Protesters target D.C. diners, triggering backlash after heckling woman

[still_one]

A demonstration that began Monday evening in the District to protest the shooting of a Black man in Wisconsin wound its way through two of the city’s entertainment districts, targeting diners in a tactic that has triggered backlash online.

The crowd of protesters confronted a woman seated at a table outside a restaurant on 18th Street NW in Adams Morgan and demanded that she raise her fist in a show of solidarity.

“White silence is violence!” protesters chanted, many with fists in the air.

“Are you a Christian?” a protester demanded, yelling into her face.

But the woman, Lauren B. Victor, refused, even after her dining companion complied.

“I felt like I was under attack,” Victor, 49, an urban planner and photographer who lives in the District, said in an interview afterward.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/25/dc-protesters-blm-diner-confrontation/

Link to tweet

?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1298367182880100356%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fdc-md-va%2F2020%2F08%2F25%2Fdc-protesters-blm-diner-confrontation%2F

I am sure trump and his nazis are thrilled by this

[JI7]

1. Comments from most black blm activists were opposed to this

[still_one]

2. Absolutely, but the idiocy of these protesters, who are mostly, or all white by the way

won't stop the repukes from using it their propaganda

With the hurricane knocking on the door in the gulf, attention may shift to that

[JI7]

3. and they will blame black people instead of the white people doing this

[still_one]

5. without a doubt

[FBaggins]

9. Also fuels the "COVID doesn't matter if you're protesting?" narrative

Not many hearts and minds open to this type of persuasion

[still_one]

10. No social distancing, but at least it looked like they were wearing masks

[FBaggins]

28. The mask is deceptive because it has become politicized

Far too many people are seeing the mask as a proxy for identifying people who are being responsible when it comes to COVID... but wearing a mask (particularly ad-hoc face coverings) are no substitute for social distancing and frequent washing and avoiding touching your face.

I'll go so far as to say that the person who is actively keeping her distance and frequently washing her hands but refuses to wear a mask... is doing far more to combat the virus than someone like members of this crowd who do none of that (and are yelling inches from someone else's face) but happen to be wearing a mask-shaped-object on their face.

[Trumpocalypse]

4. Is one wearing a MAGA hat?

[still_one]

6. I can't tell, but there are some wearing BLM shirts, which is unfortunate because this has nothing

to do with the BLM movement, and not only is it not endorsed by the BLM movement, but condemned by the BLM movement

[Roland99]

8. Looked like one to me

And anyone can wear a BLM shirt

This seems really odd in general

[still_one]

12. The one in the red hat, which is the one you are referring to, I cannot make out the letters

I understand your implication, but there is not enough information to know one way or another until the person or people dining, and or the protesters are asked about it

[ck4829]

18. That's what it looks like to me too

[Loki Liesmith]

22. It is not a MAGA hat

https://www.twitter.com/KunkleFredrick/status/1298381238328328192

[femmedem]

7. And masks or no masks, how terrifying to have a crowd yelling in their faces during a pandemic. n/t

[dhol82]

11. Do we really know they were just BLM protesters?

Could they possibly been plants to bring negative optics?

[still_one]

13. I doubt they are plants

[ck4829]

16. "Doubt", what's that?

"Vaccines cause autism, sterility, spontaneous human combustion, telepathy..."
"I believe it"

"Hillary Clinton is actually really sick"
"I believe it"

"Hillary Clinton was replaced by a body double"
"I believe it"

"George Soros (Followed by literally anything)"
"I believe it"

Judging by the side that won the 2016 election (The people making absurd claims and those saying "I believe it" ), this "doubt" thing is not really useful to us.

I think we need to see some proof they are genuine BLM protesters first.

[still_one]

23. You are trying to make a case by comparing apples and oranges, by bringing up extraneous

issues that you are implying are part of this same group

You say we need proof that they aren't plants first. How about proof that they are plants

and how is that proof going to convince you?

Here was the Washington Post story of this:

"A demonstration that began Monday evening in the District to protest the shooting of a Black man in Wisconsin wound its way through two of the city’s entertainment districts, targeting diners in a tactic that has triggered backlash online.

The crowd of protesters confronted a woman seated at a table outside a restaurant on 18th Street NW in Adams Morgan and demanded that she raise her fist in a show of solidarity.

“White silence is violence!” protesters chanted, many with fists in the air.

“Are you a Christian?” a protester demanded, yelling into her face.

But the woman, Lauren B. Victor, refused, even after her dining companion complied.

“I felt like I was under attack,” Victor, 49, an urban planner and photographer who lives in the District, said in an interview afterward.

Footage of the incident went viral."

........

"The Black Lives Matter rally, which began about 6:30 p.m. Monday at Columbia Heights Civic Plaza on 14th Street NW, drew several hundred people. They engaged in a call-and-response as protest organizers with bullhorns told how Kenosha, Wis., police had shot and critically injured Jacob Blake. The police shooting, which is still under investigation, has reinvigorated protests against police violence and triggered outbreaks of rioting".

In D.C., however, protesters wound their way up 14th Street, chanting, “No Justice, No Peace,” and, “Fire, fire, gentrifier — Black people used to live here.”

Near Quincy Street, the crowd gathered outside restaurants, alternately accusing diners of enjoying “White privilege” and encouraging them to show support. At one table, a young man who objected to the intrusion tried to explain that he worked for a nonprofit organization committed to addressing mental health care for Black people and other underserved populations. Protesters crowded in further around the table, shining video lights in the diners’ eyes and exchanging angry words.

The marchers, now about 150 strong, wound their way to Adams Morgan without further incident.

On Columbia Road, a young Black woman who was leading the protest explained the importance of engaging White people in the struggle for justice and encouraged White protesters to take the lead in confronting diners on 18th Street NW.

