Patriot Prayer supporter Chandler Pappas said he was the leader of the crew Saturday morning that drove into downtown Portland, removed the makeshift metal elk that had been propped up in downtown Portland by protesters this summer, loaded it onto a truck and drove off.
Then he and other Patriot Prayer supporters posted their conquest on social media.
Seated on top of the elk in the bed of a trailer, Pappas posed for a photo with his cohorts, some flashing the “OK” hand gesture recently associated with white nationalism. Asked about the hand signs, Pappas first said, “come on, you know what that is," and then later contended it’s not a symbol of white supremacy but flashed “to antagonize” those “who don’t know any better.”
“We took the elk as a political statement,” Pappas, 27, told The Oregonian/OregonLive Saturday.
The message, he said, was directed toward Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, Mayor Ted Wheeler and all the elected officials in Portland.
“They’ve set a precedent. You can do what you want, you can take what you want, you can set fire to what you want, and that’s OK,” Pappas said.
Pappas said he gave the “green light” to the idea on Wednesday. He and others ironed out the poaching plan on Thursday and executed it about 9 a.m. on Saturday.
They found the metal elk wasn’t anchored down and easy to lift off, much lighter than anticipated.
They were met with little resistance, as few people were out and others slept in tents along Southwest Main Street as the elk elimination proceeded.
“One guy screamed at us and that was it,” Pappas said.
One man who had been sleeping in a tent on Main Street said he was awakened, saw two trucks drive up and about eight to 10 people remove the elk. He said he grabbed his mace spray from his tent but just watched the rapid elk removal without interfering.
The makeshift metal elk has stood in place of the iconic 120-year-old elk statue now safeguarded by the city after a fire was set to its base on July 1. The city removed the statue that had sat atop the David P. Thompson Fountain to protect it as it had become the target of graffiti and fires during weeks of protests against systemic racism, police brutality and the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck.
The metal elk, by an unknown artist, had become colloquially known as the “nightmare elk.”
8
Pappas had watched his friend Aaron “Jay” Danielson, 39, die on a downtown street on Aug. 29 after Danielson was shot and killed while walking with Pappas on Southwest Third Avenue after a pro-Trump car caravan had wound through the city.
Michael F. Reinoehl, a 48-year-old man who self-identified as anti-fascist and said he had provided security for Black Lives Matter protests, was accused of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting. Reinoehl was killed by police in Washington state when officers moved in to arrest him on a warrant.
“I had to do something, and I’m not going down there to start shedding blood,” Pappas said.
Pappas said he believes antifa supporters put up the metal elk after protesters had set fire to the base of the real one.
“There can’t be a double standard. We toed the line,” Pappas said. “That elk is just trash so all I really did was clean up trash.”
3
Social media lit up with fans and critics of the elk escapade.
A Patriot Prayer Twitter account posted a photo of the metal elk with the message, “He is registered to vote and will now be voting for Trump,” and then another, claiming “The evil elk is now registered to vote,” with a voter registration sheet made out in the name of “elk Nightmare.”
Pappas said he didn’t fill out the voter registration but said it’s just a joke.
“We’re having fun,” he said, calling it all part of “a little push back to antifa.”
Others blasted the action.
On the Twitter account “PDX Frontline Alerts,” which has provided updates on racial justice protests in the city the last four months, a message posted Saturday highlighted the far-right’s “bragging” about the theft of the makeshift elk statue, described as a “memorial for Black victims of police violence.”
One person wrote on Twitter Saturday, “I hope they get prosecuted as if it were a confederate monument!”
Another posted, “More proof that it’s all just a game to them. We’re out there standing up for people’s lives and they think they stole our high school mascot and rekt (sic) us or whatever.”
Pappas already has a warrant out for his arrest in Clackamas County, alleging failure to appear on a second-degree criminal mischief allegation, accusing him of damaging another man’s vehicle on May 9 and not appearing in court on the case on Sept. 30, according to court records.
Pappas declined to talk about the allegation but said he plans to turn himself in and deal with the warrant this coming week.
Don’t expect Saturday’s action to be the final fate of the fake elk.
Pappas foreshadowed, “That’s not the last you’ll see of the elk.”
Oregonian reporter Aimee Green and photographer Mark Graves contributed to this story.
-- Maxine Bernstein
Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212
Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
Subscribe to Facebook page
The Link LonkOctober 11, 2020 at 10:48AM
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/10/downtowns-nightmare-elk-statue-snatched-by-patriot-prayer-supporter-to-send-political-message.html
Downtown’s 'nightmare elk’ statue snatched by Patriot Prayer supporter to send 'political message’ - OregonLive
https://news.google.com/search?q=Send&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
No comments:
Post a Comment