Social media is awash with curious images of woke white women creating mayhem at Black Lives Matter demonstrations. They’ve burned down a Wendy’s, set fire to cop cars, screamed obscenities in the faces of police officers, and assaulted a Wisconsin lawmaker.
It’s strange to observe white women in pricey athleisure scream at black cops and dress like they’re in “The Purge” to set fast food restaurants ablaze. It raises a question as to why members of the fairer sex are on the frontlines of riotous efforts to support a movement that insists they’re racist, capitalism is racist, and the whole system is racist. Here’s a round-up of some of the most noteworthy examples from recent weeks.
1. Assaulted Wisconsin Democrat State Sen. Tim Carpenter
Wisconsin State Sen. Tim Carpenter, who is a Democrat and openly gay, was assaulted in Madison Tuesday night by what appears to be two white women protestors charging toward him. It was reported that Carpenter collapsed walking to the statehouse building and paramedics were called.
“I don’t know what happened … all I did was stop and take a picture … and the next thing I’m getting five-six punches, getting kicked in the head,” Carpenter told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
I took this pic- it got me assaulted & beat up. Punched/kicked in the head, neck, ribs. Maybe concussion, socked in left eye is little blurry, sore neck & ribs. 8-10 people attacked me. Innocent people are going to get killed. Capitol locked- stuck in office.Stop violence nowPlz! pic.twitter.com/Zw2hdfYG66
— Tim Carpenter (@TimCarpenterMKE) June 24, 2020
Here are two of the people who attacked State Senator Tim Carpenter in Madison last night. Please share to help bring them to justice. pic.twitter.com/S9NsB2XT0b
— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) June 24, 2020
.@TimCarpenterMKE was just punched in the face by Madison protesters because he was filming. Several people attacked him. pic.twitter.com/jyGIfe0Ogq
— Dylan Brogan (@telldylan) June 24, 2020
2. Set Fire to an Atlanta Wendy’s
Natalie White, 29, faces first-degree arson charges for starting a fire at an Atlanta Wendy’s restaurant as retribution for the police killing of Rayshard Brooks. White turned herself in after a warrant was issued for her arrest.
The arsonist at the Atlanta Wendy's: https://t.co/dq4dnSw73Y
— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) June 23, 2020
.@ATLFireRescue Investigators have obtained an arrest warrant for Arson in the 1st Degree, for 29 yr old Natalie White. White is suspected of setting fire to the Wendy’s on Sat June 13th. Call Crime Stoppers at 404-577-TIPS or the Arson Tip Line at 1-800-282-5804 @cbs46 pic.twitter.com/ac2SahWIC4
— Melissa Stern (@MelissaStern) June 20, 2020
3. Supplied Instructions for the Destruction of Statues
CUNY Professor Erin L. Thompson describes herself as “America’s only full-time professor of art crime,” who studies “damage done to humanity’s shared heritage through looting, theft, and the deliberate destruction of art.” Naturally, as protestors have continued tearing down statues across the country regardless of the statue’s significance or history, Thompson gave her two cents on the best methods for the senseless destruction.
“Use chain instead of rope and it’ll go faster,” Thompson tweeted.
I’m a professor who studies the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage and I just have to say… use chain instead of rope and it’ll go faster. https://t.co/RH3WVJm8RX
— Erin L. Thompson (@artcrimeprof) June 11, 2020
Sarah Parcak, an archaeologist and Egyptologist, also weighed in on best practices for tearing down obelisks or monuments. Even going as far as suggesting her followers look for a monument in Birmingham, Alabama to destroy.
PSA For ANYONE who might be interested in how to pull down an obelisk* safely from an Egyptologist who never ever in a million years thought this advice might come in handy
*might be masquerading as a racist monument I dunno
— Sarah Parcak (@indyfromspace) June 1, 2020
There might be one just like this in downtown Birmingham! What a coincidence. Can someone please show this thread to the folks there.
— Sarah Parcak (@indyfromspace) June 1, 2020
4. Justified ‘The Destruction of Property’
R.H. Lossin, a white women, wrote an article for The Nation titled, “In Defense of Destroying Property” in which she explores the question: What if property destruction “is not a frustrated, emotional reaction but a reasonable and articulate expression in itself?”
Lossin argues, “property destruction is not synonymous with the violence that is being protested” and that we must not conflate people and objects. She addresses the “more complicated matter” of the destruction of small businesses, which are often minority-owned, by writing them off as “instrumentalized in the service” of capitalism.
Additionally, we shouldn’t let the image of “mom and pop” shops conflate property and people, she notes.
— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) June 23, 2020
5. Set Fire to Police Cars
This Seattle woman was arrested and charged with federal arson for setting fire to Seattle police vehicles.
25-year-old Antifa member Margaret Channon arrested on 5 federal counts of arson for setting fire to five Seattle police vehicles in downtown Seattle on May 30. https://t.co/yHlcSKyhfV pic.twitter.com/StoQzgGTAQ
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 12, 2020
Police arrested and charged Lore-Elisabeth Blumenthal, 33, for allegedly setting two police cars on fire at protests in Philadelphia on May 30. Police were able to identify and track Blumenthal down from a photo that showed her tattoo and a unique shirt she bought on Etsy.
FBI used Instagram, an Etsy review, and LinkedIn to identify a protestor accused of arson https://t.co/u7gjKNZ9QO pic.twitter.com/9b5Lc8ifVr
— The Verge (@verge) June 18, 2020
6. Screamed Obscenities at Cops
A woman shouts at Park Police outside the White House pic.twitter.com/3I9EURwhYc
— Emily Jashinsky (@emilyjashinsky) June 23, 2020
Two women are screaming at the cops outside the White House. pic.twitter.com/V9wTsoFDzf
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) June 23, 2020
7. Taunted Black Police Officers
“Smile,” a white woman (in lululemon) tells a black cop. pic.twitter.com/GkmH8QJLmW
— Emily Jashinsky (@emilyjashinsky) June 23, 2020
White woman yelling at black officers. pic.twitter.com/dEdfTf0Dgw
— Henry Rodgers (@henryrodgersdc) June 23, 2020
Journalist Kara Voght writes in a Mother Jones report on the suburban white women voting bloc that “The Trump era has seen the emergence of the ‘resistance’ woman, a small, progressive-leaning subset of educated white women radicalized by Trump’s win.” Just last year, “the share of college-educated women in the U.S. workforce passed the share of college-educated men,” The Washington Post reported.
The irony of these radicalized, educated women announcing their privilege and “white guilt” as if it’s something to brag about is that doing so loudly and violently as they have in recent weeks is perhaps the highest form of white privilege.