A letter to the editor in today's St. Paul Pioneer Press is disturbing:

[MineralMan]

Since the PP is behind a paywall, I won't link to the letter. I read it this morning. In the LTTE, a St. Paul homeowner said that she had received an anonymous threat in the mail.

The mail she received threatened to burn down any house that displayed a "Black Lives Matter" sign. Apparently the LTTE writer had such a sign on her house in her diverse neighborhood and was targeted for the threat.

The Racist Right tends to use such threats to intimidate people in many ways. Any public expression of liberal or progressive thinking attracts these threats like a porch light attracts moths. Sadly, such threats work and intimidate people from expressing their viewpoints. While the threats are almost never carried out, they lead people to avoid public statements.

Whether it's gun rights or racial equity, making a statement that counters right-wing prejudices is likely to result in threats from anonymous people. Online, through the mail, on the phone, and even in person, the right wing seems to believe that threats are an acceptable tool in their quest to force their right-wing beliefs on everyone.

It's difficult to ignore threats of violence, and most people simply cannot ignore them, so the tactic appears to be pretty successful. More's the pity.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Hand the letter to the postal inspectors. It's a federal offense. NT

[MineralMan]

3. Yes, it is a federal offense.

However, letter mail is almost impossible to trace back to the sender if there is no return address. It's good to report such things, but it's very unlikely to result in any sort of prosecution.

My point is to remind people of the threatening tactics used by the right, almost everywhere. If you're on Facebook, and don't limit viewing of your timeline to friends only, you'll get threats. If you post on Twitter, you'll get threats. If you put up yard signs, you'll get threats, if the positions you are taking are not those of the right wing.

Most, but not all, anonymous threats of violence are empty and hollow. However, most people are not willing to take risks if threatened and stop publicizing their positions on all sorts of things.

All threats of violence should be reported to authorities and to moderators of online venues. However, everyone knows that such threats are rarely investigated or prosecuted. Those doing the threatening also often make their threats in terms vague enough to avoid being prosecuted.

Unless the recipient of a threat is able to identify the person making that threat, law enforcement will rarely even bother to acknowledge that a threat exists. That's the unfortunate truth of the matter.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. I have a sign in my yard that says, among other things, Black Lives Matter.

Many others in my neighborhood also have BLM or related signs. I've never had any threats (maybe because I'm just that crazy old lady with a yard full of wildflowers instead of grass, and they write me off as a harmless old hippie), but I can imagine plenty of neighborhoods where it could happen.

[MineralMan]

6. You make a good point.

I'm sure such things vary from neighborhood to neighborhood. St. Paul, like Minneapolis, has a wide range of neighborhoods, each with its own mix of residents. I live in a neighborhood where white homeowners are distinctly in the minority. It is not an affluent neighborhood, by any means, although most residents own their homes or at least are paying mortgages on them.

It's unlikely that a home with a BLM sign would receive such a threat here. However, my neighborhood is one thing. Other neighborhoods have a different mix of residents.

There's another story in today's PP. It's about a person with a Vietnamese name who has been ordered to get rid of the vegetable garden in his front yard. Other neighbors, not of the same ethnic background, have not been so ordered to remove their edible plantings. Outrageous! But, his neighbors complained about his non-lawn front yard.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. I think this is the LTTE - it's a good one:

Don’t let fear beget more fear

Over the past several days, some residents in the Twin Cities have been receiving threatening letters demanding them to remove their Black Lives Matters signs or their homes will be “torched.” In response, some of my own white neighbors have taken down their BLM signs for fear of becoming a target.

I’m not taking my Black Lives Matter sign down. It’s been up ever since Philando Castile lost his life at the hands of the police, and it’s staying up now. Taking down the sign is a privilege. Just as black and brown people will always be black and brown, allies should always show their support, not just when it is safe or convenient.

I know parents are worried. We don’t want our kids to be harmed for the sake of “politics.” But, let’s be clear: every black mother and every black father fear for the lives of their children, every day, always. The fear that white allies might be feeling now is a droplet of the fear that black parents have felt for decades, if not centuries.

Imagine if everyone in our neighborhoods proudly displayed their Black Lives Matter signs. The perpetrators would have to try and take us all down. Thinking back to when the KKK was even more active, it was the “N—– lovers” alongside the black people who were targets. We didn’t have enough white allies willing to speak out. This time, be on the right side of history. Don’t let fear beget more fear.

https://www.twincities.com/2020/06/11/letters-this-is-not-a-time-to-sit-around-in-well-stocked-kitchens-and-shake-our-fingers-at-the-police/

[MineralMan]

4. Thank you for posting it.

I should be able to access the online Pioneer Press, but I have not been successful in creating a log-in on the site, despite being a long-time subscriber.