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A Portland woman quit her job after attending a company holiday party where she says employees lynched a Trump piñata.
Sarah Mykkanen's quit over a holiday party for Roscoe's, Stein Haus, and Miyamoto Sushi, three Montavilla spots with overlapping ownership.
In an essay she sent to WW, she explains that the party was a "usual holiday party" where it was "kind of awkward to see everyone outside of work," until employees began lynching and striking an effigy of Donald Trump.
She writes:
“In horror I watched as they strung a thick rope over a beam, with a noose tightly tied on one end. They held up the effigy of Trump, and put the noose around his neck.
The room filled with my white co-workers became a lynch mob when they started chanting “lynch him!” and “lynch the bitch!” People were laughing and taking snapchats and cheering as they swung around the effigy of Trump from a noose.
Standing in that crowd was one of the most terrifying moments of my life, and something I never thought I would experience in this country. I was getting flashes from history; saw my coworkers with pointy white hats and robes, as they gutturally and repeatedly chanted, “Lynch him!”
[Two people] brought out a metal baseball bat. Each took turns swinging and hitting Trump, but not like they were trying to get candy from a piñata. There was no blindfold, no moving the piñata. They each took turns swinging the bat and hitting the effigy between the legs. Someone shouted “hit him in the pussy!”
My head was spinning, my skin was crawling, I felt like I was going to vomit, none of this was okay. Could no one else see how wrong this was?”