August 6, 2009
St. Louis, Missouri

I am a friend of Kenneth Gladney, who was attacked this evening at the Russ Carnahan town hall meeting. I was at the town hall meeting as well. I witnessed the entire melee. Kenneth was approached by a SEIU representative as Kenneth was handing out “Don’t Tread on Me” flags to other conservatives. The SEIU representative demanded to know why a black man was handing out the “Don’t Tread on Me” flags. The SEIU member then used a racial slur against Kenneth, then punched him in the face. Kenneth fell to the ground. Another yelled racial epithets at Kenneth as he kicked him. Kenneth was also brutally attacked by two other men who are SEIU members and an unidentified woman. The three men were clearly SEIU members, as they were wearing t-shirts with the SEIU logo.

They punched Kenneth in the face and kicked him in the back and his head numerous times. Mr. Gladney was beaten badly. One assailant fled on foot. Three others were arrested. Kenneth is currently at St. John’s Mercy Hospital being treated for his many injuries. Mr. Gladney was merely expressing his freedom of speech by handing out flags. He in no way provoked anything, as evidenced by the fact that three people were arrested. We hope that Ken recovers from these injuries, however he is in great pain at this time. I am Mr. Gladney’s friend and attorney. We will be pursuing legal action at our disposal. This was a truly senseless hate crime carried out by racist union thugs.

Mr. Gladney is a tea party supporter and conservative activist, although he subscribes to no particular political party. We are calling on the SEIU, Representative Carnhan, and President Obama to condemn the racist actions of these thugs. In the days to come, we will be investigating who these thugs actually work for and how strong their alliances to other various left-wing organizations may be.

We hope the St. Louis Tea Party and Tea Party organizations around the country will protest the SEIU offices in every major city across America to expose the These strongarm actions must stop.

Regards,
David B. Brown