At first blush, seeing Trump flags in a scrap metal dumpster being pulled by a large truck seemed like an artist statement for “Dump Trump.” Large, empty truck cabs with Trump flags pulling no rig seemed symbolic for carrying nothing - or lost cargo.

However, this truck train is a show of support for the 45th president, by people choosing to remain in their cars, windows up, largely unrecognizable, sometimes with license plates covered. The history of White Supremacy includes masked people making threats and using grand gestures to get their point across, like fire, fireworks, burning crosses, bonfires, and other loud events.

However the big truck caravan concept that is driving nationwide through small towns (including the one that attempted to corral a Biden campaign bus off the road, and the #MAGADrag event in NYC that resulted in reports of police pushing and arresting Black Lives Matter protesters, a truck running into a counter-protester, and halted traffic on the White Stone Bridge which moved up to the Mario Cuomo Bridge to stall traffic) rolled through Beacon two weekends in a row, past Fishkill, and up to Poughkeepsie, and drove within 20 feet of the early voting location at Fishkill Town Hall, as people waited in line along side the road on Rte. 52. This was days before the Town of Fishkill or the Board of Elections decided to move people away from the gravel in the road to in front of the Police Department.

A Little Backdrop Background To Day 1 Early Voting

While getting ready for Day 1 of Early Voting, this article came across the wires about a rally fiercely defending the 2nd Amendment that was originally scheduled and approved by its village’s board to be near an early voting location.

Prior to the first slow-motion truck drive-by the first weekend of early voting, a rally scheduled in Montgomery, NY that encouraged guns in its Eventbrite invitation (the online invitation was later taken down) was to be held quite close to Montgomery’s early voting location. Their Mayor Steve Bracia, who is running for Congress, didn’t see a problem with it, but after pushback, agreed to their Town Supervisor Brian Maher’s offer to have the rally at another location. Pictures from the event included the same kind of trucks that have been driving all around Beacon, Fishkill, and Poughkeepsie.

Instant Traffic Stop By Vehicle Demonstrations Vs Marching On Foot

These truck trains can instantly cause backup or close a road or bridge. A march on foot would need a lot of permitting in order to achieve this effect. In Beacon, there were 27 protests over the summer that the Beacon Police Department accompanied, as stated by Acting Chief Frost in a recent City Council 10/26/2020 Workshop meeting explaining the Police Budget and overtime that is incurred from parades and demonstrations.

Turns out, Beacon has a number of parades requiring overtime by police to make moving street closures and barricading side streets. The usual community parades were canceled due to the pandemic. However, the protests accounted for the overtime estimated instead of the parades for the 2020 Police budget.

Most, if all of these protests in Beacon, were on foot, and moved relatively quickly, despite larger turnouts than others. While both demonstrations were loud and involved shouting, the vehicle version involved car honking throughout the drive-by, as well as sirens by retired unmarked fire trucks and possibly retired unmarked ambulances, as some locals have reported. The City of Beacon needed to answer to the public that a fire truck spotted was privately owned, and not representing a municipality. This display of an emergency vehicle caused confusion with the public. In business, this can be likened to trademark infringement.

It is not clear if any vehicle participants were volunteer fire fighters from other communities who used their sirens for audio effect. One Beacon resident observed that when Marchers marching for Black live mattering more past her house, she could turn up the TV if she did not want to hear the chanting. However, she stated that she could not drown out the sound when the truck train slowly drove by.

During the 2nd truck train last Sunday on the last early voting weekend, a truck broke down on Beacon’s Main Street for 1 hour, causing a part of Main Street to be closed while police and the truck operator waited for a tow truck company who could tow a truck that large, according to Beacon Detective Sargent Jason Johnson, who helped on the scene with several other police officers who safely diverted traffic.

While several large vehicles successfully drove around the truck, one van did collide with the truck while attempting to pass, but no one was injured, according to the Detective.

Fishkill Police Hold Up Traffic On I-84 For Truck Train And Allegedly Yell At A White Beaconite Needing To Get Home

A Beaconite who was driving with his family after an an outing at an apple orchard shared his tale of being held on I-84 for over 20 minutes:

“We were coming back from Fishkill Farms and took the Route 52 exit on 84. Our timing put us right in the thick of the caravan. Doubtful they had a parade permit (right?) — but Fishkill PD were obviously in the loop.

Editor’s Note: Fishkill Police did confirm that they knew of the truck caravan in advance, but did not know that Town Hall was an early voting location.

The officer in the intersection kept waving the trucks through with no break for offramp traffic, even though it got hugely backed up, and there were multiple opportunities to pause the caravan and let folks through.

“When we tried to engage the officer, he barked ‘You go when *I* say so!’ Definitely a hostile vibe — except between the cop and the people passing in those trucks. He seemed pretty chummy with them.

“It felt like voter intimidation to me, coming as close as it did to the early voting site. And the whole police part of this felt pretty chilling. The caravan definitely drove for longer than 20 minutes. Felt like an eternity. I did shout “Impeached!” out the window a couple of times, which felt good (even if it’s not the most dignified lesson for my children).

“I think we may look into filing a complaint with the Mayor’s Office in Fishkill. Not sure where else. Anyway, icky vibes on a Sunday, but I managed not to get arrested, and we had a productive conversation with the kiddos, so I guess all’s well.”

