>> A video's been circulating on the Internet featuring a portion and I wanna be clear that
I don't believe that this is representative of Black Lives Matter. But a portion of Black
Lives Matter demonstrators in Washington, DC unfortunately, devolving into some sort
of bully group that felt that maybe it would be a great idea to go ahead and start harassing
random diners outside of hotels in Washington DC.
So Fredrick Kunkle is a Washington Post reporter and he tweeted about this. And I wanna be
clear about something. I made sure to double check to make sure that we're not falling
victim to some sort of agent provocateur nonsense. So he reports that in a scene that played
out several times Monday, a Black Lives Matter protest that began in Columbia Heights confronted
white diners outside DC restaurants, chanting white silences violence and demanding white
diners show their solidarity.
And so here's one of the videos that he embedded in his tweets, but this is the video that
you're likely to see if you spend any time on Twitter today. Let's take a quick look
at that and I'll give you more details. >> No justice.
>> No peace.
>> No justice. >> No peace.
>> So I did notice the red hat in the crowd, and people were right to point out the red
hat. Because it looks like a Make America Great Again hat. But there are several parodies
of that hat and it does look like there are too many words on it for it to be a pro-Trump
MAGA Make America Great Again hat.
But the Washington Post did identify one of the protestors and he is not a Trump supporter.
In fact, he has written complimentary stories about Black Lives Matter. And I looked into
him myself, so let me give you those details. In Adams Morgan, protesters screamed at Lauren
B Victor for several minutes, that was the woman you saw in the video, for refusing to
raise her fist with them.
Are you Christian?, a female protester demanded. Good for you, you stood your ground, Chuck
Modiano said sarcastically as the crowd moved on. So I looked into Chuck Modiano and he
is a so-called citizen journalist, he's written for Deadspin. And the Washington Post reporter
also clarified that in a subsequent tweet, saying that Modiano who had been yelling at
Victor and moments later identified himself as a citizen journalist who writes @Deadspin,
told Victor he couldn't understand why she was the only diner in the area who wouldn't
comply.
What was in you, you couldn't do this? And so Victor did respond to questions from the
Washington Post saying I felt like I was under attack. She's an urban planner and she also
said that she felt like there was something wrong about being coerced to show support.
In the moment it didn't feel right, Victor said, adding that she also couldn't understand
their anger.
I wasn't actually frightened, I didn't think they'd do anything to me, she said. I'm very
much with them, I've been marching with them for weeks and weeks and weeks. This ain't
it, this ain't it, this is not, this is not okay. Again, I wanna reiterate that I don't
think that this is indicative of the Black Lives Matter movement.
I do think that some people, unfortunately, have decided to pursue certain strategies
that are actually incredibly counterproductive. And we just saw an example of that right now.
But this is awful. This is terrible, terrible behavior and you don't win this way. If anything,
this type of behavior leads to more division, it could potentially lead to more violence
and it's terrifying.
Well, this is not okay, period. There's nothing else to say about it. This should be condemned
100%. And anyone who disagrees with it doesn't understand how you win and succeed in getting
the systemic change that we need right now. Turning random people who are just trying
to enjoy a meal who haven't done anything wrong into enemies is not how you win, it's
just not.
>> Well, and she was also an ally as she's seems to say, that she had been marching with
Black Lives Matter in previous weeks, but just wasn't at that current time. So I couldn't
agree with you more, it's absolutely infuriating and it's no coincidence, honestly. That it
seems to be all white protesters who are yelling at this white woman, because for them, protest,
political activism isn't a vehicle to make change purely.
To them, it's a vehicle to feel superior and self-aggrandized and feel like they're better
than other people. Those specific protesters, that's a minority of Black Lives Matter protesters.
But if you're not being smart about the way that you express yourself politically, you're
just gonna do something like this, create fodder for Tucker Carlson.
Which I guarantee you this video will be over Ben Shapiro's show, all over Fox News. They'll
be talking about it constantly because this behavior gives them an excuse to discredit
Black Lives Matter. So the left always has to be smarter. And this was a way for these
particular protesters with a mob mentality, all gather around this other white woman and
feel like we're better than you.
Because apparently, this is about us. That's how they're treating it, not about Black Lives
Matter, this is about us. We don't care if we do damage to the movement long term, we
get to have our moment of glory where we pick on someone, and then it can go viral.
And then allow for right wingers all throughout the world, all throughout the country to describe
to the movement that has worked so goddamn hard for years and years and years to build
up credibility and had low approval ratings back when Kaepernick was kneeling. And it
took so many more black people to die for people to finally wake up.
So if you're white and you're with this movement, you have a responsibility to behave better
than this. And it's disgusting to me and all of them should be ashamed of themselves. Because
they're narcissistic in the way that they're going about their activism and it's hurting
other people. >> And I think that what Victor said in her
quote to The Washington Post was absolutely right.
Okay, so let's just stop for a second and think about what gets accomplished in coercing
people to engage in the theatrics of social change. And I say theatrics because it doesn't
do anything to actually change the system, right? So you're pressuring someone to raise
their fist, okay. I mean, honestly how many We Stand with Black Lives Matter signs have
we seen on business windows because businesses don't want their windows to be broken into,
right?
But does that actually change anything? It doesn't change anything, that's my point.
People keep gravitating toward the aesthetics of change, okay? The Nancy Pelosi is ripping
up speeches or doing sarcastic claps or raising your fist to show solidarity with Black Lives
Matter, or posting a sign, or releasing some sort of supportive statement for Black Lives
Matter.
But what does that change? Right, I think that all of the focus, it's very Twitter-like,
right? All of the Twitter shaming and all of the people ganging up on one particular
person or the next particular person because they didn't use the exact right language when
they're trying to communicate about whatever their ideas are.
All right, great, so we all ganged up on someone, but then what happens?
>> No, yeah, I will just go further. I mean, the Democratic Party praised the mayor of
DC for her Black Lives Matter mural and it was a part of the Democratic Convention. And
she said that she wasn't gonna do anything about police funding and that it shouldn't
be touched.
So not only are these symbolic gestures of narcissistic, self-aggrandizing, attention
seeking. They also sap the actual legislative goals of Black Lives Matter of their power
and that's what makes it additionally gross. >> Exactly, I totally agree with you and yeah,
we have to be strategic. And you have to think about succeeding in systemic change by building
broad coalition,s appealing to a broad group of people.
Which by the way, I think the majority of Americans want systemic change. I think the
majority of Americans wanna change the way policing happens in this country. But you
don't do it by creating material which then gets used as propaganda against the movement
by dishonest actors like the Ben Shapiros and the Tucker Carlsons of
the world.