Kansas City protest is billed as a Save Our Children event, but will QAnon show up?
Protesters plan to gather outside City Hall in Kansas City on Saturday for a rally that organizers say will bring awareness to the issue of child sex trafficking.
But experts who track extremist groups say that many of these “Save Our Children” events taking place across the country in recent weeks have been co-opted by QAnon, a global conspiracy-driven movement that pushes the baseless belief that governments throughout the world are being controlled by a secret cabal of Democrats, Hollywood elites, the “deep state,” Satanic pedophiles and cannibals.
Those evil forces will be brought to justice by President Donald Trump, followers believe, in an epic battle of biblical proportions.
QAnon adherents, experts say, are showing up at the “Save our Children” rallies to promote their conspiracy theories and spread them to a wider — and more mainstream — audience.
“It seems like they’ve hijacked the ‘Save Our Children’ movement, infiltrating it and putting their spin on it,” said Daryl Johnson, a former terrorism analyst for the Department of Homeland Security.
“Think about children and how vulnerable they are. The issue really tugs at the hearts of anybody. But they’re linking it to their conspiracy theories, which are crazy and very dangerous.”
Organizers of the Kansas City rally, whose online event page shows that 2,200 have expressed interest in attending, say it has nothing to do with QAnon. The “Save Our Children” event, they say, runs from 5-7 p.m. and will be joined by a group of protesters who are planning to march during the same time frame as well as a biker organization whose members plan to ride there together.
“There’s been a lot of people trying to associate the group with QAnon and conspiracy theories,” said Alexis Petrin, one of the protest organizers. “We have received some backlash about it…
“We have been quick to jump in there and explain that’s not what this is, you’re misinformed. There’s probably people in the group that do believe in certain things, but I can’t control over 2,000 people’s beliefs. But I can tell you what our group was created for, and it wasn’t about any of that.”
Petrin said she and the other organizers “have always been passionate about bringing awareness to human trafficking, but we thought like now is the best time because everybody is trying to get so aware, so we thought we might as well jump in and run with it.”
In some cities, however, QAnon adherents have shown up at “Save Our Children” protests, displaying signs that push some of their conspiracy theories.
At a protest in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on Aug. 22, a TV news video showed someone holding a sign that contained the word #Pizzagate and a large “Q.” Pizzagate, a common QAnon term, is a baseless conspiracy theory that Democrats were running a child sex slavery ring out of a Washington, D.C., pizza shop. In 2016, a North Carolina man entered the restaurant with an AR-15 rifle and a .38-caliber revolver and fired at a locked closet door during what he said was an investigation of the claim.
On Aug. 16, a protester at a “Save Our Children” event in Mishawaka, Indiana, carried a sign that purported to show the molecular structure of adrenochrome, a chemical compound formed by the oxidation of adrenaline, the hormone produced during times of acute stress. Some QAnon followers believe that the compound has psychedelic effects and that global elites are torturing children and extracting it from their glands to use during their Satanic rituals.
A few apparent QAnon followers have posted comments on the “Save Our Children KC” Facebook page. One said “wwg1wga,” which stands for the QAnon mantra, “Where we go one, we go all.” On Monday, the same man posted a 13-minute QAnon promotional video on his own Facebook page called “Q: The Plan to Save the World.”
And the Facebook page of one woman who said she was attending the “Save Our Children KC” protest contained several QAnon-related posts, including a video pushing the theory that Trump is leading a secret battle against shadowy forces.
The QAnon issue surfaced this week in the Jackson County Legislature.
Legislator Crystal Williams brought it up Monday morning during a committee meeting, shortly before the Legislature had a hearing on a resolution dealing with human trafficking. The resolution, which passed unanimously, supported efforts in Jackson County and the state of Missouri “to create awareness of and bring an end to human trafficking.”
Williams said some constituents had contacted her and were concerned about the timing of the resolution.
“I had people asking me if this was being pushed by the QAnon theories that have been involved in the presidential election, where they have been accusing Democrats of child trafficking and sex trafficking,” she said. “This issue has become really politicized.”
Legislator Jeanie Lauer said the measure had no connection whatsoever to QAnon.
“I can unequivocally say that this is not driven by anything other than the need to address the issue in and of itself,” Lauer said. “It is not backed by any political group, it is not a political issue as far as a party issue in my opinion, and (human trafficking) is happening all across the country, including in our own back yard here.”
Williams told The Star she has serious concerns about QAnon.
“I’ve been involved in policy and politics for three decades,” she said. “None of us have ever seen anything like this tornadic ridiculousness we’re seeing now. The stuff that they’re saying is insane.
“What worries me about it is I’m afraid it could actually foment the violence. I’m willing to ignore the mouthy people who don’t know what they’re talking about. But these people are another level. I know that there’s a tipping point into the crazy, and these people have definitely tipped.”
“Q” drops and cabals
In late October 2017, a person or group going by the alias “Q” began posting releases called “Q drops” on the 4chan anonymous message board.
As more information was released, followers — who believe “Q” is a military intelligence insider with extremely high security clearance — pieced together the cryptic clues to reveal what they said was a plan to save humanity and destroy the pedophile rings operating in the shadows.
According to the theory, every president since Ronald Reagan has been part of the “deep state” cabal and the world is now experiencing a covert war between the forces of good and evil. There are still good guys in government, the theory goes, and they have a plan to reclaim the world from the cabal and return it to the people.
