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“Ok so throw cold water at them!!!” read one of many hateful comments directed at Prattville Pride on X over the past few days.
The comment came in response to news that Prattville Pride would have a float in Prattville’s Christmas parade, which is set to take place tonight at 7 p.m. According to WSFA weather, it will be about 37 degrees when the parade begins.
It’s impossible to say whether that’s a credible threat, although the user who posted it has Alabama listed as their location. But the intimidation rings clear; who knows how many people could see that and get ideas? Another social media post suggested throwing tomatoes at the float.
Prattville Pride leaders had been monitoring these kinds of intimidating statements made in the days since far-right groups and media drew attention to their participation in the parade and made a simple request of the city: extra monitoring while they stage their float and two officers to escort the float.
Instead, Mayor Bill Gillespie responded by removing Prattville Pride’s float from the parade entirely, citing safety concerns.
The U.S. and numerous other Western countries have longstanding policies of not negotiating with terrorists, although they have on occasion broken those stances themselves. But the policies have good reason: negotiating with terrorists rewards and encourages more terrorism.
That’s what has happened here with the Christmas parade. When most people think of terrorism, they think of bomb threats, or shootings. But threatening to throw cold water on people in freezing temperatures, or to damage their property, is still terrorism.
The definition of terrorism is to use threats of violence and intimidation to achieve a political aim. It appears the City of Prattville believes that threats posed a risk to the safety of either individuals or property at the parade, clearly made with the intent of intimidating Prattville Pride to drop out or be removed from the parade.
By allowing these threats to justify the removal of Prattville Pride, the city has set a precedent that anyone wishing to challenge the inclusion of a group they disagree with merely gin up enough intimidation to force the city to remove them.
What happens if another group makes threats to the parade if Prattville Pride is not reinstated?
This is the slippery slope we end up on when we answer terroristic threats with anything other than punishing those who make them. The city will likely learn that lesson the hard way later today with a court order from a judge forcing them to provide protection for their citizens while allowing them to practice their free speech.
