My name is Michael Strickland.
On March 5th, 2019, The College Republicans invited me to Portland State University to speak about what happened to me on July 7th, 2016, when I was out filming a protest, exercising my right to freedom of the press. I found myself attacked by a mob of masked thugs and I drew my firearm in self defense. The police eventually rushed in and arrested me while excusing the actions of the mob, which was led by multi time federal felon Benjamin Kerensa. Deputy District Attorney Kate Molina cited false police reports and lied to the judge to justify charging me with felonies and putting a $250,000 bail on me. Thanks to Oregon Firearms Federation, we were able to raise defense funds and get me bailed out. It was ordered that I could not post videos on YouTube, speak to the media, go on twitter, blog, or go to political events. I was banned from working. Had I done those 1st Amendment activities, I would have been thrown back in jail and the bail money would be forfeited. My first-person video that showed the attack was ordered sealed by the judge, as well as surveillance video that shows the mob huddling up to formulate their plan to confront me. Some of them were ex military and armed with guns themselves. The other Deputy District Attorney, Todd Jackson, even defended the notion of people wearing masks while engaging in violent behavior, making the case that it’s not to appear menacing or threatening or conceal their identity so they couldn’t be charged with crimes, no no, the masks are for personal protection, to prevent against stalking and harassment should the public learn who they are. Ryan Rasmussen, the ambush witness Jackson and Molina put on, was caught lying on the witness stand. Another witness, John Slaughter, the one who had filed the previous false report, admitted to being part of the conspiracy to forcibly remove me from the area and was caught lying multiple times to detectives and to the judge.
The judge refused to admit exculpatory evidence during the trial, such as my statements to the detectives and evidence relating to my physical condition (I am partially disabled). Most of the masked thugs who were referred to as the “victims” were never identified and never came forward. I was eventually found guilty on 21 counts; 10 felonies of Unlawful Use Of A Weapon, 10 misdemeanors of Menacing, and 1 misdemeanor of Disorderly Conduct. All for someone who was tarted, attacked, and didn’t harm a fly. The violent thugs who started it all are considered the innocent victims.
My case is now plodding through the appeals process, as my actions were solely in self defense and we feel that the judge erred repeatedly during the trial. Robert Barnes is my attorney on the appeal.
So now that many of the restrictions are lifted, I have been appearing at events throughout Portland to speak about how the 1st Amendment has been nullified and self-defense is now a crime. This affects everyone. I’m still banned by the judge from filming events at Portland State University. Had I filmed my own speech there, I would have been thrown in prison.
I showed up on March 5th, 2019, with the hopes that there would be no disruptions. I made it a few minutes into my presentation when the now-infamous bell ringer decided to throw his tantrum.
This particular individual has been a regular on the protest scene for some time now. Some of you may remember him as the guy (or non gender specific person?) who was shouting things like “Communism is the ideology of the future” through a megaphone at an event before a red Nissan pickup ran over his friend as they failed to look both ways before running across the street. Rumor has it the guy/girl who ate the grill committed suicide several months later.
Anyway, so this guy, the bell ringer, is shouting all sorts of obscenities at everyone who came to see my speak. He’s getting in my face, screaming at me, saying that he was one of the ones I drew on, basically admitting that he took part in the attack on me. He’s blocking the projector where I was going to be showing a 5 angle compilation video of the attack from July of 2016.
He’s even targeting his harassment toward an 82 year old woman who was livestreaming the covfefe on her facebook page.
Now, I’ve been in some interesting situations before where people have tried to provoke me into violence (Here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and more), but none of those situations were as threatening as what I had experienced on July 7th, 2016. I know the bell ringer’s sole purpose is to provoke violent reactions out of people. He did everything possible to accomplish that during my speech. Except no one fell for it.
I offered my hand to him in greeting as soon as he first approached me, offered to sit with him and have meaningful dialogue, even offered the podium to him so he could speak his mind. His response didn’t change throughout the fiasco. All he wanted to do was cause a scene. He even tried to accuse me of taking part in attacks on LGBT communities the last time I spoke at PSU. Except I had never been a featured speaker at PSU before. And then he goes, “Oh, really? Maybe that’s because I just made that up!”
