The former NFL Apostor Chris Kluwe arrived at national headlines more than a decade for his vocal support for same -sex marriage while playing for Minnesota vikings.
This week, the Orange County Native attracted attention closer to home when he criticized a “Maga” acrostic plaque that will be placed outside the Central Library of Huntington Beach to celebrate his 50th anniversary, saying that the ideology is “deeply corrupt, unmistakable -democracy and most importantly … explicitly a Nazi movement “.
“It is possible that you have replaced a swastika with a red hat, but that is what it is,” he told the Council during Tuesday's meeting. The cameras exploded in applause.
Then, in what Kluwe said it was an act of “peaceful civil disobedience,” took some steps towards the Dais of the Council, where police officers surrounded him immediately. His plan was to stand near the podium until they removed it, he said. The measure took him to the city's prison with a delicacy appointment to alter an assembly, Kluwe told Times in an interview on Thursday.
“I have the responsibility to take a step forward and do something,” said Huntington Beach resident, 15. “That is what I also hope to see other people who enjoy that position of privilege and power … that take this example and say: 'Do you know what? I can do that too. I can help protect the oppressed. Because I shouldn't be in people who are being oppressed to fight alone. ”
The bronze plaque, unanimously approved by the City Council later at the meeting, has the words “magical, attractive, galvanizing, adventurers” placed vertically in the middle. Together, the words form the acronym “Maga” for “Make American Great Again” used by President Trump and his supporters.
The city council member, Gray Van Der Mark, said it was quite scary for a few seconds when Kluwe walked to the platform in front of the delay, before turning around and putting her hands behind her back.
“I wanted his five minutes of fame, and that is what he got,” he said.
The plaque is the last controversy in a city whose conservative leaders have often intervened in divisive national problems in recent years. Some residents of a lifetime, many of whom differ politically from most of the council, have complained that the issues assumed by the body deviate too far from critical local concerns and, on the other hand, have increased polarization within The city.
“The Council is not really interested in listening to the community,” Kluwe said. “They just want to do everything possible to develop their own visibility and power in the hope of advancing in Trump's orbit. And that is not how the city government should work. ”
In the last two years, Huntington Beach has prevented the rainbow flag from flying on the town hall every spring in celebration of the month of pride, created a review panel to project children's books in the city library in search of sexual content , and presented a local measure approved by the voters that will allow officials to require the identification of voters in the surveys.
Last month, the Board voted to make Huntington Beach a “non -sanctioning city” for illegal immigration.
“What you are seeing in Huntington Beach is a microcosm of what is happening at the national level,” Kluwe told The Times. “This is what happens when Maga gets power.”
The tension in the city has been building, Kluwe said, and the reference to Maga on the plate down to celebrate one of the historical institutions of the city was a step too far.
While being handcuffed, Kluwe said he said he really didn't want to be doing what he had done. He smiled when three officers took him out of the cameras in the midst of shouts and cheers of the crowd.
“I wanted to make that very clear to the Council that in a normal meeting of the City Council should not be happening,” he said. “It is assumed that the meetings of the municipal council are boring. We should discuss which street is paid below. But because they have kidnapped him for his own personal interest, we, as citizens … We have to let them know that this is not appropriate. “
The writer of the Pilot Personal Matt Szabo contributed to this report.
