domestic terrorist violence.” They also uncovered that “anarchist extremists” were responsible for the violence at numerous public rallies . Those documents blame the anarchist extremists for attacks on police as well as government and political institutions.
Reactions to Greg Rucka’s tweets have been mostly negative with a few positive. Many called Rucka out on his labeling of Patriot Prayer members as “Nazis.”
Oh no, I hope this isn’t the comic writer that I used read and enjoy.
Nazi’s came to Portland? The police are Nazis?
Listen to yourself, pretty angry and miserable.
Please don’t allow the fake news msm to manipulate you!
You can help #KAG with positivity instead!#Trump2020— Fingers❌ (@CuspyHalo) August 5, 2018
They weren’t Nazis, Antif are violent thugs who attacked people with bats,
— Bill (@Billyr777) August 5, 2018
Stop wearing masks and attacking innocent people, you awful deluded LARPers
— DeShawn Smith (@literacyisgood) August 5, 2018
“Nazis”? pic.twitter.com/whvSoELDqn
— ClemMedia (@JonClem310) August 5, 2018
Voilent Antifa thugs are not “people of the community” you are not fooling anyone
— Melissa ❌ (@sweetweetertot2) August 5, 2018
There were a few who supported Rucka.
Never been more ashamed to be a Portlander. We need to recall Wheeler, fire all these cops, and start defending our city from these out of town nazis.
— Paco McCullough (@PacoMcCullough) August 4, 2018
Many American heroes both fictional and real have a proud record of beating up Nazis. Be like Captain America: punch Nazis.
— M. W. Delaney ❄️ (@MichaelWDelaney) August 5, 2018
This isn’t the first case of a creator taking the side of a violent domestic terrorist organization. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse director Peter Ramsey came out in support of the terrorist organization a few weeks ago.
What do you think, does Greg Rucka have a point? Or is he going off the deep end? Tell us in the comments below!