Editing Chehalis, Washington (section)

===Hate crimes and supremacy===
Chehalis has not been immune to a history of hate crimes, racism, and white supremacy groups. An article written in the Chehalis Bee-Nugget newspaper from 1909 details a letter from a Black man who considered Chehalis a "white man's city" and would not move to the town. While the piece mentions that the people of Chehalis have not exhibited hostilities towards non-White people, the editorial does report that a Black family has never resided in the city while also acknowledging a lack of representation for citizens of Asian heritage.<ref>{{cite news |title=This Is No Place For... |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aUxUAAAAIBAJ |access-date=November 21, 2023 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=November 26, 1909 |page=9}}</ref> At the beginning of the 1910 [[Chehalis Gophers]] baseball season, the club and its ballplayers participated in a minstrel show, receiving positive reviews in a local paper.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Minstrel Farce Is Great |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oXs9AAAAIBAJ |access-date=November 10, 2023 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=April 22, 1910 |page=12}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Minstrel Show A Success |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ons9AAAAIBAJ |access-date=November 10, 2023 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=April 29, 1910 |page=1}}</ref> An "anti-Greek and Italian" movement existed in Chehalis around 1911 that demanded to abolish the employment of foreigners within the town.<ref>{{cite news |title=Another Anti-Greek Gathering |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-weekly-chronicle/1911/07-19/page-6 |access-date=April 16, 2024 |work=The Centralia Weekly Chronicle |date=July 19, 1911 |page=6}}</ref>

In 1924, a rally for the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was held at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds and the estimated attendance was recorded between 20,000 and 30,000 members from around Washington. During the Great Depression, Chehalis and the surrounding cities and counties saw a rise in the participation of "Silver Shirts", a group that followed similar aspects to the Nazi movement of the era.<ref name="LCNST">{{cite news |last1=Voie |first1=Brittany |title=Lewis County No Stranger to Extreme Right, Supremacist Groups |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/voice-of-voie-lewis-county-no-stranger-to-extreme-right-supremacist-groups,24295 |access-date=September 19, 2023 |work=The Chronicle |date=August 18, 2017}}</ref> In a [[Life (magazine)|Life magazine]] article from March 1939, the publication reported regarding [[hate groups]] and said Chehalis had a hate group leader in it, purportedly a local insurance man.<ref>{{cite news |title=Fascism In America - A Cell In Chehalis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lU0EAAAAMBAJ |access-date=February 23, 2024 |work=Life Magazine |date=March 6, 1939 |page=62}}</ref> A trio of female high school students wrote to the magazine, believing that the feature "did not accurately depict the feelings of local citizens" just the insurance man and his followers, and a follow-up photo article from Life in May showcased the city's actual more varied and "American ideals" atmosphere which tended to more highlight inclusion, tolerance and diversity. It was noted that the leader of that fascist group had left town after the original story had published.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Moeller |first1=Bill |title=Remembering When Chehalis Made Life Magazine |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/bill-moeller-commentary-remembering-when-chehalis-made-life-magazine,313753 |access-date=June 9, 2023 |work=The Chronicle |date=February 8, 2023 |quote=Based on an original article from July 23, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Pictures To The Editors - Chehalis: Students' View |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rUkEAAAAMBAJ |access-date=February 23, 2024 |work=Life Magazine |date=May 15, 1939 |pages=86–87}}</ref>

After [[World War II]], the emergence of the [[John Birch Society]] (JBS), which opposed the [[Civil Rights Movement]] of the 1960s, began to circulate in and around the community, though much of the group’s noted activity occurred outside Chehalis with the group opening a bookstore in Centralia. Active and open participation from county residents in either the KKK or the JBS began to wane in the 1970s and 1980s, and the last activity of either group was recorded as taking place at the end of the century.<ref name="LCNST"/> The city, due to its early history and present-day lack of a Black population, was listed as a [[sundown town]] though there is no evidence the city ever had sundown policies.<ref name="AWSWH">{{cite news |last1=McDonald |first1=Julie |title=Are White Supremacists Welcome Here? Is Lewis County Racist? |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/julie-mcdonald-commentary-are-white-supremacists-welcome-here-is-lewis-county-racist,321738 |access-date=September 19, 2023 |work=The Chronicle |date=July 3, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Loewen |first1=James W. |title=Sundown Towns - Chehalis, Washington |url=https://justice.tougaloo.edu/sundowntown/chehalis-wa/ |access-date=September 19, 2023 |work=History and Social Justice}}</ref>

