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Who is Dustin Brandon? Andy Ngo calls disabled Portland activist 'wheelchair rioter'

'I think about leaving every day. It’s hard to leave your house every day and feel you’re being watched,' says Dustin Brandon about being harassed

Dustin Brandon Ferreira, Oregon-based activist, has been invovled in civil rights protests since the summer of 2020. His activism has brought him to the attention of Andy Ngo, editor-at-large at the Post Millennial, who is a right-wing journalist. Ngo had once referred to Brandon as “belligerent wheelchair-bound rioter.” Since then, Brandon says he has been shot at, head-butted, punched, sprayed with mace, doxed, threatened, and had a loaded gun pulled on him. 

Brandon in a recent interview revealed, “Andy likes to target individuals. He knows that putting up mugshots of white people in a Black movement will [trigger] his right-wing crowd." The activist says the threats and abuse have taken a toll on him - “I think about leaving every day. It’s hard to leave your house every day and feel you’re being watched."

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Who is Dustin Brandon?

Dustin Brandon is more recognizable when compared to other members of Portland's activists because he's tattooed, foul-mouthed, and makes no attempt to cover his face or hide his identity. He was born with a severe type of osteogenesis imperfecta, commonly known as "brittle bone disease," and is confined to a wheelchair. Over the course of his 38 years, he says he’s broken bones more than 500 times.

'Wheelchair rioter'

Ngo, in tweets targetting the disabled activist, would post Brandon's pictures and call him names like “an antifa militant,” a “wheelchair rioter,” “antifa activist,” and the like. Antifa is the category Ngo applies broadly to leftists and activists in general, especially those participating in Black Lives Matter protests in Portland.

In one tweet, Ngo wrote, "In video, we see a person in a wheelchair stacking debris against an occupied building in downtown Portland during the #BLM #antifa riot on Friday night. Those flames quickly spread to the building itself and caused a massive fire". This is one instance where Ngo has more specifically targeted the activist Dustin Brandon. 

In another instance, Ngo tweeted, "There were around 50 at the #antifa Portland May Day riot. There is a lot of infighting occurring at the moment. At one point, they actually had a journalist get on his knees to beg for forgiveness because I had retweeted his videos. He begged; "Please treat me like a human being." The person who referred was Dustin again. 

A YouTube video uploaded by an anonymous user in January shows Brandon detained by authorities and under the video there were comments like, “I would have rolled that little freak into traffic,” “Did they tip MiniTifa out of his wheelchair? Lol,” and “Let him ride the lightning for funnn.” Brandon says that these threats are partly inspired by Ngo's name-calling — names that have then been used by individual police officers too.

Narrating an incident that happened in June, Brandon said when he was heading home from a quick trip to the store, one police officer yelled about antifa, the same insult Ngo has been hurling at him online. Brandon stated that the police officer also kicked him in shin, causing a serious fracture. 

In another widely reported incident, Brandon took to his Instagram and wrote: “I’ll either be celebrating your inevitable days full of lawsuits and judges one day soon Andy Ngo; or I’ll be lighting up a big ol’ blunt to the sound of hearing karma finally found your life.” 

While Ngo characterized Brandon’s statement as “waiting for the day he can celebrate when I am dead.” Brandon told the Daily Dot that the karma he was referring to was losing sponsorships and fans. “I could care less if he runs into a group of people that he targeted and they decide to give him a milkshake shower,” Brandon said.