A
Black Lives Matter group takes the stage at a pro-Trump rally — and the
leader's message has both sides cheering. "All lives matter, right? ... If
we really want to make America great, we do it together," the group leader
said, prompting chants of "USA! USA!" (Image source: Twitter video
screenshot)
Between competing pro-Trump and anti-Trump protests in
Washington, D.C., over the weekend, a silver lining was found with a Black
Lives Matter group who unexpectedly took the stage during a boisterous pro-Trump
rally.
What happened?
A Black Lives Matter group marched near the rally and
passed closely to the stage. As they walked and shouted chants of “Black lives
matter,” the group received jeers and boos from many people attending the
pro-Trump rally.
At first, the mic-wielding organizer of the Trump rally
told pro-Trump congregants, “Don’t give them the spotlight,” and “They don’t
exist.”
No one could have predicted what would happen next.
From the stage, another organizer seemed to make a split-second
decision and shouted, “I’m going to let Black Lives Matter come up here while I
show them what patriotism is all about, all right?”
Another speaker, who handed the microphone over to the
group’s leader, said, “[This rally is] about freedom of speech. It’s about
celebration. So what we are gonna do is not something you’re used to, and we’re
going to give you two minutes of our platform to put your message out.”
“Now, whether [the crowd disagrees or agrees] with your
message is irrelevant — it’s the fact that you have the right to have the
message,” he said.
Members of the Black Lives Matter then took the stage and
their leader began speaking — to the cheers of the crowd gathered, both
supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement as well as Trump supporters.
What did the group say?
“I am an American,” the Black Lives Matter group leader
said. “And the beauty of America is that when you see something broke in your
country, you can mobilize to fix it.”
He continued, “So you ask why there’s a ‘Black Lives
Matter?’ Because you can watch a black man die and be choked to death on
television, and nothing happened. We need to address that.”
The man’s comments seemed to turn the crowd against him,
and cries of “No!” and protests to have the group removed from the stage began
to ramp up.
Though the speaker declared that BLM is “not
anti-cop,” the pro-Trump crowd’s
reaction showed they didn’t believe it. But things began to turn around when
the man clarified that the group was “anti-bad cop” and shouted that the group
didn’t want any handouts, and didn’t want anything that didn’t rightfully
belong to them.
“We want our God-given right to freedom, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness!” the group’s leader shouted, and the crowd began to
applaud and cheer once more.
The BLM leader added, “All lives matter, right? … If we
really want to make America great, we do it together.”
The crowd applauded the group leader’s comments, and
began chanting “USA! USA!”
What was the BLM leader’s takeaway?
After the leader’s speech came to an end, he told a nearby
cameraman that his experience in speaking to the pro-Trump crowd “restored my
faith in some of these people.”
“When I spoke truths, they agreed,” he said. “I feel like
we made progress. I feel like two sides that never listen to each other
actually made progress today.”
He added, “I expected to come down here with my fist in
the air in a very militant way, and to exchange insults … if not on a grander
level, and just person-to-person, I think we really made some substantial steps
without either side yielding anything.
“I hope that they understand that one of the leaders of
the Black Lives Matters movement is a proud American and a Christian who cares
deeply about this country,” he said. “We really are here to help this country
move toward a better place, not to destroy it.”
Noting that he had been approached by many people after
his speech who agreed with him, and even wanted to take photographs with him,
he said, “That’s the power of communication.”
“We came out, we were gonna chant, we were gonna do a
demonstration, but we didn’t have to — we just spoke,” he said. “It worked. I’m
happy about that.”
