Olympia, Washington, Mayor Cheryl Selby reportedly described the defacing of her front door and porch as “domestic terrorism.”
A group of activists stood outside Selby’s house chanting “abolish the police” while one of its members applied spray-paint to her front door and porch with the letters “BLM,” according to a Saturday report from The Olympian, the city’s local paper.
Two groups made their way through downtown Olympia, some tagging and vandalizing businesses while they worked there way toward the home Olympia Mayor Cheryl Selby. https://t.co/cFHFYu2wzO
— The Olympian (@theolympian) June 13, 2020
Model Jasmine Sanders (C) attends the All Black Lives Matter Solidarity March on June 14, 2020 in Los Angeles, California.(Photo by Sarah Morris/Getty Images)
Selby was reportedly not at home at the time of the incident but was quickly notified by her neighbors. During the protest, an unidentified bystander approached the group of protesters and told them to go home, according to the same report. (RELATED: Tucker Carlson: ‘Black Lives Matter Believes In Force … When They Want Something They Take It’)
“I’m really trying to process this,” Selby said to The Olympian. “It’s like domestic terrorism. It’s unfair.”
Just a week prior, the mayor told the community that she would not be declaring a curfew and she would encourage people to protest the death of George Floyd during his arrest by Minneapolis police.
“We are a predominantly white community next to communities that are far more diverse,” Selby said, according to The Olympian. “That tells us that we are not, we have not been as welcoming and nurturing to communities of color as we’d like to think. The light switched on in America by Mr. Floyd’s murder shines glaringly on Olympia, as well.”
In her statement to the Olympian prior to the vandalism of her house, Selby said, “Let me be clear: The City of Olympia supports the peaceful protests that highlight the racial injustices black people continue to endure at the hands of police in the United States.” (RELATED: Seattle Councilmember Says She Can’t Figure Out Why ‘Looting Bothers People’ When People Are ‘Dying Every Day)
A barricade is seen at an entrance to the so-called “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” on June 10, 2020 in Seattle, Washington. The zone includes the blocks surrounding the Seattle Police Departments East Precinct, which was the site of violent clashes with Black Lives Matter protesters, who have continued to demonstrate in the wake of George Floyds death. (Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images)
The Daily Caller has reached out to Selby for comment and is awaiting a response. Nearby, Seattle is the site of the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) where activists and BLM protesters have taken over a few blocks of the city’s downtown core. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan has been tolerant so far, describing the scene as “more like a block party atmosphere” than an “armed camp.”
Durkan has laid the blame for “much of the violence and destruction” that has accompanied the protests across America on “white men.”
Support for abolishing or defunding the police has gained traction in the past few weeks with advocates arguing that police forces suffer from systemic racism.