Sunday afternoon I was working at a restaurant downtown. My perspective does not necessarily reflect the views of my coworkers or employer.

Blue-striped flags and Trump signs were splashed on and across vehicles, horns blared, and people yelled from their cars.

Customers were upset. They moved inside, reservations were scrambled, and our ability to serve was inhibited. I found this especially ironic as much of Trump’s platform supports the working class and small businesses, which were now hindered due to a right wing rally.

Blue Lives Matter was founded with a trajectory against Black Lives Matter (BLM). However, there aren’t blue lives. There aren’t blue people. There are those who work 40 hours a week as a cop. 

Yes, it can be dangerous, but this is a caution they knew came with the job. Not an adversity that children grow with, that comes to affect their treatment throughout life. Here we see an oxymoron. BLM doesn’t discount other lives’ worth.

“I’m sorry, this isn’t normal here. Can I do anything for you?” I said to two Black women eating outside.

Soon, counterprotesters and police arrived. People yelled, of what I am unsure, but the tone was harsh. One woman stayed parked after her counterparts had been asked to turn around. An inkling within me thought if anyone else was parked in the street downtown, refusing to move, they’d quickly be cited or arrested. However, she was there for cops asking her to move. Right? Eventually, she turned and the crowd dispersed. Cheers were yelled along with a very loud “Thank you!”

Disturbing the peace in favor of cops is contradictory. These people did not come to peacefully protest. They did not come to use reason. They apparently came to incite anger in a town they know does not, for the most part, agree with them.

S. Benskin
PORT TOWNSEND