© Unknown/ScreenshotFormer First Lady Michelle Obama
"They're stoking fears about black and brown Americans. Lying about how minorities will destroy the suburbs, whipping up violence and intimidation, and they're pinning it all on what's been an overwhelmingly peaceful movement for racial solidarity."That peaceful movement for racial solidarity has seen businesses and livelihoods destroyed, and property damage in up to $2 billion. As the riots have continued, leftist media has endeavored to change the definition of riot, so that property damage is considered something peaceful.
CNN went so far as to claim that the protests in Kenosha after Jacob Blake was shot and paralyzed were "fiery but mostly peaceful." Over and over, leftist media and Democrats have undertaken a narrative position that protests are necessary because racism is a public health crisis, and that anything done in the name of "racial solidarity" or "social justice" is acceptable and laudable because the intentions are good.
We have heard from BLM activists, organizers, and leaders that "looting is reparations," and that the goods stolen through outright, violent theft, will be used for the betterment of the community. NPR claimed that using the word riot itself is a racist act.
"It's true," Michelle Obama said, "research backs it up. Only a tiny fraction of demonstrations have had any violence at all."
ACLED released a report on the "tiny fraction" of protests that have turned violent. They reported that
"ACLED records more than 10,600 demonstration events across the country. Over 10,100 of these — or nearly 95 percent — involve peaceful protesters. Fewer than 570 — or approximately 5 percent — involve demonstrators engaging in violence. Well over 80 percent of all demonstrations are connected to the Black Lives Matter movement or the COVID-19 pandemic."That "tiny fraction" of demonstrations that turned violent is actually representative of almost 570 protests that turned to violence. The only reason Obama can claim it's a "tiny fraction" is because there were more than 10,000 demonstrations. That's exemplary of wide-spread civil unrest, and if the definition of violence is changed to suit the leftist narrative, the percentage of violence will decrease even further. If rioting, property damage, arson, intimidation, and looting aren't violent, then none of the "tiny fraction" of violent protests would even be considered violent at all.
"So what the president is doing is once again patently false," Obama said. "It's morally wrong. And yes, it is racist. But that doesn't mean it won't work."
What she didn't mention is that the conversation surrounding what, exactly, is morally wrong in the era of massive ongoing protests and the shut down of society and the economy is that the lockdowns have only applied to some people, and not all. While the COVID-inspired lockdowns were rampant across the US, once protests and riots began in the wake of George Floyd's death in police custody on May 25, it became morally acceptable for those who were advocating for social justice to break lockdown restrictions, but not anyone else.
Our elderly kept dying alone, while 10,000 protestors marched in front of the Brooklyn Museum for black trans lives. This was lauded by elected leaders in New York, and other Democrat led states, who believed that the "public health crisis" of racism was more important than the public health crisis of coronavirus. Those who had protested the lockdown in May were called ghoulish grandma killers, those who protested George Floyd's death were called heroic. That hypocritical juxtaposition of favouring one group's political speech over another is immoral... and racist.
Obama said:
"Because this is a difficult time, a confusing time, and when people hear these lies and crazy conspiracies repeated over and over again they don't know what to think. With everything going on in their lives they don't have time to fact check falsehoods being spread throughout the internet. And even reasonable people might get scared."What is truly terrifying, however, is the ongoing narrative surrounding this year's top viral scourge, the COVID-19 coronavirus. Fears surrounding a virus with a less than 1 percent fatality rate in the United States have shuttered businesses, terrified individuals into being afraid to leave their homes, embrace loved ones, comfort their dying, grieve together, or breathe the same air.
"And the one thing this president is really, really good at is using fear and confusion and spreading lies to win," Obama said.
Using fear, and using lies and confusion to win, is one thing Obama's Democrat party knows a lot about.
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