On Friday, a 35-year-old apparent racial extremist named Jeremy Christian allegedly stabbed three people on a light-rail train in Portland, killing two of them, after they interceded to stop Christian from harassing two teenage girls with dark skin, one apparently in a hijab. On Saturday, about 1,000 people gathered in Portland to honor the three men who intervened: Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche, 23, a recent graduate of Reed College, and Rick Best, 53, an Army veteran, both of whom died; and David-Cole Fletcher, 21, who survived.
"They didn't have capes," local activist Ellie Eaton said at the vigil. "They were just human beings that we all have the capacity to be like." On Monday, President Trump called the attack "unacceptable," and said the "victims were standing up to hate and intolerance," in a tweet from his official POTUS account:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Judge threatens Trump team with criminal contemptSpeed Read James Boasberg attempts to hold the White House accountable for disregarding court orders over El Salvador deportation flights
-
Biden slams Trump's Social Security cutsSpeed Read In his first major public address since leaving office, Biden criticized the Trump administration's 'damage' and 'destruction'
-
El Salvador refuses to return US deporteeSpeed Read President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador said he would not send back the unlawfully deported Kilmar Ábrego García
-
Trump says electronics tariff break won't lastSpeed Read The tariff exemptions on smartphones, laptops and other electronic devices are temporary, the administration says
-
Man charged in arson attack on Pennsylvania's ShapiroSpeed Read Governor Josh Shapiro and his family were sleeping when someone set fire to his Harrisburg mansion
-
White House pushes for oversight of Columbia UniversitySpeed Read The Trump administration is considering placing the school under a consent decree
-
Supreme Court backs wrongly deported migrantSpeed Read The Trump administration must 'facilitate' the return of wrongfully deported migrant Kilmar Ábrego García from El Salvador, Supreme Court says
-
Two judges bar war-powers deportationsSpeed Read The Trump administration was blocked from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport more alleged Venezuelan gang members
