Welcome to Wu’s World: Where Free Speech Gets You Arrested

Welcome to Wu’s World: Where Free Speech Gets You Arrested

By Maureen Steele – American-Made Action

(Op-Ed inspired by the statement/article written by Shawn Nelson, posted on X @BostonBroadside.)

There’s something rotten in the cradle of American liberty.

Boston, the city that once stood as a fiery beacon for revolution, free speech, and rebellion against tyranny, has now become a chilling cautionary tale of what happens when progressive power turns authoritarian. Boston District 7 City Council candidate Shawn Nelson lays it all bare: Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration isn’t governing — it’s retaliating. And the message is loud and clear: dissent will be punished.

Let’s call it what it is. This is state-sponsored persecution.

On the first day of Pride Month — the very day Boston’s political elite were polishing their rainbow pins and posting selfies about “inclusion” — two openly gay black men,  Shawn Nelson and Joao DePina, were arrested by Boston Police for protesting on a public street. The charges? Trespassing and disturbing the peace. On a public sidewalk. In a city built on protest.

Let that sink in.

The only thing more offensive than the arrest itself is the smug hypocrisy with which it is being handled. While City Hall beams with performative progressivism, the Wu administration compiled an actual enemies lists of those who dare to question the regime. That’s not liberalism. That’s tyranny wrapped in virtue signaling.

And who made the list? Moms. Veterans. Small business owners. Gays. Minorities. The very people the Left claims to champion. But speak out against mask mandates, vaccine coercion, or Wu’s iron-fisted policies — and suddenly you’re no longer protected by the rainbow flag or civil rights rhetoric. You’re labeled a threat.

Even more disturbing is the unabashed complicity of Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden. His office, which routinely drops protest-related charges for leftist causes, suddenly becomes very interested in “law and order” when the protester’s sign says something unapproved by them. These are the same prosecutors who look the other way when Antifa burns cities — yet drag peaceful protesters into court for years over misdemeanor speech crimes. It’s a grotesque parody of justice.

This isn’t governance. It’s punishment. And it’s happening in the birthplace of liberty.

Mayor Wu’s administration has weaponized law enforcement (with the help of her personal security detail and Sgt. Det. Chin), smeared critics in the press, and turned public safety into a shield for political persecution. Let’s be very clear: You can’t claim to support Black lives, LGBTQ+ rights, or civil liberties while simultaneously jailing gay black men for holding a megaphone. You don’t get to wear the badge of “progress” while running a city like a Communist police state.

The footage of the arrest is damning. The legal justifications are laughable. And the silence from the media? Deafening.

Where are the Democrats? Where are the LGBTQ+ advocacy groups? Where are the civil rights lawyers who claim to fight for justice? They’re nowhere — because the victims don’t fit the narrative. Because the enemy is one of their own. Because it’s easier to ignore tyranny when it’s draped in a Pride flag and preaches climate equity.

But if you think authoritarianism only wears red hats and carries torches, think again. Sometimes it comes dressed in a pantsuit and rides a bicycle.

Mayor Wu’s Boston isn’t a progressive utopia. It’s a soft dictatorship, and the soft part is fading fast. Public dissent is being criminalized. Peaceful protesters are being surveilled, harassed, and dragged into court as a warning to the rest of us: Obey or suffer.

Let me remind you — this is Boston. This is the historic city that dumped tea in the harbor and dared the crown to retaliate. This is the city that birthed liberty. And now? It’s arresting homosexuals for holding signs at a pride parade.

Mayor Wu, District Attorney Hayden, and every silent enabler in Boston’s ruling class should be ashamed. They’re not defending democracy — they’re dismantling it one arrest at a time.

If you’re a Democrat and you still have a soul, speak up. If you claim to care about civil rights, prove it. And if you’ve ever uttered the words “love is love,” then stand up for the gay men being dragged off in handcuffs for having the audacity to question those who are “in power” who have forgotten that they serve us.

Because if Boston falls to tyranny, the rest of the country isn’t far behind.

#ShameOnWu