Tag: Black Lives Matter

Ron Johnson’s misleading citation of data to back his ‘concern’ about BLM protesters

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“Out of 7,750 protests last summer associated with BLM and Antifa, 570 turned into violent riots that killed 25 people and caused $1- $2 billion of property damage. That’s why I would have been more concerned.”

— Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), in a statement, March 13

Johnson has come under fire for telling a conservative news radio show that he “never felt threatened” by the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, but he would have been concerned if the mob had been made up of Black Lives Matter or antifa protesters. Referring to Trump supporters, he said: “I knew those are people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law.”

We will leave the political commentary to others. We are interested in the facts that Johnson used to document his concern after the uproar started.

While he did not identify the source of his information in his statement, in a March 15 Wall Street Journal op-ed defending his remarks, Johnson confirmed that first set of numbers came from a study by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project(ACLED), a nonprofit data collection, analysis and crisis mapping project. The property damage figures are from a different source. Continue reading.

Proud Boys leader arrested in the burning of church’s Black Lives Matter banner, D.C. police say

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The leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, was arrested by D.C. police Monday afternoon on a warrant charging him with burning a Black Lives Matter banner taken from a historic Black church during a demonstration last month, officials said.

Police stopped a vehicle Tarrio had been in shortly after it entered the District, said Dustin Sternbeck, a D.C. police spokesman. He said it is believed that Tarrio, who lives in Miami, was coming into the District from the airport.

Sternbeck said Tarrio is charged with one misdemeanor count of destruction of property in connection with the Dec. 12 burning of a banner stolen from Asbury United Methodist Church. Continue reading.

A study of more than 10,000 protests this year found 95% were peaceful

President Trump would have you believe that the past several months of social justice protests against police violence and racial inequality represent a fundamentally violent threat that only he — aspiring strongman that he is — can crush with overwhelming force. But according to a new report from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, working in conjunction with Princeton University’s Bridging Divides Initiative, the latest wave of nationwide demonstrations have been “overwhelmingly peaceful,” despite politically motivated narratives to the contrary.

The study, officially titled “Demonstrations & Political Violence in America: New Data for Summer 2020” tracked “more than 10,600 demonstration events across the country” between late May and the end of August. It found that “over 10,100 of these — or nearly 95% — involve peaceful protesters. Fewer than 570 — or approximately 5% — involve demonstrators engaging in violence.”

What’s more, the report concluded that “in many urban areas like Portland, Oregon, for example, which has seen sustained unrest since [George] Floyd’s killing, violent demonstrations are largely confined to specific blocks, rather than dispersed throughout the city.” Continue reading.

Trump-Nominated Postal Service Board Member Pushed Black Lives Matter Conspiracy Theories

John Barger called the movement “violent” and said it had nothing to do with race, in exchanges on LinkedIn.

A U.S. Postal Service board member, who reportedly played a key role in the selection of Louis DeJoy to lead the agency, called the Black Lives Matter movement violent and floated a conspiracy theory that it may be financially backed by foreign entities.

In June, John M. Barger, who serves on the Postal Service’s six-member Board of Governors, engaged in a back-and-forth on LinkedIn with a contact in Hong Kong. The exchange is publicly accessible on Barger’s profile on the platform. It began with that contact posting a photo of the strict public health measures in effect in Hong Kong due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When Barger’s contact offhandedly mentioned Black Lives Matter in the course of explaining the Chinese government’s aggressive posture toward Hong Kong, Barger teed off.

“Ummmm… BLM is a movement that is neither state sanctioned, nor about race these days,” responded Barger. “Further, its divisive violent core may be receiving ‘foreign funding.’” Continue reading.

Biden accuses Trump of ‘recklessly encouraging violence’ in response to Portland shooting

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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden condemned the violence in Portland, Ore., accusing President Trump of “fanning the flames of hate and division in our society” and “recklessly encouraging violence.”

“We must not become a country at war with ourselves,” Biden said in a statement. “But that is the America that President Trump wants us to be, the America he believes we are. … All of us are less safe because Donald Trump can’t do the job of the American president.”

