Black Lives Matter is constantly protesting something. Pretty much every day and in pretty much every city there's a demonstration, a die-in, a march, a rally, or straight looting taking place. So it's not reassuring that a new study finds that just seven percent of the time a Black Lives Matter protest is violent.
The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) looked at 7,750 BLM-linked demonstrations occurring in 2,400 identified locations representing all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The protests took place between Aug. 22 and late May, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. According to ACLED, 220 of the locations, or just under 10 percent, could be characterized as violent. And around seven percent of the 7,750 BLM demonstrations analyzed by the group were deemed violent.
Despite the finding, the analysis appears to be an attempt to whitewash BLM's violence. Here's an excerpt from the ACLED study where they reference a CNN "fact check" of the president to reassure us that the violence is usually confined to just a few blocks within a city. (Only 10 percent of the city is on fire!)
The vast majority of demonstration events associated with the BLM movement are non-violent (see map below). In more than 93% of all demonstrations connected to the movement, demonstrators have not engaged in violence or destructive activity. Peaceful protests are reported in over 2,400 distinct locations around the country. Violent demonstrations, meanwhile, have been limited to fewer than 220 locations — under 10% of the areas that experienced peaceful protests. In many urban areas like Portland, Oregon, for example, which has seen sustained unrest since Floyd’s killing, violent demonstrations are largely confined to specific blocks, rather than dispersed throughout the city (CNN, 1 September 2020).
Less than two percent of Americans have even tested positive for the coronavirus -- much fewer have developed symptoms -- and Democrats are terrified of letting people go outside. But during the same pandemic, Democrats and the media have green-lit protests where the virus spreads, stores get looted, property gets vandalized, fires get set, and people get beat up and even murdered
The media is trumpeting ACLED's finding as if it exonerates the media and the Democrats for ignoring the violent protests all summer long. Apparently, the media's new standard is: less than 10 percent and we can ignore it. I guess we can refer to the coronavirus as overwhelmingly safe and finally stop talking about the protest in Charlottesville that happened over three years ago.
I'll leave you with the excellent tweet from Matt Walsh on the left's inconsistent use of statistics.
Remember: Black Lives Matter isn’t violent if only 10 percent of their protests turn into rioting and looting but the police are racist murderers if less than .001 percent of arrests of black suspects turn deadly. This is how statistics work in Leftist fantasy land.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 4, 2020