Slate violence
© Twitter/ScreenshotSlate tweet proclaiming “Non-violence is an important tool for protests, but so is violence.” June 4, 2020
The liberal news site Slate is facing intense backlash for claiming that "violence" is an "important tool for protests."

While some reports have either downplayed or even defended the violence that taken place in recent days, no defense was bolder than Slate's, whose account tweeted on Wednesday, "Non-violence is an important tool for protests, but so is violence."

Included in the tweet is a link to a 24-minute audio analysis explaining the "history of violent protest."

"Big structural change in America doesn't happen without violence," read the subheadline of the linked article.


Critics piled on the liberal news site for defending violence amid protests.

"Not even hiding it any more," political commentator Andrew Sullivan reacted.

"It's easy for liberal arts professors to call for violence as they won't live with the consequences of chaos and destruction," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark, wrote.

Others pondered if Slate had violated Twitter's "glorifying violence" policy that was recently enforced on President Trump.

"@twitter - Does this glorify violence? (Asking for a friend)" Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., aimed at the platform.

"Not quite sure how this doesn't fit Twitter's paradigm for inciting violence. It's a direct endorsement of it in a time when the likelihood for violence is high," Daily Caller editor in chief Geoffrey Ingersoll tweeted.

"Pretty sure if I tweeted this Twitter would suspend me," conservative radio host Cam Edwards similarly pointed out.

Other members of the media raised eyebrows with their commentary about violent protests. New York Times Magazine reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones claimed "Violence is when an agent of the state kneels on a man's neck until all of the life is leached out of his body. Destroying property, which can be replaced, is not violence. And to put those things- to use the same language to describe those two things I think really- it's not moral to do that."

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo similarly suggested that protests don't have to be "peaceful."

"Now too many see the protests as the problem. No, the problem is what forced your fellow citizens to take to the streets: persistent, poisonous inequities and injustice," Cuomo told his viewers. "And please, show me where it says protesters are supposed to be polite and peaceful. Because I can show you that outraged citizens are what made the country what she is and led to any major milestone. To be honest, this is not a tranquil time."