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Kenneth Gladney is One Example that Dissent is Not Patriotic
Last Thursday 38-year-old Kenneth Gladney was assaulted in the parking lot outside of an auditorium in Mehlville, in south St. Louis County in Missouri. Judging from video and multiple eyewitness accounts, it seems as though he was targeted because he was both black and stereotyped as a conservative because he was enjoying capitalism and selling Gadsen merchandise.
Just a reminder, the year is 2009.
Video taken by various people shows Gladney being kicked - after apparently tackled by a man* wearing an SEIU (Service Employees International Union) and in other videos leading up to the assault, taunts such as "hey black man" and slurs are heard.
A lot of things have been said about that evening. I want to set some of it straight.
I was there that evening. I left just after 8pm so as to film a segment for Greta Van Susteren. The mood inside the auditorium was intense. I entered through a side door and staffers assumed that I was with Organizing for America, who, I was told, were allowed to get in faster and enter through the side door. I went with it to see what happened and was escorted to saved seats for the campaign apparatus arm of the president.
I saw many large men all wearing the same purple shirts with logos on the front. I suppose they all just woke up that morning and had accidently wore the exact same thing.
I saw a man with HCR support stickers on his shirt get in a woman's face and yell "SHUT UP!" after she raised her hand and asked whether or not questions would be permitted. She wasn't even aggressive as I've seen some others; it was just a genuine question. I thought she was going to cry for a minute afterwards but she just bit her lip.
I saw men yelling at old women who complained about the ridiculously long Power Point presentation on things that everyone already knew - and slides featuring "sunshine as a disinfectant" do not help. It spoke beneath an audience who already knew why they were there and what was in the bill. They wanted to ask their representative what, if any, compromises could be made or what his plans were.
I knew when leaving that it was not going to end well; hardly easy when big guys stand in the back and glare at everyone. Hardly more so when the HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius issues a video and conferences with SEIU prior to get them involved; even still when ads go up on Craigslist here in St. Louis asking for progressive activists at $90 a day (pulled after it got out on Twitter).
I knew it wouldn't end well; I never thought that it would end with Gladney's beating. He was dazed afterwards by multiple accounts; he was kept overnight in the hospital. I had him on my show Sunday night to dispel what was inaccurately reported in various outlets:
- Neither Gladney or his attorney were "soliciting donations" at the presser.
- Despite various inaccuracies to the contrary reported by some media, Gladney has health insurance; while he is currently unemployed, his wife is not and he is on her insurance policy.
- Gladney is not a a Republican; by his own account he's a conservative-leaning independent. He was not "hired" by a group or organization. He showed up because a bunch of conservatives + buttons and flags = capitalist bonanza.
- He was "faking" being in a wheelchair. Well, he got his a** kicked two days before, was on pain meds, had scrapes on him, and his presser was in full sun when the temperature was in the very humid 90s. I wanted to pass out.
He was immediately stereotyped just because of his wares and certain figures involved in the assault decided to invoke racial slurs as a way to further offend him.
While people crawled out of the woodwork for Henry Louis Gates, barely anyone breathed a word about Gladney. Texas Darlin' asks where the president's statement is on this, since he came out for Gates. Gladney has been mocked, ridiculed, slandered, libeled, and the offense caused to him that night has been increased by certain individual and outlets who are more concerned with winning an argument than about the civil rights of a man just selling wares at a town hall forum.
The response from some has been ridiculous. Notes Blatherings:
i suppose it wasn’t enough to be beaten and called
