August 7th, 2009, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today condemned the brutal beating of activist Kenneth Gladney in South St. Louis County, MO, at a town hall event sponsored by Congressman Russ Caranhan (D-MO) by SEIU members who Wilson said “appears to have been sent out purposely to intimidate the crowd and instigate violence.”
Wilson said that a Special Prosecutor would need to be called “to investigate the possibility of White House complicity in this union thuggery.” The White House told representatives and senators ‘punch back twice as hard’ against opposition to Barack Obama’s government-run health care initiative, and “clearly some of their followers took the message to heart,” Wilson said.
According to Kenneth Gladney’s attorney, David B. Brown, “Kenneth was attacked on the evening of August 6, 2009 at Rep. Russ Carnahan’s town hall meeting in South St. Louis County. I was at the town hall meeting as well and witnessed the events leading up to the attack of Kenneth. Kenneth was approached by an SEIU representative as Kenneth was handing out ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ flags to other conservatives.”
The statement continued, “The SEIU representative demanded to know why a black man was handing out these flags. The SEIU member used a racial slur against Kenneth, then punched him in the face. Kenneth fell to the ground. Another SEIU member yelled racial epithets at Kenneth as he kicked him in the head and back. Kenneth was also brutally attacked by one other male SEIU member and an unidentified woman.”
According to the statement, “The three men were clearly SEIU members, as they were wearing T-shirts with the SEIU logo.”
“This sort of thuggish political violence is what one would expect in Mussolini’s Italy by the Black Shirts,” said Wilson, adding that, “This is pure fascist aggression. The SEIU is sending out goon squads to beat people up who disagree with ObamaCare. Only a Special Prosecutor can determine if it was done with the knowledge of the White House and Congressman Carnahan.”
After watching the video, Wilson said, “The part where the attackers claimed they were attacked, when Mr. Gladney is clearly on his back, is straight out of the SEIU-ACORN playbook. They train their thugs well. Only, this time, they were caught.”
According to Brown’s statement, Gladney was being civil when he was attacked: “Kenneth was beaten badly. One assailant fled on foot; three others were arrested. Kenneth was admitted to St. John’s Mercy Medical Center emergency room, where he was treated for his numerous injuries. Kenneth was merely expressing his freedom of speech by handing out the flags. In fact, he merely asked people as they exited the town hall meeting whether they would like a flag.”
Brown insisted that Gladney “in no way provoked any argument or altercation, as evidenced by the fact that three assailants were arrested.”
“This is a sad chapter in American history,” Wilson declared, “when a man is cruelly assaulted by political hooligans merely for expressing his beliefs and exercising his First Amendment rights to speak freely and peaceably assemble.”
Wilson said there was a causal relationship between the White House’s call to “punch back” against opposition to Barack Obama’s government-run health care initiative and the incident. “The White House sent out millions of emails, as did the DNC, and the SEIU, all calling on supporters to attend these meetings. And now we know why.”
The SEIU, the Service Employees International Union, was formed by Wade Rathke, also founder of the group, ACORN, which Barack Obama served as an attorney for. “These are the same people that helped get Barack Obama elected,” Wilson explained.
“Barack Obama has long-time financial and material relationship with ACORN and SEIU. SEIU donated $30.8 million to Obama’s campaign, organized volunteers, and campaigned on his behalf. ACORN is under investigation for crimes in 15 states, and Barack Obama served as their attorney at one point. He even gave them $800,000 in 2008 for ‘get-out-the-vote’ efforts. And now they’re carrying out his dirty work,” Wilson added.
According to the Brown’s statement, “This was a truly senseless hate crime carried out by racist union thugs. Regretfully, Representative Carnahan’s statements blaming Kenneth for being a disruptive force are wholly untrue and slanderous.”
Carnahan today stated that “Sadly, we’ve seen stories about disrupters around the country, and we have a handful of them here in Missouri.”
“The only disruption that occurred was of Mr. Gladney’s rights to life-and-limb as an American citizen,” Wilson said in response, charging that, “Carnahan appears to have been complicit in the incident.”
Wilson also condemned press outlets for failing to report on Mr. Gladney’s story. “Where is the controlled media?” Wilson asked. “Where is CNN? Where is Olbermann and Matthews? They rave about ‘mobs’ but turn a blind eye to a man who was beaten by union thugs. They should hang their heads in shame, or else apply for network anchor positions in Venezuela.”
Wilson said a Special Prosecutor to investigate the White House, SEIU, and Carnahan was necessary because “The American people have no faith in Eric Holder’s Justice Department, which just let two goons off-the-hook who were intimidating voters in 2008 at a Philadelphia polling station with Billy clubs.”
“If anyone thinks there was no relationship between Obama’s call to “punch back” and this brutality in the streets of St. Louis, we have some nice real estate that runs over the East River in New York we’d think they’d be interested in purchasing,” Wilson concluded.
Interview Availability: Please contact Robert Romano at (703)383-0880 or at Robert@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.
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