There was one moment where Bell Boy was on the other side of the room and I was answering questions from a reporter with the Pacific Sentinel, an alternative student newspaper. This girl was professional, cordial, asked thoughtful questions, and genuinely seemed interested in my answers. Bell Boy decided we can’t have that, so after a few minutes of actual constructive dialogue, he came over to yell some more. He actually helps my case because he was saying things like “You were a scared little B****! You were afraid!” Even he realized the fear that I felt when he and his friends decided to stage a physical confrontation with me on July 7th, 2016.
A reporter from the official “mainstream” student newspaper, The Vanguard, was also there. She was very rude and condescending, often times interrupting me while I was attempting to answer her questions, trying to insert her own point of view into my answers, and even turned around and started walking away during one of my answers.
This was a planned disturbance that was being planned on twitter.
They even targeted the head of the College Republicans.
Throughout it all, PSU campus police and security stood idly by, refusing to intervene. Several attendees wanted to file reports about the incident, but the officers refused to take their reports. The actions of the bell ringer clearly meet the statutory definition of Harassment (ORS 166.065): “A person commits the crime of harassment if the person intentionally:… Harasses or annoys another person by:… Publicly insulting such other person by abusive words or gestures in a manner intended and likely to provoke a violent response” as well as Disorderly Conduct (ORS 166.025): “A person commits the crime of disorderly conduct in the second degree if, with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof, the person:…. Makes unreasonable noise;…. Disturbs any lawful assembly of persons without lawful authority;”
I asked the black officer with the dreads, Sgt. Willie Halliburton, at what point Bell Slop’s antics become Disorderly Conduct, and he said “I’ll make that decision.”
About 10 or 15 minutes later, after Cowbell Covfefe got in my face again ringing the bell, I approached Sgt. Halliburton and informed him that I would like to make an official report, that I believe I am the victim of Bell Boy’s disorderly conduct. Halliburton told me that if they decide to make reports, then they’ll take one. Law enforcement officers are under no obligation to file any reports about anything.
Police in Portland, once again, protect the radical left. Perhaps Bell Boy is some sort of informant or paid police provocateur. He was seen talking with Sgt. Halliburton at the event off to the side. Bell Boy never seems to get arrested when the protests turn into riots. Hmmm….
You can reach the PSU Campus Safety office at 503 725 4407 (note the citizen complaint form on their webpage). You can reach PSU’s president, Rahmat Shoureshi, at 503-725-4419, or “director of media relations” at 503-725-8789.
Portland State University issued this statement on the matter:
Announcement: Portland State University has guidelines for events at Smith Memorial Student Union. An event this week…
Posted by Portland State University on Thursday, March 7, 2019
Beyond the fluff and inaccuracies in that press release, what PSU’s head of public relations, Chris Broderick, can’t even get right is that my speech was not based around the 2nd Amendment. I believe my case is rooted in the 1st Amendment, and that’s what I was there to talk about. The name of the presentation was “How The 1st Amedment Was Invalidated.” The Republican club met with advisors and campus security the week prior to the event to discuss what the event was about. Broderick and his staff of 19 bureaucratic paper pushers are either incompetent, too lazy to do basic research and due diligence, or they are intentionally lying to the public.
Furthermore, PSU links to their own document regarding the code of conduct. It specifically states, in part:
Rules of Conduct for the Smith Memorial Student Union
To facilitate Portland State University’s mission of teaching and learning, the Smith Memorial Student Union requires its patrons to maintain a safe and appropriate environment. Therefore, the following activities and behaviors are strictly prohibited:
1.Committing, or attempting to commit, any action that would violate any federal, state, or local criminal statute or ordinance.
2.Exhibiting disruptive or disorderly conduct,or behavior that unreasonably disturbs patrons and staff and interferes with use and enjoyment of the facilities including, but not limited to:
- Smoking, including any inhaling, exhaling, burning, or carrying any lighted or electronic device, or use of tobacco in any smokeless form
- Posing an unreasonable risk to health or safety, including but not limited to offensive personal hygiene that unduly disturbs others, failure to wear shoes and shirts at all times
- Fighting, running, or using loud, obscene or abusive language to patrons or staff
- Noise that is disturbing to others
- Any behavior which violates the University’s Discrimination and Sexual Harassment Policies
- Misuse of building property, including graffiti, vandalism, and actions likely to cause damage to building or its contents
- Consuming any alcoholic beverage,except at approved events
- Displaying overt signs of alcohol or substance abuse that are accompanied by disruptive behavior
- Misuse of space, i.e. sleeping, entering private offices without permission, refusing to leave offices after being asked to leave by tenants, unscheduled use of meeting rooms, use of lounge and public areas for private meetings or unscheduled public gatherings.
