White People Can Have a Torch-Wielding Mob, but When Black Folks March Peacefully, It’s Martial Law
I’ve lost count of the number of marches and street protests black citizens have planned and led in this Black Lives Matter era. Lets go with “a lot.” What isn’t lost on me is black people’s recurring fear that these protests will end horribly, in clouds of tear gas, a hail of bullets, screams, blood, tears and imprisonment.
So far, that has been the pattern — now and back in the day. The historical pattern, that is, for handling black protests.
On the flip side, when we look at white protests, at least regarding matters of race, this hasn’t been the case. A striking example of this occurred over the weekend, on Saturday, in Charlottesville, Virginia.
There, white nationalist Richard Spencer led a march aimed at halting the state’s intention to tear down a Confederate monument.
As previously reported in Wear Your Voice, Spencer — who is also the director of National Policy Institute — is credited with coining the controversial term “alt-right,” a concept that catalyzed an entire right-wing movement that’s ostensibly in the business of “making America white again.” To date, its greatest victory towards that goal has been the election of Donald Trump.
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