‘Freedom convoy’ in California? Sacramento supervisor tried to organize COVID protest

A Sacramento County supervisor attempted to help organize a mass-protest against vaccine mandates inspired by a demonstration that brought scores of truckers to Canada’s capital city and caused mass disruption for weeks.

Calling herself a “freedom fighter” Supervisor Sue Frost recently joined a Telegram social media channel to help plan a protest, according to screenshots posted online. People participating in the channel called for a California “Peoples Convoy,” one of several rumored U.S. trucker protests that have thus far failed to materialize.

“I am a Sacramento County Supervisor who is communicating with many freedom groups who want to support the convoy. I’m a freedom fighter, Connected with parents faith community, business,” the post says.

“Do you need a group to coordinate in Sacramento? Maybe I can help,” she wrote.

Frost appears to have joined the group by way of an invitation from a prominent anti-vaccine activist in Sacramento County, Gabrielle Ingram, who has led protests at county board meetings over pandemic safety measures. Ingram on social media posts has described herself as involved with the anti-vaccine group Freedom Angels and a spin-off group that calls itself the Mamalitia.

Frost then joined a Sacramento-specific convoy organizing group in which she discussed how the protest should be marketed and what color scheme to use, according to the messages.

“Is there a logo or a name for the convoy?” one post asks.

Someone replied simply “Freedom Convoy 2022.”

“OK perfect. Are there colors that they have selected? I’m assuming red white and blue is appropriate. Sorry I’ve been in marketing all my life and I think branding is good,” Frost wrote.

On Wednesday, Frost said she has since left those social media groups after learning who was a part of them. The convoy is not happening in Sacramento.

“I support ending the COVID-19 restrictions, and getting life back to normal so our businesses can thrive and children can go to school without having to wear a mask,” Frost said in a statement to The Sacramento Bee. “But I absolutely denounce any violent extremists groups and want no association with them.”

The Canadian protest started late January as a showdown over vaccine mandates. It has since morphed into an anti-government movement and gained widespread support across conservative media circles and prominent anti-vaccine groups in the U.S and abroad.

After a six-day blockade on a trade corridor between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, the Canadian government on Tuesday invoked emergency powers to crack down on the protests. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the truckers’ standoff an “illegal occupation.”

Social media posts show Frost attempted to coordinate drop-off sites for supplies. She also shared a post in line with doomsday preppers fearing supply chain shortages.

“Along the truck route it needs to be acknowledged the The Covid shut downs disrupted the supply chains,” one post she shared said. “We need to put the blame on the people that caused all of this. WHO, FDA, NIH, CDC, Fauci, Gates and all of them.”

Frost has long cast doubt on the science around COVID-19. From her post on the board of supervisors, she has voted against safety measures and has trafficked in conspiracy theories.

Last fall, she called on the county’s grand jury to investigate the CDC.

And in August, Frost joined protesters at a hospital in Roseville and denounced the COVID vaccine as “experimental.” She repeated a widely debunked theory that “forcing” people to get a vaccine violates the Nuremberg Code, a set of ethical principles created in the wake of Nazi medical experimentation on humans.

The author of an anonymous Twitter account linked the extremist Proud Boys and the Freedom Angels to that protest. The same anonymous user posted the screenshots from the “Freedom Convoy” channels, which also appear linked to the Proud Boys and Freedom Angels.

This story was originally published February 16, 2022 at 2:26 PM.