Shewww, where do I start? After contemplating for almost two hours I finally got the courage to drive down to Bethel, Ohio with a friend to see what was going on. I had heard so many different stories from so many people. It basically looked like this, 3 BUSES OF PROTESTORS ARE AT THE CITY LIMITS! BIKER GANGS ARE READY FOR A SHOW DOWN! THERE ARE RIFLES ALL OVER THE PLACE! HALF THE COUNTIES POLICE FORCE IS ON THE WAY DOWN! All of this was true except for one and I'll try to explain the environment I was in to the best of my ability. Keep in mind, I am on neither side. I am speaking from the most moderate standpoint I can. I didn't go there to protest, I didn't go there to side with anyone. I went to document real time events and report back what I witnessed with no swing or pitch to it. I am not here to sway you to any viewpoint other than what you can create on your own after hearing what I have to say and seeing my photos from the day.
So here we are. Me and my companions parked a few blocks away because we didn't know what to expect. We kind of had a plan for a quick escape if needed but honestly, that plan probably would have been forgotten in the heat of an event. No more than 5 minutes had passed and we heard a bunch of commotion. Someone came out of the crowd in cuffs, another man came out with a slice on his right bicep. He wiped it off like it was a scratch (pretty tough dude). This was not the welcoming we had hoped for but nonetheless......what else could we expect based on the shifty information we had gathered just an hour before arriving. Oddly enough, I felt absolutely no fear. I was on a mission to capture reality and give a point of view that is not molded into the medias end goal. That was literally all I was thinking about.
I'm not going to put a face to any of these stories. I'm not in the business of narking or pin pointing. I'm going to share photos that caught my eye and also tell stories from what we seen with our own eyes and heard with our own ears. Most of the stuff I heard was from people not shown in my pictures.
There was some good down there. There were people willing to have civil conversations and trying to explain where they are coming from. I would say it was about a 20/80 ratio of good vs bad tho. The good people willing to spend their time talking about today's issues were on board 100% and understanding. It appeared no one was actually going to change their mind on anything but at least they were talking. Social media threads and face to face talking are not even in the same ball park.
Now to the meat of this day. The bus never arrived. The bus was not real, it was a false flag. This is where social media can become a real problem in today's society. When someone makes a live stream saying stuff like "Guys, get ready. There are 3 buses of protestors and possible Antifa" without first confirming this is true......well.....you just made a mistake. What happened here was the oldest tale in the book of fear mongering and hysteria. This lead to a town full of armed men ready to defend with whatever means possible. Rural towns are not like the city at all. Country justice is a well played card and it isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
When I say armed men ready to defend I mean READY TO DEFEND. I saw AK47s, AR15s, M4s, ball bats, tasers, knives, crow bars, 4 foot flat head screwdrivers, and plenty of concealed carry impressions. There were scouts in the alley ways and behind buildings who were communicating with people on the main streets via phone and radio. There were eyes everywhere and you could not only see it but feel it. It was a mix of bikers, militia, patriots, and locals. I am going to tell you things that the news won't. It is either thru bad reporting or narrative. I'm not sure which but at this point, its not important. The important thing is to focus on what is real.
I'm truly sorry I have to say this because I come from rural southern Ohio. I grew up on the river in a town with under 1500 people. The N word and racial slurs were part of my life and I just thought it was a normal part of life. It hit me at this protest all at once and it hit hard. I have been out of the town I grew up in for well over a decade. Those memories were kind of gone it seems. I'm not going to lie, I felt a small wave of emotion come over me for a second and I had to snap back into it. The last thing I wanted to do was appear weak in this type of environment. I heard a middle aged white woman tell a young girl "I am allowed to say n*****r because it is part of my freedom of speech". I heard a man in his mid 60s tell a young mother "You are a horrible parent bringing your kids to something like this. They don't need to teach their friends this trash. That will spread thru our school systems because of your horrible parenting".
The bigger problem I seen in this was that NOBODY was defending these girls. The racist remarks were absorbed and it was fully accepted. This tells me that it isn't just a few people here. It isn't a few bad apples. This was an area fully engulfed with mild to extreme racist. I have never in my life been around this many people with the same mind set. My buddy witnessed a few of them staging a photo with the only black cop to post to social media. Racists forming a prayer circle asking for god to protect them (300 armed men) from the enemy (10 young people with signs) while they recorded it on facebook live... That bugged me more than the openly racist people screaming the N word. At least those people weren't putting on a show.
I overheard a few men say "Man, I can't believe they are only dropping 2 or 3 rioters at a time. They can't win this way". These guys actually thought that rioters were still on the way. They literally had scouts a mile out of town watching all incoming traffic and this was still in their imagination some how. I heard a man openly talking about how he can legally shoot someone even if they are unarmed. If they become the aggressor I am legally allowed to Stand My Ground since he knows I have a weapon. A lot of these people were drooling at the mouth for violence. This is the part that bugs me. I fully support people defending their town if there is an actual major threat. The threat was a handful of young people holding up paper signs and a few others there to talk.
Nothing about my time spent in Bethel on this day was something I want to remember. The few good people there were dissolved by the constant racial slurs and agitation for violence. If the buses didn't show up that is a good thing right? Not here! I feel like if they could make them appear by all pitching in $5 they would gladly pay $10. I say this because of the tones in the voices. You had to be there to feel it. It was so thick that you could cut it with a knife.........or a crowbar.......or a ball bat.......or an AK47.
Here are a few words from my buddy who was at times on the other side of the street. Things I heard and seen were, A decent amount of misogyny... men talking down to and threatening women and that guy yelling that the cops should put that black bitch back in her cage. I remember a group of dudes getting shitty with the cops because the cops wouldn't just "arrest the protesters and end all this bullshit". Sooo many armed people saying that they are only getting violent and aggressive so that protesters didn't get violent or aggressive. Lots of threats, lots of all lives matter, lots of N words and talk about shooting people and bashing them with bats to save their town from... like 10 people holding signs. I remember people yelling racial slurs and cussing and threatening to fuck people up for challenging their way of life and reassuring me that they don't have a race problem there without looking around to realize that they don't have diversity there. Then I remember people saying they don't understand why black people are getting violent because it doesn't solve anything and in the same breath saying that they would get violent if they needed to to protect their people.
I didn't get much sleep last night over this. I forced myself to go because I am a person that needs to see and feel something to fully believe it. Fox News and CNN are not news. They are a source of baiting and narratives. You can get a bit of real news from them if you squint your eyes but not always. I know a lot of the people at this protest were not Bethel residents so I am not trying to shine a dull light on this town. It was a heavy mix of outsiders and a light mix of true residents from my understanding. Regardless, all of these people live within a stones throw so take that for what you will.
I fully understand pride in your town, race, environment. I grew up around this. There comes a time when you have to have pride in all of those things but also allow others to do the same. If someone is a real threat to you then by all means do what you have to do to stop it. You can't just assume and base all of your opinions off of social media and the major news networks. It is dangerous and mostly twisted. I hope people will wake up and teach their kids things that don't revolve around hate and violence. This goes to the people I saw at this protest to the people in the ghettos to the people in Alaska and beyond.
I'll end with just random photos in no order. Stay safe and stay good to others.
Kevin
Comments