On Tuesday, protesters at the #FlintWaterCrisis protest in front of Lansing City Hall left the protest and headed over to the Capitol Building where they spent over two hours chanting and singing and and demanding action to fix the poisoning of Flint’s drinking water. After the protest, they left behind a reminder they had been there: scrawled “Arrest Snyder” and “Water is A Human Right” graffiti.
Photos of the desecration can be viewed HERE and HERE.
A manhunt is now in progress to locate the perpetrators. John Truscott – a Republican public relations consultant and the former Director of Communications and Press Secretary for Gov. John Engler – is heading up the search for the villains who have defaced the sacred place so that they can be brought to justice. Truscott is Vice Chair of the Michigan State Capitol Commission. He told MLive that the damage, sadly, may be permanent, an eternal scar on the the state’s most important edifice, tweeting that the vile act caused “significant damage.”
“Anybody has a right to come and say what they want, hold whatever signs they want,” Truscott said. “They don’t have a right to do damage to the building.”
Truscott took to Twitter to engage the wider community for answers:
Did anyone see which protesters were defacing the Capitol Building? Any photos or video would be appreciated.
— johntruscott (@johntruscott) January 20, 2016
#MISOTS16 Protesters damage Capitol building. Assessment to be done tomorrow morning. MSP and media to be asked for video.
— johntruscott (@johntruscott) January 20, 2016
What caused this irreparable devastation and destruction that has resulted in this desperate search?
Children’s chalk.
The editor of the Politics and Government page for The Detroit News, Richard Burr, asked the critical question on Twitter:
ALERT: Michigan Capitol Comm.'s @johntruscott reports damage 2 Capitol by protesters. Will state go after organizer @ProgressMich?
— Richard Burr (@RichardBurr_DN) January 20, 2016
Since Progress Michigan was just one of a number of organizers that worked to organize the protest and since the protest that was organized didn’t even include going to the State Capitol, it’s hard to see how they would have a case but it’s still very, very important to ask questions like this because, if you don’t, people might think it was just come random person who wrote a few things in chalk that will be gone as soon as it’s washed off.
Hopefully, the criminals responsible for this heinous act will be brought to justice. This is far more important than to deal with the fact that the lives of Flint’s residents, including their children, may be permanently altered by the powerful neurotoxin in their drinking water.
It’s easy to understand why the focus has shifted to the real crime of chalk graffiti on the Capitol Building. John Truscott is, like Bill Ballenger and others, a “Flint Water Crisis Truther”, someone who wants everyone to know that the poisoning of the drinking water in Flint is no big deal:
Why isn't @onetoughnerd talking about the actual test result? #FlintWaterCrisis the truth is not as bad as people think.
— johntruscott (@johntruscott) January 17, 2016
Truscott astutely made the connection between the protesters in Lansing on Tuesday – who he calls “professional paid protesters” – and the protesters during the Right to Work protest rally at the Capitol Building in 2012, noting that they wore the same colored vests. Apparently, (a) only “professional paid protesters” are able to purchase fluorescent yellow safety vests and (b) these “professional paid protesters” should be ignored because they protest more than one of the outrageous actions of Michigan Republicans and Gov. Rick Snyder.
By the way, since I was there protesting, if anyone knows where I can pick up my paycheck, I’d be very grateful. So far, all I got from that evening was a mild case of frostbite.
(To be clear, I do not advocate or endorse writing on the State Capitol Building with chalk. That’s just stupid. But “permanent damage”? C’mon. To quote Mr. Truscott, “The truth is not as bad as people think.”)
