Repeat it like a broken record, tell your friends and neighbors who are not Extremely Online and are not getting these firsthand reports:
The only people who were violent were ICE and the police.
The only people who were violent were ICE and the police.
The only people who were violent were ICE and the police.
The protesters were angry. The protesters were loud. But the protesters were not really violent.
That tear gas you see? Police.
Those explosions? Police.
The flashes and bangs? Police.
When I say that the protesters were angry but not violent, I guess I should also say this:
In the sick imagination of white supremacy, for a Black or brown person to be angry •is• for them to be violent, by definition.
So when you hear people saying “they were violent,” those people are flat wrong — but they may also be describing something that is in fact completely real and completely consistent in their mind.
Violence only counts when it's a violation of what fascists see as the natural order.
Punching down is only natural.
Punching up is blasphemy.
Paul Cantrell
Violet Madder