Barbara Wien is a retired professor who taught “Peace studies” at American University for many years. As you might imagine she’s a left-wing activist and last year her activism extended to visiting Stephen Miller’s home, spreading printed memes about him in his neighborhood and, critically, handing out flyers that included Miller’s home address.
The woman who posted flyers exposing White House adviser Stephen Miller’s address and calling for “NO NAZIS” in Northern Virginia is a harmless academic “in the field of peace studies,” her lawyer claimed.
On Sept. 11, a day after conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was killed by a politically motivated assassin, Barbara Wien, a retired 66-year-old American University professor, posted the flyers around Miller’s Arlington neighborhood showing a photo of the Trump adviser in a red circle with a cross through it. They also included a QR code that linked to the Instagram account of Arlington Neighbors United for Humanity, an activist group that has praised Antifa and left chalk messages outside Miller’s home accusing him of “destroying democracy.”
Secret Service surveillance footage shows Wien walking by that same day and making eye contact with Miller’s wife, Katie, who was on her front porch, Axios reported. Wien made an “I’m watching you” gesture, pointing two fingers to her eyes.
Yesterday the Washington Post published a story about Wien’s activism and, as you’d expect, it’s almost entirely sympathetic to her. Wien is convinced she didn’t do anything wrong but she got a visit from the FBI who seized her phone.
Now, members of the FBI, Secret Service and Virginia State Police approached. They demanded her phone, saying it could contain evidence of criminal conduct…
Investigators had seen a message in a group chat where Wien vowed to make “his life hell.”…
The men drove away with the phone. She walked inside, the walls of her home decorated with photographs of her two grown children and a framed “Peace Educator Award.”…
Wien learned she was under state investigation for possibly violating a Virginia law that makes it a misdemeanor to publish a person’s name or photograph, along with identifying information, “with the intent to coerce, intimidate, or harass.”
The article really does bend over backwards to portray Wien as innocent, maybe even naïve, but her behavior (and that of others like her) resulted in the Miller family moving out of their house and onto a military base for their own safety.
By early October, the Millers’ home was listed for sale. Neighbors noticed the family’s Halloween decorations were gone and big black SUVs no longer idled out front. The family moved into military housing at Fort McNair in D.C., joining a growing number of Trump officials sequestering themselves in a country deeply divided.
in the end there’s a bit of unintentional humor in the article as Wien is suddenly confronted with the same sort of personal attacks she has been directing at the Miller family. Naturally she finds it horrifying now that it’s happening to her, but she doesn’t quite seem self-aware enough to be reflective about it.
“We never intended to threaten his children, threaten his family or have him flee Arlington,” she said one afternoon in her living room. “But it’s nothing compared to what the immigrants are going through.”…
“Just come down off your doorstep and talk to us,” Wien said, recalling her brief interaction with Katie Miller that September morning. “What did she really fear?”…
They saw where a stranger shared their address on Facebook, encouraging others to show up. Their landline answering machine had begun to record messages from voices they didn’t recognize.
“We’re going to do to you what Barbara did to the Miller family. We’re going to make your life as miserable because that’s what happens to Nazis like you,” one man warned.
I’ve been consistent about this over the years. Don’t protest outside people’s homes. It may be legal but it normalizes behavior that no one wants directed at themselves. Maybe at some point that will click and Wien will realize she has personally played a role in political behavior that makes everything less peaceful for everyone, herself included.
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