+
upworthy
Democracy

The smear of calling BLM protests 'violent' doesn't even come close to matching the reality

The smear of calling BLM protests 'violent' doesn't even come close to matching the reality
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

I wrote an article a few weeks ago about the tragic murder of a 5-year-old boy, Cannon Hinnant, and how it was being politicized to attack the Black Lives Matter movement. In one of many angry messages I received, a reader wrote "When is the last time you saw a BLM protest that wasn't violent?"

I was stunned. Was this person serious?

From what I had seen, the vast majority of BLM protests were peaceful. But of course I had no actual data to back that up—until now.

The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) is a non-governmental non-profit organization that has been tracking incidents of conflict around the world since at least 2014. Since May, they have tracked the more than 10,000 protests that have taken place in the U.S., 73% of which specifically cite Black Lives Matter as part of the basis for the protest.

In the more than 7,750 BLM protests that have taken place from May through the end of August, 93% included no acts of violence. More than 9 out of 10 protests, totally peaceful.


But that doesn't even tell the whole story, because not all of the violence that has broken out at protests has even come from BLM protestors. Naturally, some rioting we've seen is a result of anger over injustice being channeled into destruction of property or lashing out violently. But some violence at BLM protests has come from outside the BLM movement entirely.

For example, one of the instigators of riots during the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis following his killing was found to be a white supremacist. Law enforcement also determined that white supremacists were also responsible for the violence at BLM protests in Richmond, Virginia in June.

In fact there are a handful of extremist groups from both the far-right and far-left who have taken advantage of the protests to either frame the BLM movement as violent or to stoke their own fantasies of violent unrest. I'd never heard of the Boogaloo movement until the BLM protests began and some Boogaloo Bois saw it as a great opportunity to get the civil war they've been itching for to begin.

And then there's the violence coming from law enforcement. According to the ACLED, BLM demonstrations have been more likely to be met with force than other types of demonstrations, despite being largely peaceful:

"Overall, ACLED data indicate that government forces soon took a heavy-handed approach to the growing protest movement. In demonstrations where authorities are present, they use force more often than not. Data show that they have disproportionately used force while intervening in demonstrations associated with the BLM movement, relative to other types of demonstrations.

Despite the fact that demonstrations associated with the BLM movement have been overwhelmingly peaceful, more than 9% — or nearly one in 10 — have been met with government intervention, compared to 3% of all other demonstrations. This also marks a general increase in intervention rates relative to this time last year. In July 2019, authorities intervened in under 2% of all demonstrations — fewer than 30 events — relative to July 2020, when they intervened in 9% of all demonstrations — or over 170 events."

It's also important to note that the 7% of protests that have involved violence haven't all involved burning down buildings or killing people. There are varying manifestations of violence, and while we would all hope that protests would remain peaceful, it's unsurprising that a small percentage will end up with some conflict. We are talking about human beings, after all. As a species, we have a long and bloody history of violence that we haven't exactly evolved out of yet.

Regardless, the notion that the Black Lives Matter movement is inherently violent is false. The notion that BLM protests have been largely violent is false. That doesn't mean we should just ignore violence altogether, but there are people who benefit greatly from pushing the idea that BLM is violent, and we have to challenge that. Don't let some media outlets' hyperfocus on headline-grabbing riots—or the sensationalist human tendency to share and talk about those stories—push you away from the movement for racial justice. Peaceful, powerful protests abound—that's where we should place our focus.

Humor

Woman shares wedding album her mom made that’s making people crack up

The photos were beautiful, but there was something hilariously wrong with the captions.

Woman's wedding gift from her mom is making people laugh.

There's no denying that a wedding day is a special memory most people want to hold onto for the rest of their lives. It's the reason people spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on wedding pictures and hand out disposable cameras to guests—to capture memories from all angles, including behind-the-scenes moments that you may forget due to the nerves beforehand.

One mother of the bride decided to take her daughter's beautiful wedding photos and create a special personalized photo album. But upon further inspection of the gift, the bride noticed that something was amiss. Niki Hunt, told Good Morning America that when her mom, Sherry Noblett, gave her the wedding album at brunch, she admitted she may have messed up.

"She’s very crafty, so usually when she says something like that, it’s something really small. I'm thinking some of the pictures are askew, or whatever," Hunt explained to GMA.

Keep ReadingShow less
Family

Mom comes out to her 7-year-old as a sexual assault survivor. The discomfort was worth it.

Sometimes speaking our truth can help history from repeating itself.

Canva

Almost all the important conversations are uncomfortable

Sarah Shanley Hope's story is frighteningly common.

As a kid, she went over to her neighbor's house one day to play with her best friend. While there, her friend's older brother sexually assaulted both of them.

Hope was only 6 years old.

Keep ReadingShow less
True

After over a thousand years of peaceful relations, European semi-superpowers Sweden and Switzerland may finally address a lingering issue between the two nations. But the problem isn’t either country’s fault. The point is that the rest of the world can’t tell them apart. They simply don’t know their kroppkakor (Swedish potato dumpling) from their birchermüesli (a Swiss breakfast dish).

This confusion on the European continent has played out in countless ways.

Swedish people who move to the United States often complain of being introduced as Swiss. The New York Stock Exchange has fallen victim to the confusion, and a French hockey team once greeted their Swiss opponents, SC Bern, by playing the Swedish National Anthem and raising the Swedish flag.

Skämtar du med mig? (“Are you kidding me?” in Swedish)

Keep ReadingShow less

It all can happen at just the right time.

Media outlets love to compile lists of impressive people under a certain age. They laud the accomplishments of fresh-faced entrepreneurs, innovators, influencers, etc., making the rest of us ooh and ahh wonder how they got so far so young.

While it's great to give credit where it's due, such early-life success lists can make folks over a certain age unnecessarily question where we went wrong in our youth—as if dreams can't come true and successes can't be had past age 30.

Keep ReadingShow less
Mental Health

The danger of high-functioning depression as told by a college student

Overachievers can struggle with mental health issues, too.


I first saw a psychiatrist for my anxiety and depression as a junior in high school.

During her evaluation, she asked about my coursework. I told her that I had a 4.0 GPA and had filled my schedule with pre-AP and AP classes. A puzzled look crossed her face. She asked about my involvement in extracurricular activities. As I rattled off the long list of groups and organizations I was a part of, her frown creased further.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Her boyfriend asked her to draw a comic about their relationship. Hilarity ensued.

The series combines humor and playful drawings with spot-on depictions of the intense familiarity that long-standing coupledom often brings.

All images by Catana Chetwynd


"It was all his idea."

An offhand suggestion from her boyfriend of two years coupled with her own lifelong love of comic strips like "Calvin and Hobbes" and "Get Fuzzy" gave 22-year-old Catana Chetwynd the push she needed to start drawing an illustrated series about long-term relationships.

Specifically, her own relationship.

Keep ReadingShow less