WASHINGTON (CN) — America’s summer was punctuated by sweeping protests against police brutality and racism and those activities, regardless of the city or state they unfolded in, were almost entirely nonviolent, according to new analysis reviewing 7,750 U.S. demonstrations.
The nonprofit Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project reviewed protests erupting in late May following the police killing of George Floyd through August 22. Assessing demonstrations in 50 states, the agency found that 93% of protests were peaceful or without violence.
Violence is defined in the report as a clash between demonstrators and police or counterprotesters, or as incidents where property damage was caused. In the 2,400 locations surveyed nationwide, 220 protests (just under 10%) were categorized as “violent.”
In cities like Portland, Oregon, for example, where unrest has been sustained for weeks, violence that occurs tends to be confined to a few specific blocks and not unfolding throughout the entire city.
ACLED found the suggestion of sprawling paralyzing chaos in American cities not reflective of reality on the ground. Instead that messaging is part and parcel of “disinformation campaigns” launched by opponents to the Black Lives Matter organization, its political platform or its supporters — a phenomenon documented by groups like the Anti-Defamation League, according to ACLED’s report.
The nonprofit’s analysis, in conjunction with Princeton University’s Bridging Divides Initiative, draws on an array of news reports both domestic and international on U.S. protests this summer. It is also shaped by real-time accounts on social media and other publicly available information.
Depending on a person’s political orientation or exposure to biased media framing — especially media that focuses lopsidedly on looting and vandalism — support for protests can be deeply influenced and lead to deliberate mischaracterizations of activists associated with Black Lives Matter or other civil rights movements and groups.
Portraying the group as a cadre of violent extremists or a “symbol of hate,” as President Donald Trump suggested explicitly in July, contributes to a sharp decline in support for the movement, largely among white people.
In a phone interview Friday, U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin condemned such characterizations.
“The projection of violence onto nonviolent movements is an exercise in propaganda,” said Raskin, a Maryland Democrat. “While the president and Attorney General Barr continue to cover up the startling rise in right wing violence in America, they continue to project violence onto nonviolent civil rights protesters. This is a dangerous moment because the president and his claque are essentially covering up for lawless violence by the police and extreme right-wing elements. That is the recipe for fascism.”
Trump this week refused to denounce the actions of Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old now facing two counts of first-degree murder for the shootings of protesters Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Demonstrations erupted there on Aug. 23 after police shot a Black man, Jacob Blake, seven times in the back paralyzing him. Two days later, armed individuals, including Rittenhouse, descended on Kenosha with military-style weapons to “defend” area businesses. Rittenhouse was seen on footage before the alleged shooting chatting with police officers and accepting water they offered to him.
In a move visible to the president’s tens of millions of followers online, Trump “liked” a recent Twitter post that calls Rittenhouse a “good example” of why voters choose to align with him. The president also suggested unequivocally during a White House press briefing this week that Rittenhouse acted in self-defense.
Given the continuation of police killings as well as a deeply divided political atmosphere, ACLED’s report warns that the increase in hate crimes since 2019 is likely to increase the chance of more violence in the charged weeks ahead of the November election.
