6/5/2020

Last Wednesday rumors circulated via my Next Door app and local FB community pages that Valencia was going to be overrun by thugs from nearby Palmdale intent on looting our stores, destroying our mall, and terrorizing neighborhoods. No one posting had a legitimate source of information, but everyone posting seemed to know a local police official confirming the thugs thing. The rumors insisted thugs had organized buses for transport from Palmdale to Santa Clarita/Valencia. The rumors insisted our hotels were filling up as the thugs made reservations to I guess retire to the local Hilton after trashing our city and order room service. When a lone Next Door subscriber posted he had called the hotels and was told they were not, in fact, remotely near capacity, he was shouted down by other Next Door users with fun bits like, for example: I have a gun!

Finally, on Wednesday, the City of Santa Clarita announced a peaceful protest would be taking place at noon Thursday and a citywide curfew was set for Thursday evening. The announcement inflamed Next Door-ers etc. to again post about their gun ownership, their pity for our poor beleaguered local police forced to deal with out of town thugs, their insistence that ALL LIVES MATTER and mostly their posts were on repeat regarding preparing for riots and fires and destruction and suddenly I felt like I had moved into a paranoid, racist community.

Thursday’s peaceful protest: peaceful.

Except that someone left a ‘suspicious device’ near the protestors. I still don’t know who left the device or what the device was, but Next Door and FB users have the answer: Antifa.

Thursday’s peaceful protest: peaceful.

Thursday’s peaceful protest was SO peaceful that late Thursday afternoon Santa Clarita/Valencia residents were informed our curfew would be lifted COMPLETELY. 

Last night, my little family and I stayed outside until 9pm social distancing with neighbors, all of us agreeing under a gorgeous full moon that all lives matter when BLACK LIVES MATTER, that peaceful protests are effective, all of us grateful change is here thanks to peaceful protestors in our community, our country and around the world, all of us grateful more change is coming.

Peace.

PB