During the protests in Charlotte, North Carolina, you will no doubt hear most of corporate media focusing on the damage caused to local businesses and the damage to police and one protester, but what you will not often see is the powerful rhetoric and emotion being shared by those involved in the protest. The news will focus on the where and when, but now the how or why.
One Fox News reporter was seeking to do just that, giving the white audience the perfect pearl-clutching material so that they may “tsk tsk,” and make the same old comments about black people and violence and the “appropriate way to protest.”
But one woman wasn’t ready to allow that same rhetoric to perpetuate in her presence. Instead, she launched into a passionate and emotional appeal to the white reporter, pointing out that the death of a black man means nothing to white American unless it can be used to justify why protest shouldn’t occur, rather than why it should.
The reporter was busy questioning why the protest would still continue on, despite the shooting of one protester, and the woman’s response was so powerful, it’s likely to invoke tears.
“Why are you here?”
“Because,” she shouted, “I serve a purpose, sir. I serve a purpose. My father serves a purpose. My brother serves a purpose. I’m here because guess what? Whether I’m here, I’m in school, I’m in my car . . . You said, so a man got shot over here, right? So you’re basically saying why would I put myself in danger’s way? But guess what? I could be at work, at school, at my job, in my car – I can still get shot by the police. I could get shot anywhere.”
The woman held up her forearm, then pointed to the reporter’s arm.
“Do you see this? Do you see that? Do you see me? Do you see you? We are not the same. We are human, but I am black and you are white. So don’t tell me not to come over here.”
Watch.
