On Saturday, "more than 20,000" people — perhaps as many as 25,000 to 30,000, according to some police — marched through the streets of Birmingham, Alabama at a Glenn Beck-led "Restoring Unity" rally chanting "All Lives Matter." The event has been described as possibly "the largest march in Birmingham since the civil rights marches of 1963."
Searches at Google News and at the Associated Press's main national and "Big Story" sites indicate that no establishment press outlet gave the rally national coverage. The AP only managed to push out terse three-paragraph and seven-paragraph local stories. Meanwhile, a Reuters story on the less than peaceful march by the "Black Lives Matter" crowd attended by an estimated 325 (compared to an expected 900) in Minneapolis was carried at Yahoo News and the New York Times (at least).
The Reuters story from Minneapolis by Marisa Helms carried at Yahoo ignored much of what really happened there. It also contained two now-ironic paragraphs at the end which were apparently written before the march took place (bolds and numbered tags are mine):
Black Lives Matter marches on Minnesota State Fair
Several hundred protesters from the Black Lives Matter movement marched to the Minnesota State Fair on Saturday to bring attention to race issues ranging from policing to underrepresentation of minorities at one of the nation's biggest state fairs.
The mixed-race crowd, including senior citizens and children, chanted slogans [1] along the 1-1/2 mile route and briefly lay down on a bridge south of the fairgrounds.
"There's a cliche that Minnesota is nice to everyone, but that's not the case for people of color," said 51-year-old marcher Tim, who did not want to give his last name because event organizers said they had received death threats. [2]
"As a white person I want to be vocal about that ... This (protest march) is a small inconvenience to state fair traffic compared to what people of color experience every day," he said.
... Black Lives Matter, a decentralized national movement [3] against racism in policing and the justice system, gained momentum last year during protests over police killings of unarmed black men.
The group also pressures 2016 presidential hopefuls [4] to address issues such as mass incarcerations of African Americans.
(final two paragraphs)
The demonstration is expected to stay outside the fairgrounds due to a state restriction.
Rashad Turner, organizer of Black Lives St. Paul on Friday reminded protesters to remain peaceful. [5] "Our opponents will claim victory if they push someone over the line. I don't know about you, but let's not give them the satisfaction."
Notes:
[1] — Gosh, Marisa, what "slogans" were the marchers chanting? One of the answers "Pigs in a Blanket!" (HT Gateway Pundit):
[2] — "Death threats," eh? Well, if true, it's obviously reprehensible, but the sympathy meter here is really low, given how routinely Black Lives Matter participants issue death threats — including the aforementioned "Pigs in a Blanket," which is a generalized death threat against everyone in law enforcement — and employ intimidation to make their dubious points.
[3] — Describing Black Lives Matter as "a decentralized national movement" is sheer fantasy. It is an Astroturf effort funded by white-guy George Soros, and was at least until recently co-led by a guy who his family says he is white. It is so "decentralized" that its top-down main national players somehow manage to travel to wherever they think they can foment their next episode of discord and chaos.
[4] — Excuse the pun, but what a whitewash. What Helms describes as "pressure" from Black Lives Matter has been disruption of speeches and intimidation of candidates. At least three of whom — Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley — have given the "Black Lives Matter" unearned legitimacy by pretending that the group has legitimate grievances.
[5] — Chanting "Pigs in a Blanket" (while being escorted by police officers, by the way) is not "peaceful." It's a death threat targetin an entire group. Deliberately blocking traffic is arguably a form of violence, and in a protest situation "is illegal without a permit."
"Black Lives Matter" gets media coverage, but with kid gloves, and 20,000 people in Birmingham with a genuinely uplifting and unifying message get ignored. The double standard could not be more obvious.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
