Photo courtesy wgnsradio.com
The day after the Great Rational Political Discourse Festival of 2017 a longtime Murfreesboro businessman gave me a call.
“The Pulse is the voice that can help businesses bounce back,” he says.
Out-of-town white nationalist and Antifa groups disrupt commerce as usual on the Square in a selfish display of promoting their own causes, mainstream media does everything it can to get a fight on video, and afterwards they all go back whence they came. Community leaders sent a strong message for local residents to avoid the Square area. And they did.
Sales for many businesses, not just on the Square but throughout Murfreesboro, were a fraction of what they should have been the week leading up to the highly anticipated Oct. 28 rally, which fizzled out with little incident after the group that applied for the permit never showed up (this a much preferred situation to the downtown merchants than the all-out war scene that some forces seemed to desire).
Some who operate businesses on the Square felt strongarmed into closing for the day—many actually boarding up windows the day before the rally. Other businesses in nearby areas remained open but noticed a drastic reduction in sales the whole week prior. This not only affected the businesses’ ability to pay rent and bills but also the personal finances of sales clerks, waitstaff and dishwashers who saw a reduction in hours.
Though other than the temporary disruption of commerce, everyone else got what they wanted, or at least one could spin it in such a way.
The League of the South and affiliated groups got the type of local, national and even international publicity that money can’t buy for their messages of White Lives Matter, deportation and stricter immigration policies. That publicity for their cause was handed to them before they even set foot in Murfreesboro. What else did they have to gain by coming to Murfreesboro?
Murfreesboro Loves, a group of hundreds of area residents who gathered the day of the rally in a counter-protest effort, claims a victory for love, tolerance and acceptance. Sentiments that “the Nazis are not welcome in our town” punctuated their message of love, tolerance and acceptance; love for all but the intolerant, tolerance of all but the unaccepting, and acceptance of all but the unloving.
The local government and law enforcement had an opportunity to demonstrate how quickly they can mobilize and militarize. As Mr. Stockard touches on in his column, Murfreesboro and Rutherford County law enforcement sometimes receives criticism over an over-aggressive attitude toward minor offenses, and he has pointed out on various occasions that the area is somewhat of a police state.
However, this may have served the town well during the big White Lives Matter rally that never really was. The establishment sent a clear message that if groups want to have a street war, it ain’t happening in Murfreesboro.
Many in the community expressed thanks that no one was hurt and that the apocalyptic picture painted prior to the occasion did not go down.
Now, there’s talk of making the application process to use public grounds in the community more difficult. Let’s hope this extreme PR stunt doesn’t keep the real people of Murfreesboro from being able to hold their (generally well-behaved and respectful) gatherings, fundraisers and demonstrations.
Peace,
Bracken Mayo
Publisher/Editor in Chief
