On Saturday, December 11, 2021, Stacy Langton, Xi Van Fleet, and other parents affiliated with the Mama Grizzly movement held a “Holiday Hate Protest” in the affluent suburb of McLean, Virginia. Aside from hosting the CIA in its Langley neighborhood, this suburb is the residence of many of Washington, DC’s movers and shakers. The late Colin Powell, for instance, was a long-time McLean resident. Zbigniew Brzezinski as well resided in McLean – we both had the same Japanese restaurant as one of our favorite places to eat.
As photos suggest, this event at the Dolley Madison Library at 1244 Oak Ridge Avenue, McLean, Virginia, was very well attended. Some 50 people attended to protest pornographic books in the library. It was a great turnout for an event close to the Christmas holiday. This demonstration comes on the heels of an earlier recent incident in which a widespread uproar led to removing an offensive display at this same library branch.
A library branch was honoring a famous former first lady who indeed retreated to McLean with the famous portrait of George Washington escaping from the burning of the White House that British invaders accomplished during the War of 1812. The display had an LGBT+ flag adorned troll holding the Holy Bible alongside several vile books – Gender Queer and Lawn Boy, the latter of which promotes pedophilia.
We had some counter-protestors – pitiful lot of two or three across the street. Their contribution to the dialogue was to carry a sign with a portrait of Hitler and tell us that he burned books. Another sign held by a counter-protestor suggested that we were trying to ban Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (1953).
Not surprisingly, Democrats often resort to half-truths and baseless claims to advance their agenda. Interestingly, one of the counter-protestors claimed to be a retired Catholic high school teacher. Most know Sebastian Gorka as a former Deputy Assistant to the President under the Trump administration. We even had Gorka, a McLean resident, participate and deliver a pep talk to the attendees. The gist of Gorka’s speech was that it was parents such as us that propelled Glenn Youngkin into the governor’s mansion. The authorities tried to keep protestors confined to a tiny space near the library’s sign.
Local activist David Hacker and I decided to test the limits and move away from the area we had been unlawfully confined to. When David and I held an American flag on the sidewalk beside the library entrance, two plain-clothed security officers asked us to leave. They argued that since they had asked nicely, we should comply. We asked them to show police badges, and they had none. We refused and challenged them to call the Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD). They withdrew and did not call the police – they went off at a distance to confer with library personnel. I guess the librarians were disappointed that no heads were cracked.
Later, when activist and protestor Lin-Dai Kendall and I entered the library to hand out a postcard with the Virginia Code provision being violated (the anti-pornography statute), we did get far before being stopped by security. Their first demand was that Lin-Dai leave her sign behind. So – we refused to leave – three (3) armed Fairfax County Police (two males and one female), two armed security guards (both male), and two un-armed/plains clothed security county guards – a total of seven (7) were required to get us to leave.
A female reporter from The Epoch Times reported the three prominent Fairfax County Police Officers (two male and one female) who had surrounded one of the protestors, Lin-Dai Kendall. Surrounded, Kendall had asked the police officers on-site to accept her report of a crime – the distribution of pornography taking place at the library. It appeared that they were explaining to her why they would not accept her crime report. I did not photograph that encounter as I was concerned with avoiding arrest. However, when asked, I left the library.
Threats, Abuse, and More Abuse
Before that, one library visitor who was leaving the library parking lot gave me the finger from the safety of the driver’s seat of his automobile after I had jovially motioned him to come and join us.
To give you some idea of the professional demeanor of our Fairfax County civil servants, I will recount another episode from that day. A female FCPL employee gave me an obscene gesture when I told her that a gun (meaning that security people would not suffice, I will obey a police officer) would be required to get us to move from the spot where we were displaying the American flag. She also threatened us with “that can be easy to do.”
I politely asked one person visiting the library that day whether they would like to join us – her response “Are you Trump people?” My polite answer was – “We are freedom-loving people.” Her retort was “that is problematic” – I suspect she enjoys using big words that she does not quite understand. But I think I got a sense of her commitment to democracy as we know it.
Two (2) more significant facts: I felt like living behind the iron curtain.
- Fairfax County even had a plainclothes security guard across the street at the McLean Community Center lawn. Naively I had waived to him a few times, thinking he was just a curious onlooker trying to decide whether to throw his lot in with us.
- Also, Fairfax County Police had us under almost continuous watch with a black unmarked FCPD police car coming up and down the street separating the library from the MCC.
We had two Republican immigrants talk to us while we held the American flag – both came to the US to escape Chinese Communism. They asked many questions and were very enthusiastic about our expression of freedom. I encouraged one of the interlocutors to run for office. I gave him my business card and asked him to contact me to connect him with his GOP precinct captain. We need to get these folks involved in our party, even running for office.
We must show the authorities that if they continue with this maniacal shift to the Left at all levels of government that they will need to hire Gestapo to keep the citizenry in line.
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Nicholas Kalis has four decades of experience in commercial real estate. While as an Asset Manager for The Investment Group, a Washington, DC-based real estate syndicator, he oversaw a vast commercial real estate portfolio. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from George Mason School of Law and his Master of International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of Public and International Affairs. Mr. Kalis was the founding President of the Northern Virginia Chapter of the American Hellenic Institute.
