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Meet the Raging Grannies, Portland's Not-So-Secret Warriors for Civility
The Christian Science Monitor ^ | August 16, 2017 | Patrik Jonsson

Posted on 08/17/2017 7:37:33 AM PDT by Jagermonster

The model of peaceful protest that's largely held since the civil rights era is being challenged, with roiling violence in American cities from Charlottesville, Va., to Portland, Ore. The Grannies, who use humor to defuse tense situations, are among those trying to calm the streets.

PORTLAND, ORE.—Amid the hubbub of Portland’s waterfront “Saturday Market,” song suddenly erupts from what looks like a Mayberry sewing circle, their raised fists punctuating the chorus: “It is a time to care, not to kill....”

The singers’ dresses and hats are mismatched, their song a tad out of tune, but they are, Portlanders say, ever so endearing: Twenty-odd older ladies in hats, outsized glasses, and gingham dresses, belting out protest lyrics set to standards – and sometimes set to dance. One has little cherries hanging off her hat, while others don faded “ERA” pins.

One of the most beloved social activist groups in this Pacific Northwest city, they are the Raging Grannies. “Grannying is the least understood and most powerful weapon we have,” says Granny Rose de Shaw. And in a time when peaceful protest is increasingly giving way to fistfights, clubs, and chemical spray, their humorous message may be more important than ever.

(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Political Humor/Cartoons; US: Oregon
KEYWORDS: antifa; grannies; protest
Excerpted per rules.

They're still leftists, but I'm glad to see leadership against violence, and advocacy for civil society.

Daniel Greenfield had a good editorial on the topic the other day. (Posted here on Free Republic: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3577016/posts, hat tip to T-Bird45). Greenfield pointed out:
Uncomfortable compromises are how we learn to live with each other. It means that there can be memorials of Robert E. Lee and streets named after Malcolm X. Tolerating people whose views we don’t like is one of the best ways to marginalize domestic extremists. When one set of extremists is empowered to wipe out the other, we end up with a civil war. Just ask Edmund Ruffin and John Brown.

[ * * * ]

The Bill of Rights is an uncomfortable compromise. It says that we have to put up with people we don’t like.
And moreover, we (and I include all Americans in that "we") shouldn't punch people in the face, just because we don't like them or because we disagree with them.
1 posted on 08/17/2017 7:37:33 AM PDT by Jagermonster
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To: Jagermonster

Violence is NEVER acceptable in response to mere words.

ANYONE, left or right, who can be incited to attack another person based merely on spoken or written communication (perhaps beyond an immediate and credible threat) should be regarded as an animal and put down.


2 posted on 08/17/2017 8:35:36 AM PDT by RedStateRocker (Nuke Mecca, deport all illegal aliens, abolish the IRS, DEA and ATF.)
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To: Jagermonster

Old filthy commies are still filthy commies.

I’m supposed to tolerate them because they are old and female?

Sorry, no.

See you on the field of battle, traitors.


3 posted on 08/17/2017 11:00:35 AM PDT by T-Bone Texan (Trump's election does not release you from your prepping responsibilites!)
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