Patriot Prayer Fundraising Page Disappears After Campaign To Shut It Down

"Businesses working with citizens against hate is powerful."

(Liz Allan)

A campaign to remove the fundraising page for traveling far-right protest group Patriot Prayer has succeeded, less than a week after The Oregonian published an ill-timed op-ed that characterized the group's Vancouver-based leader Joey Gibson as a "modern day prophet."

Gibson's rallies have drawn violent protesters to downtown Portland from outside Oregon and he has close affiliations with the Proud Boys, an all-male fraternity that describes its members as "western chauvinists."

CAIR Oregon, which advocates for Muslim civil rights, urged people upset with the Oregonian column—which minimized Gibson's role in igniting violent riots in Portland—to call the fundraising site GivingFuel to ask them to delete the group's donation page. The page now reroutes to a 404 error page.

On Twitter, CAIR Oregon said its staff had spoken with the website's operators who told them the page had been permanently deleted.

"We are grateful for all of the allies all across the country that helped us in this endeavor. GivingFuel received calls from everywhere. This was a strong community victory," the group tweeted. "We also are grateful for the courage that GivingFuel displayed here. Businesses working with citizens against hate is powerful. Please give Giving Fuel some love today."

Update, 11:10 pm: CAIR says it has confirmed with GivingFuel that the company deleted Patriot Prayer's donation page for violations of its terms of service—violations that allegedly including "advocating and celebrating violence."

"When businesses cooperate with community and social justice organizations," said CAIR-Oregon Chairman Zakir Khan, "this allows us to overcome the rising tide of hate in this country. We hope more entities and agencies will learn from GivingFuel's example of engaging with marginalized communities to work towards productive solutions in stemming the flow of funds to fascist paramilitary groups."

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