I myself was bemused but sadly not surprised at Dan Neumann’s letter in which he tries to retroactively diminish and rewrite the blatant horror that took place last month at our nation’s Capitol. A bleak moment in American history in which we must be reminded that the assault resulted in one of the worst days of injuries on law enforcement since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. A day in which a minimum of 138 officers suffered from injuries ranging from concussions and fractures to even a mild heart attack.
I am moved to write about this because it’s part of a problematic (and false) narrative that many continue to put forward under the guise of “fault on both sides” that is troubling. And it always involves citing Black Lives Matter and Antifa, popular boogeymen organizations to the right. Now, I’d like to stress for the record that I am not involved with Antifa as some of their members are communists (which I am against), and that I have marched proudly with BLM. But guess what? None of that is relevant for the following facts:
As of February, 100 percent of confirmed and recorded attacks at protests or marches come from white nationalists. Over 65 white nationalists have now committed vehicular assault - an assault popularized by ISIS, I might add, even getting a “Run Them Over” meme into the lexicon in the past few years. Let that sit for a moment. Every. Single. Case. Of driving a vehicle into a protest or a march was by a white conservative. As of this writing, not one member of Black Lives Matter has ever done this. Not one member of Antifa has ever done this. Ever.
Right-wing extremists have been turning automobiles into weapons and the cases are soaring. I defy Dan Neuman to find me the member of Black Lives Matter who has driven into a crowd and taken a life. He can’t because it hasn’t happened. Riots and looting are vague and were debated as they were happening; no one is dismissing these things, but footage exists of a decidedly non-BLM supporter starting fires in Portland. There’s no mystery or speculation about who starts extremist attacks. Regardless of personal feeling, let your logic operate for a second: what sense does it make for a Black American to try to incite violence when law enforcement is around? The narrative that BLM is trying to cause violence is laughable at best, and downright insulting otherwise.
So let us not forget that it was white right-wing extremists who led an attack and an assault on our democracy. Mr. Neumann also curiously chose to add that the “irony” of one of the rioters shot was “by a Black man” as if this was relevant - he could have also pointed out that this Black man saved many lives that day and was a veteran who served in Iraq. Our greatest threat is the rise of militias and white extremists who will say Blue Lives Matter when it serves their political purposes, and then crush and attack and berate and insult those same law officers when their rage and sense of entitlement overtake them.
Always remember when you open your mouth to know the score and know the tally. There is literally no comparison to what the left has done to what the right has done. And again, when a BLM supporter drives a vehicle into a protest, please let me know. The fact that it’s happened literally dozens and dozens of times [by white extremists]? Says it all.
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