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My First Death Threat

by Michael C. Gilbert, Jan. 2002
 

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I waited three months from the date of the event described below to publish this piece. I'm afraid that this is telling.

Most nonprofit organizations exist because they support a cause that is, in some important fashion, not adequately supported in the mainstream. We advocate for the rights of people with disabilities because, whatever anyone might say in a survey, when the time comes to take action, accessibility is still a struggle. We shelter the homeless because there is no room at the inn. We push to save the rainforest because the mainstream is still moving toward calamity.

Without the freedom to swim upstream, without the freedom to act differently from the mainstream, without the freedom of expression, I believe there would be no nonprofit sector as we know it.

I hang a United Nations flag outside my home. I have plenty of issues with the U.N., but sometimes it's the closest thing I can think of to a message of world peace and international cooperation.

On November 6, my family and I received a death threat because of it. On the deck of our second floor flat in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, we found a rock with an envelope rubber banded to it. I didn't want to open a strange envelope without consulting with the police, but a few questions from an officer that evening established that I was an unlikely diplomatic target, to say the least. So I opened the envelope and this is what I found:

Take that F---ing New World Order Flag down or I will Fire Bomb you. This is not a Joke!

It's been interesting to track my reactions. At first they were to tell people about it, because I was so dumbfounded. The people I told were equally dumbfounded, but they also asked the obvious question. How would I respond? My first answer was that I wanted to get a bigger flag! I didn't want some lunatic who felt emboldened by the current nasty climate to stop me or anyone else from speaking. But I didn't get a larger flag. I just left the one I had in its place. I did buy insurance. And a fire extinguisher.

After a few days, I noticed a creeping anxiety growing. After the absurdity of the threat had faded, the reality sank in. I had been the victim of a domestic terrorist threat. This was what it meant to feel that my life was in danger:

I worried for the safety of my home and family when I was away. I looked at people who passed my home with suspicion, wondering if they wanted to kill me. I wondered what else I might say that would attract a killer's attention.

The fear crept into other aspects of my life. I read stories about people who have been denied air travel because of the books they were reading and I worried that it would happen to me. I started thinking about keeping more of my opinions to myself.

My friend David was threatened when he wrote a letter to the editor in support of gun control, because the paper published his home address and because he writes a very good letter. Johnette Napolitano has been threatened, more than once I gather, because of the music she writes. Her songs are full of strength and love and I think this bothers some people.

I also know that for far too many people, it goes much further than threats. In the Eighties, my classmate Ben Linder was murdered by U.S. backed terrorists in Nicaragua for daring to teach peasants how to build low impact hydroelectric facilities.

I fear for the thousands of organizations who have been silenced by the current climate. I fear for the millions of people, who want to make the world a better place, who are terrorized into inaction. I fear for the freedom of expression that allows the nonprofit sector to flourish.

Of course, I haven't taken down the flag and I haven't stopped speaking. Please consider this my appeal to you to do likewise.

Have you or your organization been threatened with violence or death for what you've dared to speak? Have you refused to be silenced? Please write to me about it at the Contact Us form below.

If you found this article interesting or helpful,
please consider making a donation to Nonprofit Online News.
It will probably feel good!