A group of white Black Lives Matter protestors stormed through the streets of Washington, D.C., only a few blocks from where President Trump rests his head at night. The group of protestors was targeting other white people in the D.C. area and asking them to raise their first in solidarity with the cause. Videos of the incident were uploaded to the internet and used to depict an “aggressive mob” of protestors who were doing everything within their power to get other white people to understand the life-and-death situation Black people face in America.
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough called the white protestors “horrible people” for intimidating people to follow their ideology. Although the Black Lives Matter movement is a movement to demonstrate that Black people are victims of racial inequality, this “aggressive mob” did a poor job at helping opponents see their side of things.
A Washington Post reporter at the scene of the confrontation captured footage showing the protestors confronting a white woman about the Black Lives Matter movement. The white woman, who is wearing a pinkish blouse, was seated outside of the restaurant. She has been identified as Lauren Victor.
Despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to remain six feet from all people while out in public, the group of protestors crowded Victor while she was at her table. Two white protestors then leaned closer to her to intimidate her into joining their social justice cause. Victor did not want any part of it.
Because Victor did not immediately raise her fist in solidarity with America’s Black population, one female protestor questioned Victor’s morality.
“Are you a Christian?” one of the women asked Victor.
Other protestors continue to shout, “No justice, no peace!”
Washington Post reporter, Fredrick Kunkle, exposed freelance journalist Chuck Modiano as one of the individuals who shouted at Victor while she dined. Kunkle claimed that Modiano shouted, “What was in you, you couldn’t do this?”
Victor was one of the few white people who did not raise their fists in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protestors. The public discourse around racial inequality seems to be shifting, and more white Americans finally understand the inequality Blacks face every day in America.
Victor is actually a supporter of Black Lives Matter and has attended many rallies. However, she did not want to be yelled at to raise her fist in support of the group.
“In the moment, it didn’t feel right,” she stated. “I wasn’t actually frightened. I didn’t think they’d do anything to me. I’m very much with them. I’ve been marching with them for weeks and weeks and weeks.”
