As businesses and buildings were broken into and lit on fire Sunday evening by looters in Washington, D.C., some protesters spoke out against the destruction.
One protester began to scream at looters who were targeting what appeared to be a local coffee shop in D.C. Sunday evening. The protester told a Daily Caller reporter that while he believes looting is a part of protesting, they should only target big businesses.
“Looting is not a problem to me, it’s a part of rioting, but like, it’s coffee shops and fucking restaurants, yo they didn’t hurt nobody!” the protester explained after yelling at some of the looters to stop. “It’s not a big business, it’s somebody’s business. Somebody gonna get up in the morning and be like, ‘damn, I wasn’t even a part of this and my whole livelihood is gone.'”
“I’m all for looting, like, it’s a part of rioting, it’s a part of revolution, it’s a part of change, but you gotta, you gotta loot somewhere that’s constructive.” (RELATED: Videos Of Protests Nationwide Show Images Of Chaos, Mass Violence)
WATCH:
The protester added that his cousin is a black general manager of a D.C. bar as he continued to explain why he was against how some looters were behaving. He said he would help his cousin rebuild the bar if it were destroyed Sunday evening.
“Then imma get up, and imma help him rebuild it, because that’s what we do. But this [is] not the message, this [is] not what we here for,” the protester continued, adding that he had been subjected to tear gas and more as he tried to protest throughout the evening.
WATCH:
One protester screaming at looters told me that looting is part of protesting, but wants everyone to leave the small businesses alone: pic.twitter.com/mYCBJgpncy
— Shelby Talcott (@ShelbyTalcott) June 1, 2020
The protester blamed police aggression on the looters’ behavior, saying that the situation was largely peaceful throughout the day until officers began to aim at the crowd.
“I have a masters degree,” he added. “I have a masters degree in psychology and I have peacefully protested and got shot with tear gas … That’s why this is going on. Don’t let nobody change the narrative!”
In another situation, a protester yelled at the crowd Sunday after a small building across the street from the historic St. John’s Church in D.C. was lit on fire. The protester explained that this was not why they were meant to be here, and got into a discussion with a man who was, at first, all for looting.
“We’re here for George Floyd, we’re here for the death of black men across the country,” the protester said to a Daily Caller reporter. “We’re not here to set fires to our city. We’re not here to destroy our city. We’re here to bring repression for the systematic oppression of police upon black men.”
WATCH:
Really powerful conversation from last night as the building across St. John’s Church burned.
One protester spoke out against the destruction of DC and eventually seemed to convince a pro-looter that perhaps actions like this are not productive.
Recommend watching it all: pic.twitter.com/zN2UEpBGgE
— Shelby Talcott (@ShelbyTalcott) June 1, 2020
The protester said those who are looting and lighting buildings on fire are being “very counterproductive” to the cause, adding that he doesn’t think they are here to speak out against Floyd’s death. A pro-looter protester interjected and explained why he feels the destruction is acceptable.
“We’re doing this because … there’s no peace going on, so we obviously gotta set our own set of goals,” the second man said.
“But this is our city, who has to repay to rebuild this? Our taxes have to pay to rebuild this,” the first man replied, resulting in the second to agree. “So, we’re losing at the end of the day, no matter what we do, we’re losing. What are we gaining from burning our city?”
The pro-looter protester explained that the looting and burning is “noise” and said that they “tried being nice” before resorting to vandalism. Next, the first protester discussed how the violence and destruction takes away from the original protest.
“That’s not our purpose,” he said. “And then when they continue to paint us as the bad guy, we play victim … We’re here to protest for George Floyd, for the death of black men, we’re not here to do this.”
“We’ve been watching this for a long time … people are upset, people want to show how they feel,” the pro-looter replied.
The first protester continued on to explain how the only people losing “at the end of the day” are themselves,
“So we’re burning our own home for what, cuz we wanna party?” he asked. The pro-looter protester appeared to agree with the other man on many points, nodding throughout and telling him that his point were “true.”