Chalk art is now considered a crime in Selah, Washington.
You have got to be kidding me.
But no. In an increasingly polarized world where the “President” and his daughter can hawk bean in apparent violation of federal law, folks can’t draw in chalk on public streets. If they do, city officials there say, they can get 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine.
I would guess that little girls chalking pictures of rainbows and flowers probably wouldn’t be hauled off to jail. But maybe. Who even knows anymore?
The people in trouble in this case, though, were writing BLACK LIVES MATTER on the street isin front of their own house. City officials say that’s graffiti and it’s illegal. Actually, I’d venture to say that the problem is the message, not the medium.
The illegal chalkers in question are Hispanic. Selah is a mostly white town of about 7,150 people in Yakima County, which has a sizable Hispanic community and only a few dozen Blacks. It’s mostly Caucasian.
The Seattle Times has the story here: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seeing-black-lives-matter-written-in-chalk-one-yakima-county-town-declares-it-a-crime/?utm_source=marketingcloud&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=TSA_071720172633+Chalk+art+declared+a+crime+in+Yakima+County+town_7_17_2020&utm_term=Active%20subscriber
Anyway, the Trumps take over Twitter with their (likely illegal) sales pitches for Goya, whose CEO had high praise for Trump earlier in the week. That prompted calls for a boycott of Goya products. So Trump returned the favor because he is, you know, the most powerful man on the planet and he can tweak the noses of the people backing the boycott.
Meanwhile, some kids in Selah, WA., are involved in a tug of war with their town because of a BLM message — a message in chalk, for God’s sake. Even if you don’t like the message, a couple of rains and it’s gone. Just leave people alone.
Next, these self-important city fathers will be coming for the little girls and their rainbows.
Some people should consider that chalk may very well be there til it rains. That does not happen much in the Summer here where I live. Besides chalk art is for little kids not pissed off neighbors whatever the neighbor’s color. Petty human crap. Sad.