White Protesters Were Arrested At A Black Lives Matter Rally And Called It "A Privilege" To Go To Jail For The Cause
This one is a tough call to me. I obviously 100% support the concept of standing together instead of getting lost in the argumentative weeds when there’s an epidemic affecting a portion of the American population. But all these guys were such classic “serial protester” guys that it’s hard to think they’re about the cause as much as they are the exercise of getting together in groups and complaining about things. You’ve got this kid:
..who based solely on t-shirt selection might be on a journey to visit all of the whitest locations in the country before hearing a protest was going on that he had to check out. Then you have this guy:
This guy’s so privileged to be arrested that it’s literally exploding out of his neck veins. Also not sure if you should be busting out the P-Word when you’re at a Black Lives Matter rally without a trigger warning, just FYI, no half-stepping with being sympathetic to the cause. And of course this dude:
..who’s completely pulling off the “I might be a serial protester, I might be a burnout 24-year-old pizza delivery guy who bangs juniors in high school, who knows” look. But one thing is for certain: That nose ring is very sexy.
Overall it’s not like getting arrested somehow gives you “street cred” to be there like these guys seem to be thinking with getting willfully arrested to prove a point. If anything, that’s even more of a paternalistic white person thing to do, a total “Look at me, we’re not so different even though I’m getting lightly escorted and giving TV interviews and you might die in a dark alley” situation. One of those times where it’s all good intentions but worthy of a series of eye-roll emojis all the same, kind of like a JJ Watt tweet. If I had to grade their work using viral clips, this probably sums up my views best: