The story I wasn't sure that I should write
I don’t know that a one-day “Economic Blackout” boycott of giant companies makes more sense than more permanently trying to support retailers that are smaller, locally owned, or that support whatever political or cause you support.
I don’t know how much/if any harm President Donald Trump has done by claiming that Ukraine started Russia’s attack instead of his ally Vladimir Putin; that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a “dictator;” later questioning whether he actually called Zelenskyy a dictator; and then whatever ignited when Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and Zelenskyy sat down in the Oval Office.
I don’t know whether Iowa Republicans just strengthened their defense against lawsuits by taking gender identity out of the Iowa Civil Rights Act of whether they just opened the state up to more lawsuits because of their actions.
Watch: The uniqueness of how fast Republicans made this change, how many people showed up to protest, and the legislative debate we heard was the focus of my show, “Inside Iowa Politics” this week.
Watch this, too: “Iowa Down Ballot Podcast” (the weekly podcast I moderate with other members of the Iowa Writers Collaborative) focused on what impact Iowa Republicans’ changes to the Iowa Civil Rights Act will have along with the estimated 2,500 people who showed up to protest those changes.
Here is what I do know: I wrote a story and don’t know whether I should have.
Last Saturday, a friend sent me a picture of a group marching in downtown Des Moines. It wasn’t just a group. It was the white supremacist group, Patriot Front.
The Southern Poverty Law Center said that the group is a Texas-based hate group. Patriot Front travels the country, and the marchers carry flags, cover their faces, and post videos to spread what they do.
I checked with sources, confirmed what happened in Des Moines, and wrote a story for the TV station group. Here it is.
But that night I started to question whether I should have written it. My story was accurate, and word about the march had already spread through social media.
But was it news?
Do you remember Westboro Baptist Church? That was a Kansas-based hate group that would travel around the country and look to get into confrontations with counter protesters who showed up to denounce their vile behavior. The group could make money from lawsuits after inciting anger and physical violence with others.
We stopped covering them after deciding that we didn’t want to get their hate a platform.
Should I have done the same for Patriot Front?
I write this column as part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative, a group of nearly 80 independent writers who share reporting, analysis, and insights into politics, agriculture, education, rural life, mental health, the food scene, music, poetry, and more. Meet some of the other members and check out their work here.
You did the right thing writing about the group from Texas. Iowans need to know when outsiders are coming into our state to share hate. I had an experience with the Westboro Baptist Church many years ago when they came to Ottumwa to disrupt the funeral of a fallen soldier. Over one hundred community residents came out and lined the streets near the church where the funeral procession would be. People from different social groups stood shoulder to shoulder talking quietly. The WBC had been given a roped off area in a vacant lot across from Walgreens. I had parked in the Walgreens parking lot and stood on the curb with others. When the WBC people showed up they were a surprisingly small group in a large white van, maybe a dozen or so. They came carrying some of their provocative signs and stood in the little roped off area. It was a nondescript family type of group, a couple of men, mostly women and a few school age kids. I do not think they expected such a large angry crowd staring them down. A local motorcycle group showed up to escort the hearse. They didn't stay long and packed up and began walking back to their van with a few community members following them about twenty feet behind. They looked intimidated and left quickly. It felt good that day to see all of the diverse people standing together against the disrespect of another group of people coming in to disrupt a family's grief. Ottumwa can be a very divided community, both socially and politically, but that day everyone stood together and I learned how well Iowans can unify if a situation calls for it. I believe that can and will happen again if need be.
I have seen the Westboro Baptist Church group several times. Young children comprised the bulk of the group. My sympathies went to the kids being raised with such hate and bigotry under the guise of a church. One encounter was driving on a street where the group was protesting in front of a church. I was enroute to my job that Sunday morning and there was little traffic. I slowed down, rolled down my car window, and it my fiercest outside voice I screamed, "Go back to Kansas." My drive-by rebellion put pep in my step all day.