The Carlos Zapata Speech

On August 17, 2020, a man named Carlos Zapata decided to give three minutes of his time to deliver the speech heard round the Alex Jones-verse:

> **CARLOS ZAPATA:** *Zapata, uh I wasn’t gonna speak I was asked to speak here, you know, Sheriff, good to see you, um I’m telling you guys you know I’m pretty appalled at what’s been going on you know, at first we sat as concerned citizens and we all wanted to figure out how to best navigate our way through this whole covid thing you know and uh as we realized that it’s not quite as dangerous as we thought it’d be I was absolutely appalled at cowardice as you’re sitting there with your masks on I don’t blame you because I’d be hiding my face too if I was you, for what you’re doing.*
> *It’s absolutely horrendous what you’re doing to these people, I’m a business owner, and I’m telling you our families are starving. You can sit there with your jobs and you can sit there and get paid and fall asleep in your chair as that gentleman’s doing there. And I’m telling you Right now, that right now we’re being peaceful, and you better be happy that we’re good citizens, that we’re peaceful citizens, but it’s not going to be peaceful much longer, OK? And this isn’t a threat, I’m not a criminal, I’ve never been a criminal, but I’m telling you, good citizens are going to turn into real concerned and revolutionary citizens real soon. And nobody else is going to say that. I’m probably the only person who has the balls to say what I’m saying right now.*
>
>
> *And we’re building, we’re organizing, and we’ll work with law enforcement or without law enforcement, but you won’t stop us when time comes, because our families are starving. If you don’t hear the seriousness in my voice, I hope you open your ears, and you absolutely listen to what I’m saying. This is a warning for what’s coming. It’s not going to be peaceful much longer. It’s not going to be rah-rah, it’s not going to be speeches, it’s not going to be gathering outside saying the Pledge of allegiance. It’s not going to be waving flags. It’s gonna be real. When you see the things I’ve seen — I went to war for this country. I’ve seen the ugliest, dirtiest part of humanity. I’ve been in combat, and I never want to go back again, but I’m telling you what, I will to save this country. If it has to be against our own citizens, it will happen, and there’s a million people like me, and you won’t stop us. Open the county. Let our citizens do what they need to do. Let owners of businesses do what they need to do to feed their families. Take the masks off. Quit masking and muzzling your children. The psychological damage you’re doing to them is horrible. I’ve had six friends kill themselves since this happened — veterans who lost their jobs. How do you feel about being complicit in perpetuating that? The greatest hoax ever perpetuated on the American people, and you’re part of it when you wear your masks. In Shasta County. We’re supposed to be red country up here. Not blue country, red country.*
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> This speech immediately propelled Zapata into center stage in a local culture war as he navigated his newfound far-right celebrity status. The strong reaction of the moderate/left population of Shasta County eventually wore on Zapata, who ultimately appeared to decide that he wanted out of the spotlight.
>
>