Several diners at other tables went along, standing or raising their fists, until the crowd homed in on Victor and her companion in front of Los Cuates, a Mexican restaurant.

“I wasn’t actually frightened,” Victor said.

Victor said she was a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement and had marched in previous demonstrations. But Victor said she also felt that it was wrong for hundreds of people to surround a small group of diners, approach them with their hands raised, and try to cow them into making a show of support.

“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.”

As the crowd moved on, Chuck Modiano continued to yell at Victor.

“Good for you — you stood your ground,” Modiano said, demanding to know if she had seen the video of Blake’s shooting. “We’re not going to change this [expletive] for people like you.”

Modiano, who identified himself as a “citizen journalist” who writes for Deadspin, said he wanted to understand her resistance.

“What was in you that you just couldn’t do this?” Modiano asked. “They all did — all the other tables. You were literally the only one of 20 other people. So there was something in you that was different from all the other people.”

Victor explained that she just felt coerced and somewhat threatened — although she also said she wasn’t afraid.

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

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/25/dc-protesters-blm-diner-confrontation/

[ck4829]

17. Good question

[still_one]

25. Here is the Washington Post story:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/08/25/dc-protesters-blm-diner-confrontation/#comments-wrapper

I wonder if the WP is a "plant"

[tman]

14. This is how Trump wins.

This is trumps lifeline and it's powerful.

[still_one]

15. Hopefully not, and critical thinking people will realize that this mob does NOT represent the BLM

movement

[AkFemDem]

21. They don't. Nt

[tman]

24. If we had enough critical thinking people, trump wouldn't be president.

Fear does strange things to people.

[radius777]

19. Divider-in-chief Trump is responsible for creating this atmosphere.

The sooner we get rid of him the sooner the chaos in this country ends.

Note also that alot of this mayhem is driven by alt-right accelerationists, alt-left anarchists and just apolitical shit disturbers - not legit BLM or social justice activists.

[still_one]

26. You have that right!!! +++

[AkFemDem]

20. It's ALWAYS white protestors...

Who are the WORST! They steal and distort the message and the GOP is quite effectively using this kind of imagery and using it to run an election based on fear. For those that doubt white liberals are really to blame and think there must be a secret cabal of conservatives pretending to be protestors- no. Stop it. I know someone very involved in what I’d call late night, second level protests, who is exactly who he says he is. When we see these people eventually get arrested- they usually end up being exactly the young zealous progressives they said they were. They’re almost always white, young, and for whatever reason- often seem to be female. Eg the young women who assault 7 year old children in Delaware or the young women throwing Molotov cocktails into NYP cars.

This level of crazy will LOSE this election- and yes there are things that matter more than politics but those things can not be addressed if we don’t win this election. At this point it is Bidens race to lose- and people like this are going to help him snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, surely.

[DeminPennswoods]

27. Right now there are just too many

people who've been cooped up for too long with too little to do.

[still_one]

30. I don't buy that. This is an atmosphere that has been created by trump and his

administration

[DeminPennswoods]

33. Not in this case, imo

Getting in the faces of peaceful diners and bullying them, there is really no call for that. In fact bullying is exactly where Trump excels.

What would you think if white nationalists got in the faces of these diners and demanded they salute the Confederate flag or something? Betting you'd think that was completely out of line.

[still_one]

38. I think it is the frustration from the obvious police abuses, and the helplessness that those in

charge from the WH are encouraging it

Sure, the pandemic doesn’t help the environment

[DeminPennswoods]

40. No doubt people are angry and frustrated

at so little progress on the federal/national level being made, but we need to call out unacceptable behavior when it happens. How many families of AfAm victims have called for peaceful protests and decried the violence? Most of them, I think.

Sometimes the end does not justify the means. JMO, but in this case I think what the protestors did was wrong.

[still_one]

42. We agree then

[DeminPennswoods]

45. Works for me

[cwydro]

29. Mobs are ugly.

And that’s a mob.

[SlogginThroughIt]

31. Not excusing it but....

Every week a black man is being shot by police. Usually that black man dies. But their dinner was interrupted and they were uncomfortable? Good. I used to get really upset about these tactics but damnit I am past blaming people for wherever their outrage leads them anymore. We do not give a fuck about our countrymen apparently because they are black. We aren’t doing anything to fix this shit. Why are we not instituting background checks and interviewing cops across the country? Every police department could do this fairly easily.

I am sorry that people were uncomfortable while eating dinner and perhaps I missed something in the story where someone was actually attacked physically, but like I said I don’t necessarily agree with the tactic but I am beyong caring where the outrage leads people. You push and you push and people snap.

[DeminPennswoods]

35. The diners who were quoted said they supported the

racial equality movement. What's the point of bullying your own supporters? We certainly wouldn't accept this if white nationalists did it, would we?

[SlogginThroughIt]

37. it isn't white nationalists doing it

And equating BLM activists to white nationalists is appalling.

[DeminPennswoods]

39. Not what I said at all

The behavior of these protestors would not be acceptable if a group you didn't like did it. Just because you might agree with the protestors does not make what they did right or acceptable.

[SlogginThroughIt]

41. Perhaps you just didn't read my first post at all.

I mean I immediately said I wasn't excusing it. But you skipped that part.

Read the content of people's posts before commenting.

[cwydro]

43. And then you completely contradicted your first statement by excusing it.

[SlogginThroughIt]

44. I didn't excuse it.

I understand it. But whatever. Yer looking for an argument.

[tenderfoot]

32. Project Veritas

eom

[oasis]

34. +1,000,000

[Sugarcoated]

36. How would this be seen as okay to do?

Wtf? I hope this is the one and only gift our side gives Trump because more grotesque scenes like this will help him win.