His response came after Trump denounced Black Lives Matter protesters as “agitators and thugs” on Sunday morning, calling for a federal crackdown on demonstrations in cities such as Washington and Portland, where a man died after tensions between pro-Trump and liberal groups burst into violence. Continue reading.

From the Start, Federal Agents Demanded a Role in Suppressing Anti-Racism Protests

New York Times logoTwin government memos show how a gung-ho federal law enforcement response to anti-racism protests may have been driven by a shaky understanding of the demonstrations’ roots.

WASHINGTON — From the earliest days of the recent protests against police brutality and racism, some top federal law enforcement officials viewed the demonstrators with alarm and called for an aggressive federal response that two months later continues to escalate.

A memo from the deputy director of the F.B.I., dated June 2, demanded an immediate mobilization as protests gathered after George Floyd’s death while he was in police custody a week earlier. David L. Bowdich, the F.B.I.’s No. 2, declared the situation “a national crisis,” and wrote that in addition to investigating “violent protesters, instigators” and “inciters,” bureau leaders should collect information with “robust social media exploitation teams” and examine what appeared to be “highly organized behavior.”

Mr. Bowdich suggested that the bureau could make use of the Hobbs Act, put into place in the 1940s to punish racketeering in labor groups, to charge the protesters. Continue reading.

In a pair of interviews, Trump highlights white victimhood

Washington Post logoAsked about police killings of black Americans, Trump replies: What about whites?

The fundamental premise of the Black Lives Matter movement, agree with it or not, is straightforward: Too many black Americans die at the hands of police each year, a function of racism embedded in the system of law enforcement in this country. There’s no claim of primacy; it’s not the case that protesters with the movement demand that black Americans get exceptional treatment when confronted by law enforcement. Instead, it demands that they not be treated exceptionally, that being black not correlate with a higher risk of death when being detained.

This premise and its correlating demands and assertions have been the subjects of robust debate for more than five years, including in the past several weeks after the death of George Floyd while being restrained by a police officer in Minneapolis. There’s certainly nuance to the subject that demands close attention. It’s the sort of thing that poses a complex challenge to elected leaders, given its overlap with the complicated issues of race and power.

Most elected leaders, anyway. In an interview with CBS News’s Catherine Herridge on Tuesday, President Trump waved away concern about the rate at which black people die at the hands of police with a comment that amounted to white lives matter, too. Continue reading.

Yes, even in small, single-stoplight towns they’re saying his name

Washington Post logoTANEYTOWN, MARYLAND — The silver pickup truck with a passenger-side rust spot passed the railroad tracks, then slowed down as it rolled past the crowd of demonstrators in this tiny downtown.

“Black lives matter!” yelled a white woman in comfort capri pants — then she and her neighbors waited for the silver truck’s verdict.

“Honk! Honk! Hoooonk!” went the truck, and the driver’s white fist emerged from his window, punching the air in support. Continue reading.

Corporate money, Black Lives Matter protests and elites’ opinion drove Redskins name change

Washington Post logoFour years ago, I wrote an opinion article for The Washington Post that began, “It’s humbling to admit it, but Dan Snyder wins.”

The piece was in response to a poll by this newspaper showing that 9 out of 10 Native Americans were not offended by the Redskins team name, just as owner Snyder had insisted for years.

I felt chastened because I had written 10 previous Metro columns arguing forcefully for a change on grounds that the name is a racist slur. Continue reading.

A small, mostly white Virginia town put up a ‘Black Lives Matter’ banner. Ginni Thomas denounced it.

Washington Post logoThe banner says “Welcome to Clifton where Black Lives Matter.”

It was posted over the tiny Northern Virginia town’s Main Street, in a space mostly used to advertise community events, after residents proposed staging a protest like the ones that have swept the country since the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police.

The gesture — which Mayor William R. Hollaway called “a first step” to beginning discussions of racial equity — drew mostly positive responses, according to the town clerk. But it prompted outrage from some residents of Fairfax County and nearby towns. Hollaway called the banner “the biggest controversy we’ve seen in many years.” Continue reading.