The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation has a policy of not supporting counter-protests — the tactic of showing up to hate groups' events to voice opposition.
Black Lives Matter protesters. Photo by Ivan Radic.
A KKK rally was held in Huntington Beach on April 11th. "White Lives Matter" supporters came head to head with anti-racism counter-protesters on the Huntington Beach pier. The media is claiming the counter-protesters were "particularly representing" Black Lives Matter. But were they?
I am on the mailing list for the Black Lives Matter Foundation, the global organization that first coined the hashtag "Black Lives Matter" in the wake of the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin. An email came through on April 9th from Patrisse Cullors, one of the founding members of the Black Lives Matter Foundation, explaining that the foundation does not support counter-protests and was not promoting them at the KKK rally in Huntington Beach.
Cullors wrote:
White supremacists feel emboldened enough to hold a KKK rally right here at home in Huntington Beach — and it's happening tomorrow.
We want to make it abundantly clear that Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation and Black Lives Matter Grassroots do not support counterprotesting — the tactic of showing up to hate groups' events to voice our opposition. While we understand counterprotests are organized with good intentions, it's important to remember that only we keep us safe — especially in the face of white supremacy. We must not be reactionary to white supremacy — but protective of our communities, our people, our well-being, and our dedication to Black liberation.
In this email, Cullors made it abundantly clear that staying safe was more important than counter-protesting against racists at their rallies. Counter-protests can turn violent. Look at what happened in Charlottesville on August 12, 2017, when hundreds of white nationalists gathered to protest plans to remove the Confederate statue of General Robert E. Lee. The event turned deadly when self-proclaimed Neo-Nazi James Alex Fields Jr. drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring others.
No wonder the Black Lives Matter Foundation doesn't support counter-protests. This is especially true during a hate rally in Orange County. Rise Above, the racist fight club, was founded in Orange County. This group attends rallies around the country to engage in open combat with counter-protesters. The members of the group are trained in martial arts.
Rise Above Movement, founded in Orange County. Source.
One of the guiding principles of the Black Lives Matter Foundation is to allow families to fully participate in public social justice work. What if Rise Above showed up at the rally in Huntington Beach and the children of counter-protesters were present? It's too big of a risk to take.
Yes, our Constitution gives us the right to peacefully assemble to voice our beliefs, no matter what they are. However, it was in the interest of safety that Cullors sent out this email, calling on people not to counter-protest at the KKK rally on April 11th in Huntington Beach, or any other white supremacist rally for that matter.
Black Lives Matter is not a centralized organization.
Though Patrisse Cullors may have stated that the Black Lives Matter Foundation does not support counter-protests, it's important to remember that the BLM organization is ultimately a decentralized network of local-based chapters. While each local chapter is expected to embrace the principles of the founding members, these local chapters are allowed to form their own agenda.
Tory Johnson is the founder of one such BLM chapter, "Black Lives Matter Huntington Beach." When flyers were first found in downtown Huntington Beach on Easter Sunday, he quickly organized an effort to counter-protest at this rally.
Johnson had the right to do so since Black Lives Matter chapters operate outside of any centralized leadership. So yes, many of the counter-protesters at the KKK rally were affiliated with BLM, just the local chapter.
Racism is still a problem in Orange County.
Regardless of who was behind the counter-protest in Huntington Beach on April 11th, the fact remains that Orange County has a racism problem. The county has a long history of racist activity. Klansmen were once a political force in the city of Anaheim, actually holding public office in the 1920s.
In the '80s and '90s in Huntington Beach, Nazi Skinheads carried out attacks on Black, Latino and Asian residents. This is not to mention that since January 2021, Orange County has experienced 14 anti-Asian hate incidents.
Photo by Elvert Barnes.
This, even though the ethnic and racial makeup of Orange County has changed over the years. Orange County is no longer the bastion of whiteness it once was. People of color now make up the majority in the county. However, it's events like the KKK rally on April 11th that show that Orange County has yet to shed its racist past.
At least it's good to know that at the rally on April 11th, the white supremacists in attendance were far outnumbered by anti-racism activists. Hopefully, this means Orange County is finally changing. In the future, the hope is that we won't have to discuss whether it's safe to counter-protest at a white supremacist rally because such rallies will be a thing of the past.