[AWildC182]

The official number for 2020 appears to be 25 (not including last week), however conservatives seem very interested in representing this as a list of "people BLM murdered" when it's really a list of all deaths due to political violence. It includes people who were killed by police, individuals murdered by far right individuals, and that one guy shot by a left wing extremist at a protest.

[neartheplain]

individuals murdered by far right individuals

During the summer’s BLM activities? Name one.

[fabbari]

  I'll give you one: David Patrick Underwood, May 29th. But that's not the point. 

  The point is: even if you count all of the deaths related to all the events around BLM protests - 19 [1] - these were over 7 months of protests, across the country, against the violence that black people see every day impacting their lives perpetrated by the people tasked to enforce the law and ensure security. On the other side you have 5 deaths in a few hours during a protest - supported by the sitting President - against the results of free and fair elections that they just didn't happen to like.

  These are not the same - by any stretch of the imagination. 

[0] https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/16/santa-cruz-deputys-al... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_and_controversies_dur...

[SauciestGNU]

Two people were murdered by Kyle Rittenhouse, a boogaloo adherent murdered a courthouse guard in California. There's three.

[neartheplain]

I'm particularly well-read on the Rittenhouse case. I've seen all the livestreams and tracked new developments as the case approaches trial. My impression of the case clearly differs from yours. I will outline my view and the evidence behind it:

Kyle Rittenhouse is not far-right or a "Boogaloo adherent." There is no evidence to back those claims. These claims were made early on with zero proof by US Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley [0], then widely repeated as truth. In actual fact, he's a teenage Republican and former Public Safety Cadet [1].

He acted in self-defense. Extensive video evidence and witness testimony proves this [2]. I'll be surprised if the jury returns a guilty verdict. If you disagree, I'd ask that you review his legal team's video [2] which lays forth most of the evidence in Kyle's favor. Their analysis aligns with and augments that done by the New York Times' Visual Investigations team [3].

The assembled evidence is clear, compelling, and exonerates Rittenhouse. A deep-dive convinced progressive columnist Eric Zorn at the Baltimore Sun of Kyle's innocence [4]. Few of those writing about the case on Twitter and in print have immersed themselves in the evidence this way.

As to the California Boogaloo guy, Steven Carrillo: sure, you could call the him far-right. He wasn't a fan of police, Donald Trump, or the Republican Party, per crime scene graffiti and his social media [5]. The Boogaloo movement in general is not ideologically consistent, or consistently far-right, as outlined by GWU professor and extremism researcher JJ MacNab [6]. But to your point, he wasn't part of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Carrillo and his accomplice murdered 2 victims. That leaves a significant number of deaths for which the violent elements of BLM remain responsible, and for which almost no one has been held accountable, even just in the public discourse. The tension between those downplayed crimes and the media spotlight on unruly conservatives has stoked anger among many on the right.

[0] https://twitter.com/ayannapressley/status/129878054043122483...

[1] https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/report-kenosha-shooting...

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4dhPM99i4I&t=45s

[3] https://twitter.com/trbrtc/status/1298839097923063809

[4] https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/eric-zorn/ct-column-r...

[5] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-charged-deputy-ambu...

[6] https://twitter.com/jjmacnab/status/1266767564627034121

[SauciestGNU]

I'm curious what you make of Kyle Rittenhouse posing with Proud Boys and flashing white power hand gestures, if that changes your calculus regarding his political beliefs at all.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/01/14/kyle-ritten...

[neartheplain]

This happened in the last few days, so I hadn't seen it. Neither had Rep. Pressley when she made her tweet many months ago.

Doesn't alter the case in the least. Still clear self-defense. Post-hoc assignment of affiliation doesn't stick. An earlier court search of Kyle's social media revealed no far-right affiliation [0]. As things are now, the media made him a pariah, so only pariahs like the Proud Boys will accept him. Same thing happened with George Zimmerman; the sad yet predictable outcome of forcing someone out of polite society. And that’s not to mention all the death threats [1], which would probably make the offer of Proud Boy protection appealing.

The meaning of that hand sign's in the eye of the beholder, as anyone familiar with its history will know.

[0] https://www.wpr.org/sites/default/files/rittenhouse_response...

[1] https://patch.com/illinois/grayslake/rittenhouses-mom-chasti...

[newen]

I still can't believe 4chan actually managed to make the OK hand sign into a white power hand sign. Pretty impressive.