Motorcyclists Frighten Black Mother And Kids; Fishkill Police Officer Allegedly Laughs

A mother who is Black was driving her children to early voting, and wrote into ALBB to share her story of being frightened by motorcyclists who drove past her car and yelled into it, scaring her children. Her name is Melanie Smalls and her story is below:

“Sunday morning I decided to get me and my two sons up and go vote early down at Fishkill Town Hall around 1:30pm-2:00pm. On my way, I got caught in the Trump/Pence motorcade on 52. Driving passed the old bowling spot which is now a storage unit and little passed the houses, the motorcade slowed down entirely! And I mean like a stand still.

“I realized that the Town Hall was just ahead and they was intimidating the voters there. Three old white men with long beards must of been way back; I looked in my rear view mirror of my SUV and saw them. Mind you, I was behind a Fishkill Police SUV. When it started moving, the 3 motorcycles from behind me, they rode by my SUV and started screaming and shouting in my car with my kids in the back ‘Trump 2020.’

“My kids started crying. I started to get scared because they are crazy. I honked my car for the police, but I could see the officer laughing in his left side mirror as he waved them to get in front of him to get with the rest.

“I’m a strong Black woman. Very tough. My parents ain’t raise no suckers and I damn sure was not about to let them intimidate me into not voting. I was not going to show my boys that. These people are very scary. Their scare tactics are horrible, atrocious. The Fishkill Police should be entirely ashamed of themselves. They stopped traffic for that.”

Truck Train Up In Poughkeepsie

A mother who is Black and lives in Poughkeepsie reported seeing the caravan there during the first weekend of early voting. She said:

“We saw them by Poughkeepsie Galleria (not sure of the time, but definitely the morning). My thoughts are that they are deep. I wasn’t up here during the 2016 election, but on Staten Island they weren’t as visible then. Felt like a sneak attack when the numbers revealed itself. I remember staying up all night well into 3am because it wasn’t very clear who actually, really won. Remember that? The announcement came at like 4am officially. My 3rd grader predicts Trump will be re-elected. He’s developed some strong political opinions since introducing him to Civics.”

Beacon’s Experience With The Truck Train

During the first weekend of early voting, the truck train came through, horns blazing. One person who is regularly out on the street reported in that eggs were thrown from a car to people on the sidewalk.

During the second week on Sunday November 1, 2020, more people wrote in to ALBB with their experiences. @janxchris said: “I witnessed A group of people in a truck, in that parade yelling the “n word” at people of color. That’s not a difference of opinion, that’s an act of racism. And no, that’s never okay, anywhere. You can have opinions, but the days of accepting racism as “opinions”are over.

Another person sent us video of motorcyclists yelling “White Power!” in front of Beacon’s Post Office. You can watch the video here and below.

As the caravan rolled down Main Street, many locals came out to watch it. Many of them said nothing, but had hair raised, cameras up. Some people shouted “Racists!” from the apartment windows above. Some people gave a thumbs down, as you can see in the video above as a caravan participant yells “white power.” According to @cezaleo__, some onlookers displayed their middle finger. One person, according to @cezaleo__, showed their breasts - or chest. It is unknown at this time why the person removed their shirt.

When people marched down the middle of Main Street for Black lives mattering more, the feeling was intense, but many visitors and locals showed signs of support. For the truck train, the feeling was more apprehension.

How Does Beacon’s Local Government Feel About The Caravan?

ALBB did reach out to every single City Council member as well as Mayor Lee Kyriacou and the City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero with different questions regarding this truck train. Council members were asked if they wanted to submit a comment of any kind regarding this caravan. It is unknown if they knew the details of the 2 caravans, which so far, have only floated in social media, unless it was seen in person.

Mayor Kyriacou was asked several questions, which included how he felt local Beaconites should respond to caravans like this, to receiving racial insults, and how calling Black people the “n-word” would be tolerated in a place of business. Mayor Kyriacou did not respond to ALBB’s questions, but he did speak generally to these tumultuous times during this week’s City Council meeting, which you can listen to here.

Terry Nelson, who is Black, was the only City Council member who responded to ALBB’s questions. He is also the only Black person who is a City Council member at moment, and was appointed by Mayor Kyriacou to lead the Police Reform Committee. Terry’s full quote in response to ALBB’s questions is below.

During that same City Council meeting in which the Mayor alluded to the issue, Terry made direct reference, and was so far the only City Council member who made mention of the truck train during his Report (all City Council members can give a “Report” on whatever they like during public City Council meetings). During his Report, Terry recalled the first time he was called the “n-word” when he was a child, and how it stung him.

Terry’s response to ALBB regarding this truck train was this:

“​The participants in yesterday's caravan were exercising their freedom of speech, but those rights end when their words are used to instigate a negative reaction. Could you please ask any members of that caravan what does screaming the ‘n word’ at a mother and her children have to do with supporting the occupant of the White House? That display was not about supporting the president. It was about taking advantage of an opportunity to spew hate. I would love to hear some Trump supporters condemn that behavior, I won't hold my breath. They are complicit.”

Video of some of the truck caravan is below.