Thread.
Many white people are working in white communities to spread a Black Lives Matter message. A young white teacher plans to do that Saturday 7/11, in a remote MO tourist town where she faces push back & veiled threats from a local businessman & "militias". 1/

Teacher Abby Van Winkle plans the Sat. rally (& bake sale!) in Van Buren, MO, a town of 800 that lives on tourists flocking to the crystal-clear Current River, part of the Ozark Natl Scenic Riverways. The rally, she says, is designed to engage friends & neighbors. 2/

The Mayor of Van Buren, Mike Hoerner, is completely opposed to the rally in his town, making it plain that the people who plan to rally are not welcome in a hamlet whose existence depends on tourism & "hospitality" for people visiting the river & nearby Big Spring Park. 3/

Mayor Hoerner isn't the only Van Buren local who's unhappy. Taylor Pettit is a businessman who runs the Resort Consulting Group in Van Buren, another "hospitality"-related business that helps tourists w/vacation rentals & time shares. He indicates he may be armed. 4/

Meanwhile, an area You Tube militia-type calling himself "Prepping Patriot" is bug-eyed, claiming BLM and Antifa (I know, right?) are preparing a violent descent on Van Buren Sat., & pitting out a call for "armed patriots". 5/

Last month, he told followers that BLM & Antifa were coming to nearby Eminence, MO, population 400, on June 27. They, of course, never showed up. But dozens of armed BLM opponents did. Sniper positions were even set up on the roof of the Eminence courthouse. 6/

Protests in larger cities have gathered a lot of attention. So have marches in small white suburbs, as white support for the Black Lives Matter movement & racial justice has soared nationwide, w/a Kaiser Family Foundation poll showing 61% white support nationwide for BLM. 7/

But that's not the case in much of deep red, pro-Trump small town & rural America. Last month, for example, a peaceful BLM march in Bethel, OH was met w/angry, armed white counter-protestors and biker gangs. Young teacher Abby Van Winkle may face a similar reception this Sat. 8/

Van Winkle merely wants a conversation w/her neighbors. But racism, white rage, & Trump-stoked fear are heady drugs. The reaction from area residents indicates she may get a lot of things, but a reasoned conversation may not be among them. But you can help. Really. 9/

First, you can contact Abby Van Winkle on Facebook, support her, and - if you can - join her in Van Buren, MO at 11am on Saturday July 11, in front of City Hall. Given the nature of what she's facing, live-streamers would be most helpful to put up whatever might happen live. 10/

But if you can't go, contact the Van Buren Area Chamber of Commerce - 573-323-0800. Remind them their town exists because of tourism, & that pics & video of angry, armed, confederate flag-waving racists could wreck their economy by keeping tourists away in droves. 11/

A welcoming, calm, reasonable reaction to a peaceful BLM rally & bake sale would do the town a lot of good. But yowling racist ammosexuals would show the town's "hospitality" to be a farce. Hard to pitch being family-friendly if TripAdvisor, Yelp, & social media say otherwise.12/

So why pay attention to a rally in a tiny town in the Missouri Ozarks? Because it's like a butterfly. Aerodynamically, it shouldn't be able to fly. Yet, there it is. A BLM rally shouldn't appear in fearful Van Buren, MO. But the best of us shows up in the damndest places. 13/--