I’ve got 800 miles of open border
Right outside my door
There’s minute men in little pickup trucks
Who’ve declared their own damn war
Now the government wants to build
A barrier like old Berlin eight feet tall
But if Uncle Sam sends the illegals home
Who’s gonna build the wall?
—Tom Russell (2006)
In mid-December, several residents in northwest Fresno received a letter accusing them of being “Communist-Marxists” and threatening to expose their addresses as destinations for “illegal” immigrants. The same people had received a similar mailing before the election.
Those receiving the letter appear to have been targeted because they displayed Harris/Walz signs in their yards. Indeed, the letter says, “We will always support and defend your right to place political signs of your choosing on your property. How else would we know where the Communist-Marxists live in our community[?]”
The letters were addressed to “Democrat Undocumented Migrant Boardmember Secure Housing Initiative Taskforce Support” and the physical address of the recipient. The return address is that of the Fresno County Democratic Party HQ. Of course, there is no such organization as the referenced taskforce and the mailing did not originate from the Democratic Party.
The salutation of the letter is “To the Harris/Walz Communist-Marxist supporters.” The purveyor of this stunt clearly reveals his ignorance by aligning the Harris/Walz team with communism and/or Marxism.
The letter makes the following threat: “We strive to help those we don’t agree with to demonstrate a modicum of personal integrity [their emphasis]. By helping Communist-Marxists to become accountable for their ideology, we help them to take responsibility for the situations that arise because of their open-border political beliefs…
“We will begin publishing and distributing (in five languages) the Communist-Marxist addresses listed in our previous letter but with a few changes. Since several of you decided to excessively promote your Communistic-Marxist ideology by placing additional Harris/Walz signs in your front yards, we have decided to feature your addresses first.”
The recipients informed the postal inspector, local law enforcement and the Attorney General’s office regarding both mailings, but the perpetrator has yet to be identified.
“Nobody’s going to cow me,” one of those targeted responded emphatically. “The purpose of the letter is to silence folks, but I am going to put out my Harris sign again today.”