Residents in the city in more recent years have protested in favor of the [[Black Lives Matter]] movement, holding two demonstrations in 2020 at the Lewis County Courthouse after the [[murder of George Floyd]]. The second event was attended by approximately 300 people who knelt for [[8 minutes 46 seconds]] in protest against [[police brutality]]. Notwithstanding a brief interruption, the assembly remained peaceful.<ref>{{cite news |last1=McCarty |first1=Emily |title=Small town activists show up big for Black Lives Matter |url=https://crosscut.com/2020/06/small-town-activists-show-big-black-lives-matter |access-date=February 29, 2024 |work=Crosscut (Cascade PBS) |date=June 19, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Gardner |first1=Jackson |title=More Than 300 People Kneel in Chehalis in Second Demonstration Against Police Brutality, Racism |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/more-than-300-people-kneel-in-chehalis-in-second-demonstration-against-police-brutality-racism,3304 |access-date=February 29, 2024 |work=The Chronicle |date=June 2, 2020}}</ref>

A rise in [[LGBT people in the United States#Hate crimes|hate crimes against LGBTQ people]] in the 21st century also affected Chehalis, usually perpetrated or led by non-Chehalis residents. In the 2020s, a billboard in Chehalis supporting LGBTQ and racial equality movements was vandalized.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mikkelsen |first1=Drew |title=Billboard supporting people of color and LGBTQ communities vandalized in Lewis County |url=https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/chehalis-billboard-hamilton-lgbtq-people-of-color/281-02d5fb83-ca85-400f-8443-13d2fbeea18d |access-date=June 28, 2023 |work=KING 5 News |date=September 21, 2020}}</ref>  And a drag show held in June 2023 at the Chehalis Theater was a site of controversy when a political fundraiser that referred to drag performers as "groomers" was hosted nearby without theater approval by the Lewis County GOP, headed by a non-Chehalis resident, and timed so as to coincide with the drag show in the Chehalis Theater and a similarly protested [[LGBT pride|Pride]] event that had been held in Centralia earlier that day. The GOP’s actions were shortly after condemned by local leaders.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Vander Stoep |first1=Isabel |title=Pollock Doubles Down on Criticism After Outrage From Lewis County Republicans |url= https://www.chronline.com/stories/pollock-doubles-down-on-criticism-after-outrage-from-lewis-county-republicans,321228 |access-date=July 9, 2024 |work=The Chronicle |date=June 21, 2023}}</ref><ref name="AWSWH"/> A few weeks later, a single-evening hate crime act occurred that targeted LGBTQ charities and symbols within various locations of the city.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Vander Stoep |first1=Isabel |title=Four Lewis County LGBTQ+ Advocate Sites Vandalized in One Night |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/four-lewis-county-lgbtqplus-advocate-sites-vandalized-in-one-night,321415 |access-date=June 28, 2023 |work=The Chronicle |date=June 26, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Girgis |first1=Lauren |title=Flags stolen, vandalized throughout Washington during Pride month |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/flags-stolen-vandalized-throughout-washington-during-pride-month/ |access-date=April 16, 2024 |work=The Seattle Times |date=July 7, 2023}}</ref> The Chehalis Friendship Fence was vandalized during the hate crime attack.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Baumgardner |first1=Gwen |title=Lewis County sees wave of LGBTQIA+ spaces vandalized, believed to be hate crimes |url=https://mynorthwest.com/3904493/lewis-county-sees-wave-of-lgbtqia-spaces-vandalized-believed-to-be-hate-crimes/ |access-date=July 3, 2023 |work=KIRO 7 News |date=June 30, 2023}}</ref> The fence was repainted days later through a volunteer effort.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wenzelburger |first1=Jared |title=Volunteers Repaint Friendship Fence in Chehalis After Vandalism |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/in-focus-volunteers-repaint-friendship-fence-in-chehalis-after-vandalism,321599 |access-date=July 3, 2023 |work=The Chronicle |date=June 30, 2023}}</ref> The fence was targeted again in February 2024 after a group of three people, all with ties to a variety of hate groups, as well as previous hate crime acts, splashed the artwork with black paint. The perpetrators, who were not from Chehalis, were chased down by a local resident and caught; fellow neighbors were able to wipe the paint off before it dried but the damages were severe enough that parts of the local attraction needed to be repainted.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fitzgerald |first1=Emily |title=Three arrested for vandalizing Friendship Fence in Chehalis after neighbor gives chase |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/three-arrested-for-vandalizing-friendship-fence-in-chehalis-after-neighbor-gives-chase,335356 |access-date=April 16, 2024 |work=The Chronicle |date=February 26, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Fitzgerald |first1=Emily |title=Bail set at $20K for three Chehalis 'Friendship Fence' vandalism suspects |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/bail-set-at-20k-for-three-chehalis-friendship-fence-vandalism-suspects,335438 |access-date=April 16, 2024 |work=The Chronicle |date=February 26, 2024}}</ref> The trio were found guilty of misdemeanor [[malicious mischief]] but were acquitted by jury on hate crime charges.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fitzgerald |first1=Emily |title=Lewis County jury acquits three Chehalis Friendship Fence vandals of hate crime charges |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/lewis-county-jury-acquits-three-chehalis-friendship-fence-vandals-of-hate-crime-charges,362592 |access-date=October 3, 2024 |work=The Chronicle |date=September 27, 2024}}</ref>