In order to do that, they needed a presidential candidate who could win, and win big, according to the theory. So the “good patriots” in the military, along with their global partners, asked Trump to run so they could take back America.
The good guys are winning the war, QAnon followers say, but most of the criminals remain free. That’s where the “Q intelligence dissemination program” came in, creating an online grassroots movement called “The Great Awakening.”
As the movement grew, the conspiracy theories spread from the dark corners of the web to places like Reddit, then Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, with QAnon adherents telling those seeking the truth to “follow the white rabbit.”
They say that soon, Trump is going to expose and overthrow the evildoers — well-known politicians, celebrities and CEOs — and throw them in prison at Guantanamo Bay or, some say, execute them.
The FBI last year warned that fringe conspiracy theories, including QAnon, are a domestic terrorism threat and said the issue would likely intensify during the presidential election cycle.
And in a report issued in July, the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point Military Academy said QAnon “is arguably no longer simply a fringe conspiracy theory but an ideology that has demonstrated its capacity to radicalize to violence individuals at an alarming speed.”
The report cited several examples of violent crimes it said were linked to QAnon, including a June 2018 incident in which Matthew Wright of Henderson, Nevada, drove a homemade armored truck onto a bridge near Hoover Dam and blocked traffic. After a 90-minute standoff with police, a search of his vehicle found two assault-style rifles and two handguns, 900 rounds of ammunition and a flashbang device. The report said that after his arrest, Wright wrote letters to government officials, politicians and Trump in which he used QAnon phrases and language.
QAnon has been growing rapidly on social media in recent months, and companies are scrambling to curtail its spread. Last week, Facebook said it was banning groups and accounts associated with QAnon. Twitter has taken a similar action, and TikTok has blocked searches of the word along with associated terms, including “wwg1wga.”
The movement also is making inroads into politics. Trump has retweeted accounts that push QAnon theories, and adherents show up at his rallies in attire bearing QAnon imagery and slogans.
Earlier this month, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a QAnon supporter and candidate for the U.S. House, won her Republican primary. Trump called her a “future Republican star” and invited her to attend his nomination acceptance speech at the White House on Thursday.
And in Colorado, U.S. House candidate Lauren Boebert, a gun-rights activist who has voiced support for QAnon, in June upset five-term congressman Scott Tipton in the Republican primary.
Greene and Boebert are among a growing list of candidates who have expressed support for the movement.
Trump has refused to disavow QAnon. Last week, an NBC News reporter asked him at a press briefing about “the belief that you are secretly saving the world from this satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals.”
“I haven’t heard that,” Trump replied. “But is that supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing?”
On Tuesday, two members of Congress introduced a bipartisan resolution in the U.S. House that condemns QAnon and rejects the conspiracy theories it promotes.
Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-New Jersey, and Rep. Denver Riggleman, R-Virginia, said the conspiracy theories “are undermining public trust in America’s democratic institutions and are beginning to actively influence US elections.”
The resolution encourages all federal law enforcement agencies to continue to strengthen their focus on preventing violence and other criminal activity committed by extremists motivated by fringe conspiracy theories.
“Conspiracy theories that falsely blame secret cabals and marginalized groups for the problems of society have long fueled prejudice, violence and terrorism,” Malinowski said. “It’s time for us to come together across party lines to say that QAnon has no place in our nation’s political discourse.”
Surprised at response
Petrin said she got involved in the child trafficking issue because she has a 1-year-old son.
“I want to try to make this world a safer place for him,” she said. “I also have a lot of family members who have been victims of sexual abuse and things like that, so I feel really passionate about this.”
Petrin said organizers started planning the Kansas City protest about a month ago and created the “Save Our Children KC” Facebook group this month. It now has 2,100 members.
“I’m a little surprised, I guess, but I’m really thankful that it has gotten so big, because it’s such an important issue,” she said. “I’m just glad that people are realizing that and coming together to help spread awareness about human trafficking.”
Petrin said her group is working on creating a website and a petition calling for more severe punishment for those who commit sex crimes against children. They’re also planning another protest for late September.
The nationwide protests originally were called “Save the Children,” Petrin said. That’s also the name of an international humanitarian nonprofit whose donors include Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. The name of the protests was changed to “Save Our Children,” she said, “because people were finding out that it (Save the Children) was associated with not just Bill Gates but I believe the Clintons...They didn’t want to make it political or have anything to do with them.”
“Save the Children” issued a statement Aug. 7 saying the century-old organization had no connection to any protest groups.
“While many people may choose to use our organization’s name as a hashtag to make their point on different issues,“ it said, “we are not affiliated or associated with any of these campaigns.”
On Wednesday morning, Petrin posted some rules about Saturday’s protest. Among them:
“Talk of conspiracy theories and Qanon are NOT something that should be consuming this protest. If you choose to talk about those topics know that you are selfishly taking away from the whole point of this event.”
Signs are encouraged, Petrin said, but “please refrain from putting anything about conspiracy theories or Qanon on them and put human trafficking FACTS on them instead.”
And “absolutely NO CONSPIRACY THEORY or QANON talk with the media,” she said. “If you do choose to speak on those subjects to the media you will be blocked from the group and banned from any future events. That might seem harsh but we can’t tolerate anyone taking away from the true purpose of this event.”
This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