- Unauthorized handing out of printed materials or posting them on the doors or walls.
3. The SMSU was designed for use by students, faculty, staff,and invited guests associated with an activity or event within the building. Anyone who is not student, faculty, staff, or an invited guest to a current event may be asked to leave.
Any patron who fails to follow these rules may be given a warning, asked to leave, or be permanently banned from using the Smith Memorial Student Union upon threat of arrest should they return.
We can find multiple violations of this conduct code that Bun Bell was engaging in. How were his actions NOT Disorderly Conduct, Harassment, using obscene and abusive language, and noise that is disturbing to others? I guess the new rule is that white supremacists can now crash Black Student Union events by simply making a bunch of noise, yelling profanities at everyone, blocking projector screens, shouting down speakers, and harassing elderly women, and PSU admins will do nothing to intervene.
This is all quite interesting, because I personally have been kicked out of events at PSU for merely sitting there holding a video camera.
I certainly don’t go there to disrupt people that I make money off of.
In the spring of 2013, the College Republicans held a showing of a film about radical islam. The pro palestinian and socialist club students stormed the room and literally chased the Republicans away from their own event. The university’s student group advisor stood there laughing. As the communists began to hold their own event, I was still there with my video camera, filming the chaos. Campus safety Lt. Craig Whitten then came up to me and told me I had to leave or I would be trespassed.
In 2012 I attended an MLK tribute event in the Stott Center gym featuring Dr. Cornel West. Lt. Craig Whitten kicked me out of that as well. My crime? Holding a video camera and keeping to myself.
Lt. Whitten and Sgt. Halliburton were both present when student protesters stormed the university’s board of trustees meeting in 2016, forcing the board members to flee into another room while the wackjobs literally took over the meeting. Whitten and Halliburton just stood there, observing, doing nothing to intervene.
Laura Ingraham spent 20 minutes talking about this latest incident and others on her show, with guests Dinesh D’souza, Portland based journalist Andy Ngo, and Victor Davis Hanson.
Some of you may recall the first Students For Trump meeting at Portland State University in April of 2016, when 70+ wacked out communists stormed the meeting, shouting over the Trump supporters, shoving the Trump students, and one even jumped up on a table and challenged one of the pro Trump students to a fight. Guess who was there filming it. The video went viral and was featured on three news shows that weekend.
Campus safety? Nowhere to be seen. One of the Trump supporters called for help at one point, and security refused to respond. In fact, they released a statement saying that officers were monitoring the situation. That is an outright lie. Not a single officer was to be seen.
I can go on and on about the antics I’ve observed and filmed at Portland State University over the years, but perhaps linking to the playlist on my channel would be better.
In closing, I am disappointed that my speech was disrupted. I am even more disappointed in the way that university officials handled it.
Based on this and past experiences, they seem to favor one group of people over another. I am concerned for the rights of everyone when it comes to rights to free speech, free press, and self defense. Regarding my case, I do not plan on giving up until my conviction is overturned and I will take this as far as I need to until I am vindicated.
Special thanks to Jim Hoft and everyone at Gateway Pundit for allowing me a platform to speak. Thanks to Victoria Taft for covering my legal saga and being one of the first people to cover the action on my YouTube channel way back in 2010. Thanks to Oregon Firearms Federation for organizing the defense funds and getting the word out about what happened to me. You can still donate there, but I am now also accepting legal fund donations on PayPal under stricklandlegalfund@gmail.com . Thanks to Lars Larson for covering my case early on on his radio show. And thanks to all of you for paying attention to lil’ ol’ me and my trials and tribulations. I can sit here and give countless thank yous, but it’s past 1 AM and I’m tired.
The post I Am The Speaker Who Was Disrupted and Abused At Portland State University – Here Is My Story appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
