Defend Red & Black Cafe

My friend William Gillis writes to me:

For over a decade I’ve frequented The Red & Black Cafe in Portland – an IWW, explicitly anarchist, worker-owned coop – and over the years they’ve faced all the sort of police harassment and surveillance you’d expect for a venue catering to radical activists.

Police Not Welcome

Recently a uniformed police officer entered the cafe ostensibly to buy a cup of coffee – I can only imagine the horrified looks – and was politely asked to leave by one of the workers/managers. PDX police have recently committed more than a few outrageous murders and the worker explained with infinite patience that a cop made his clientele feel like they were in danger.

For some reason this seems to be setting off a shitstorm of national-level outrage with coverage on major news networks and blogs. I have good friends on staff and their phones are ringing off the hook with death threats. Mainstream conservative and liberal pundits have talked of showing up with weapons to start a confrontation. Frankly my brain clouds over with rage every time I read the fractally idiotic comments or threats.

My friends could really use some support; in this environment some kind words or awareness from those who aren’t fanatical devotees of the police state would go a long way. I’d really appreciate it if you could use the magical reach of your blog.

Here are some links that don’t directly send me into a rage-coma: 1, 2, 3

I have nothing to add except ditto. Please let’s do what we can to support the Red & Black Café against this crap.

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163 Responses to Defend Red & Black Cafe

  1. MRDA December 12, 2010 at 5:50 pm #

    I love the little copsucker trolls who wish the more free-spirited folk here to be raped and murdered; it’s especially adorable how they wrap their revenge (by proxy) fantasy up in passive-aggressive, “just you wait…” verbiage, instead of indulging in the crassness of being upfront. Textbook herd animals.

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