A black nationalist group called the New Black Panther Party reportedly gathered outside two Chinese restaurants Tuesday in Washington, D.C. to protest the Chinese government’s expulsion of Africans from their homes and hospitals, according to a Mother Jones writer.
Nearly a dozen protestors dressed in black and carrying a pan-African flag gathered in front of Yum’s II Chinese restaurant and Da Hong Pao Restaurant and Bar on 14th Street in D.C. Tuesday, Stephanie Mencimer described on Twitter. She also posted photos and a video of the protest.
The New Black Panthers are out on 14th St trying to shut down Yum Yums pic.twitter.com/fUrSivrnd9
— Stephanie Mencimer (@smencimer) May 19, 2020
The group’s leader is heard speaking through a megaphone. “Happy birthday to Malcolm X,” he said, and the other protestors raised their fists. “If it wasn’t for him and all the revolutionaries, we would not be here. We’d be enslaved.”
Mencimer quotes someone saying “Donald Trump’s not wearing a mask. Why should we?” A woman whose affiliation with the group is unclear explained to Mencimer that the group were there to protest the Chinese government’s treatment of Africans, Mencimer writes.
— Stephanie Mencimer (@smencimer) May 19, 2020
Scores of Africans living in the Chinese city of Guangzhou were evicted from their homes over claims they were importing coronavirus into the city, numerous sources reported in April. (RELATED: Chinese City Evicted Scores Of Africans From Their Homes As WHO Accused Taiwan Of Stoking Racism)
The New Black Panther Party is a militant black power movement and was rejected by the Black Panther Party of the 1960s and 1970s for espousing racist and anti-Semitic beliefs. The party has blamed Jews for the 9/11 terrorist attacks and slavery, and the group claims that white men have a secret plan to commit genocide against non-white races, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
It’s unclear why the protestors decided to gather in front of the two restaurants, which serve Americanized Chinese and Cantonese food respectively and are owned by two brothers, Jerry Chen and Joe Chen, according to the Washingtonian.
The Chinese embassy, where human rights protestors have gathered in the past to hold demonstrations rebuking the Chinese government, is located roughly 4 miles away.