Rebecca Kasen has seen and heard things in recent years in and around Michigan’s capital city that she never would have expected.

“It’s a very weird time in our lives,” said Kasen, executive director of the Women’s Center of Greater Lansing.

Last November, a group of people were captured on surveillance video early one morning mocking a “Black Lives Matter” sign in the front window of the center, with one of them vandalizing its free pantry. That same fall, Women’s Center staff reported being harassed.

A couple of blocks down East Michigan Avenue, Strange Matter Coffee, which supports progressive causes in the community, has been confronted by “ First Amendment auditors “ outside its storefront. Some toted guns or cameras, sometimes chanting slogans supporting President Donald Trump, ge

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