By John Daniel Davidson
Wednesday, September 02, 2020
In the wake of recent deadly clashes between Black Lives
Matter activists and counter-protesters in Portland and Kenosha, Wis., the
media is rolling out a new narrative: that right-wing extremists have
introduced firearms to what have been, until now, “largely peaceful protests,”
and BLM demonstrators are now trying to figure out how to keep themselves safe.
Consider an appallingly dishonest New York Times headline
on Tuesday that declared, “As Guns Get Drawn at Protest Sites, Demonstrators
Fear a Volatile New Phase.” The Times frames months of protests and street
violence nationwide as “largely between protesters and the police, with the
conflict playing out in tear gas volleys and lobbed projectiles.”
In this telling, the deadly clashes in Portland and
Kenosha represent “a more perilous turn” because of the arrival of “right-wing
activists” with firearms who are “bent on countering the racial justice
protests with an opposing vision of America”—as if we’re seeing a peaceful and
benign protest movement suddenly under threat from MAGA-hat-wearing militias.
This is gaslighting on steroids. In fact, BLM protests
have been violent from the beginning, long before “right-wing activists” showed
up with guns. The list of shootings and violent crimes committed by BLM
protesters is long, and it destroys the mainstream media’s false narrative that
these protests have been peaceful.
There were the fatal
shootings in Seattle’s CHOP back in June that left two teenagers dead and
one wounded. There was the
man who was burned to death inside a pawn shop during riots in Minneapolis
in May. There’s all the footage of BLM activists attacking people in the
streets, like the Portland man who was dragged
from his truck and beaten unconscious by a mob last month. And of course,
there’s been the persistent and widespread looting and mayhem in cities like
Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, and elsewhere.
There has also been plenty of gunplay at these so-called
protests, and any claim to the contrary is utterly divorced from reality. What
follows is a partial list, just for the record.
BLM Gunman Reportedly
Shoots Driver In Provo, Utah
In late June, 33-year-old Jesse Taggart was arrested in
Provo, Utah, after police say he ran up to an SUV that drove past a BLM protest
and shot
the driver through the passenger-side window. The driver, a 60-year-old
Provo resident, was not part of the protest or any counter-protest, but just
happened to be driving by.
After he allegedly shot the man, Taggart reportedly ran
after the vehicle as it was speeding away and fired another round, while
another “protester” drew a weapon and pointed it at the SUV but did not fire.
The driver got away but was later hospitalized.
After the shooting, Taggart put away his firearm and
continued to protest, police said. “This same protester later approached
another vehicle at 500 North and University Avenue, striking and breaking the
window with the handgun.”
BLM Gunman Shot And
Killed In Austin, Texas
On July 25 in Austin, Texas, BLM protester Garrett Foster
was shot and killed after
allegedly pointing his AK-47 at an Uber driver, later identified as U.S.
Army Sgt. Daniel Perry, whose car had been surrounded by BLM protesters.
According to Perry’s attorneys, Perry mistakenly turned
onto a street where a BLM march was taking place after dropping off Uber
passengers. Perry, who has not been arrested or charged with a crime, told
police that protesters surrounded his vehicle and began pounding on it, then
Foster approached his vehicle and pointed an AK-47 at him. That’s when Perry
fired on Foster, striking him multiple times.
Perry then drove away and called the police to report
what happened. After Perry fired, a second gunman in the crowd fired a volley
of shots at his vehicle as he drove away. Police are still investigating the
shooting and calling for eyewitnesses to come forward.
BLM Gunman Arrested For
Firing At Jeep In Aurora, Colorado
During a BLM protest in Aurora, Colo., in late July, 23-year-old
Samuel Young allegedly shot at a Jeep that was trying to get through a
crowd of protesters on the interstate. Young missed the Jeep but police say he
hit two fellow protesters.
One of the victims was rushed to the hospital with serious
injuries, the other was grazed by what police say was Young’s bullet. Young was
later arrested and charged with four counts of attempted first-degree homicide
and four counts of first-degree assault.
BLM Protesters
Allegedly Fire Shotgun At Police Officer Outside His Home
In early August, a group of about 60 protesters gathered
outside the home of a police officer in Wauwatosa, Wis., who is on paid
administrative leave after fatally shooting a 17-year-old in February, a case
that’s still under investigation. During the ensuing confrontation, one of the
protesters allegedly fired a shotgun at the officer as he retreated into his
home. Three men have
since been arrested and charged.
All this to say, don’t believe The New York Times and the
rest of the mainstream media when they try to tell you that firearms have only
just been introduced to the toxic brew of BLM and Antifa mob action in our
cities. If you haven’t heard about some of the above incidents, it’s because
the media would rather pretend they never happened. They interfere with the
narrative.
Firearms and violence have been part and parcel of these
demonstrations from the very beginning. The only difference now is that
counter-protesters, having seen this violence play out for months on end with
no law enforcement or elected officials acting to stop it, are also arming
themselves.
The result is no doubt going to be more bloodshed and
likely more death. But please, let’s not pretend this didn’t start with
left-wing extremists. We all know it did.
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