This is a brief followup to a diary I published last month about our local Obama organizer's experience with vandalism and the ground game she has mounted here in East Tennessee. (http://www.dailykos.com/... )
The vandalism has continued, and so has a groundswell of local support for June and her stubborn perseverance. The story has finally been picked up by local media. The article picture, link and quotes are below the orange squiggly.
This is why we win in November. The hate is vitriolic in the "comments" section under the article, but here and there, you can find a person whose decision to vote GOP this year has been changed by the ongoing vandalism and June's reaction to it.
The Hate will never win. We move Forward. We won't back down. Thank you, June, for showing us all how to stand up to hate and turn it to good.
http://www.knoxnews.com/...
To whomever keeps vandalizing her yard sign supporting President Barack Obama, June Jones has a message: She isn't going to back down.
"This is the second time I've had to call the police about my sign being sliced in two," the North Knoxville woman said Friday. "This is about free speech. This is my property. I pay taxes on it. No one has the right to tear up my sign. This is the president I believe in."
Besides this week's vandalism, Jones said someone sliced her sign in half early Sept. 22. She said she has repaired it multiple times and had others stolen.
"I'm not real sure (if I will repair the sign quickly)," Jones said. "So many people because of this act of violence have come to my door — just want to meet us and hug us. We have people who leave notes on our door and we have people who thank us for standing up against this hatred.
"They are just very supportive. The sign really cut up is getting more positive communication then anything."
Jones has added other signs of her own in the yard stating, "Police Report # 12-036683 Keep off my Private Property!" and "You can tear my sign up but you can't destroy my spirit! Fired up!!"
"People tell me to be careful, and they say they have had their cars keyed if they have an Obama sign on it," Jones said.
East Tennessee tends to show a heavily Republican turnout in presidential elections.
Neighbor Sydnee Doherty thinks the negative tone of this year's presidential campaign has inspired negative political acts such as the one at the Jones home. She said she admires the Jones family for their resolve.
"We go that way to church every Sunday," Doherty said. "What happened is that the first time we saw it, a rock had gone through the sign and torn it a little. Then it was a little bit more, then they knocked it right down. Every time they did that, the people would pick it back up again. I thought those people really have guts to stand up to that kind of thing."