MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

BLM activists face backlash after accosting White diners for not raising fists in support of Jacob Blake protest

The violence triggered online rage with one user commenting: 'The left has a responsibility to be smarter than this. Black lives depend on it'

COLUMBIA COUNTY, WASHINGTON DC: An anti-racism demonstration that began in Washington DC on Monday evening, August 24, to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man in Wisconsin, took an unprecedented turn as protesters began targeting diners at a restaurant, asking them to show solidarity. The protesters reportedly accused the diners of enjoying "White privilege" as they encouraged them to show support to their case.  

A cellphone video of a crowd of protesters accosting a White woman seated outside a restaurant has gone viral on social media. The footage shows protesters surrounding the woman outside a restaurant on18th Street NW in Adams Morgan, demanding her to raise her fist in a show of solidarity with them as they chant protest slogans. "White silence is violence!” protesters can be heard chanting in the clip as they raise their fists in the air. While one protester yells into the woman's face, asking: "Are you a Christian?” The woman, however, refused to raise her fist even after her dining companion complied. 

The woman, identified as 49-year-old Lauren B. Victor, by the Washinton Post, told the outlet: "I felt like I was under attack." Victor, an urban planner and photographer, however, added: "I wasn’t actually frightened." She said that she was a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement and had marched in previous demonstrations. The photographer, however, felt that it was wrong for a crowd of people to accost diners and approach them with their hands raised.

"It just felt overwhelming to have all of those people come at you. To have a crowd — with all that energy — demand that you do this thing. In the moment it didn’t feel right,” Victor said. "They like to think because I raise my fist it means something or other,” Victor added that she appreciated their anger.

“I didn’t think anyone was actually going to do anything to me. I appreciate their anger,” she said. “On one level, my best guess was no one was going to hurt me. But those things turn on a dime.”

As the video became viral social media, many users — both conservatives and liberals – agreed that the tactic used by the protesters was unacceptable and undermined the Black Lives Matter movement's message. 

"This truly infuriates me. The left has a responsibility to be smarter than this. Black lives depend on it. This is performative nonsense that’s more about self-aggrandizement than fighting for justice. Politics and protest aren’t vehicles for white libs to feel superior. Gross," one user wrote.

While another said: "Maybe she didn’t like being yelled at? Maybe she was just hungry & wanted to finish her meal? I support BLM, but I’ve got news for the Deadspin toady, I wouldn’t “comply” in that situation, either. These tactics do nothing but hurt the movement."

The fresh countrywide anti-racism protests come after riots and demonstrations erupted in Kenosha, Wisconsin hours after police officers were filmed shooting an unarmed Black man at least seven times in the back as he attempted to enter his vehicle with his children inside. Large crowds accumulated outside the Kenosha police station on Sunday, August 23, and protesters clashed with police officers at the scene of Jacob Blake's shooting. The fresh protests come just three months after the 46-year-old George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was killed in police custody as an officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes in May.