In GOP embrace of truckers, some see racist double standard

The Associated Press ^ | February 18, 2022 | By COREY WILLIAMS and SARA BURNETT

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Former President Donald Trump, who repeatedly called Black Lives Matter protesters “thugs” and “anarchists,” said there’s “a lot of respect” for the overwhelmingly white truckers who blocked streets in the Canadian capital and shut down border crossings with the U.S. to oppose COVID-19 restrictions.

To Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, the truckers who parked bumper to bumper are “heroes” fighting for a righteous cause. Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity sent “solidarity, love and support” to the drivers, who also defied police orders to clear Ottawa’s streets and ignored a court order forbidding them from blaring their horns. GOP Sen. Rand Paul encouraged them to head south and “clog” streets in the U.S.

The embrace of the truckers by some of the nation’s most prominent conservative voices has drawn new accusations of hypocrisy and allegations that GOP leaders apply a racist double standard to large protests, including the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol involving a mostly white crowd of Trump supporters.

“This shows again that there is just an unequal right to express dissent in the United States,” said Karen Pita Loor, a professor at Boston University’s School of Law. She called conservatives’ support “two-faced,” saying that conservatives appear to support a white, conservative rights movement, but “when you have Black Lives Matter protesters on the street that are ‘thugs,’ they scare you.”

[Ban Draoi Marbh Draoi]

Did someone actually say that?

[cva66snipe]

The truckers have not destroyed public or private property. They have not set their rigs on fire. They have been peaceful. Many are owners responsible for a self-owned business where several million dollars a year or in some case a single load must be accounted for and handled responsibly. They work very long hours sacrificing time away from family so goods can be delivered to store some of which will be burned and looted by self-proclaimed entitled victim who likely has never as so much worked a day.

The truckers are protesting trying to protect their right to work. They aren't asking government to assume their risk on the contrary they pay some of the highest federal, and state taxes in the way of permits, licensing, etc.

Trudeau is fixing to find out what it's like to have a nation with no deliveries made. Within a week and by no means more than two weeks the Canadian Parliament after all trucking shuts down will in fact remove him from office and it will be bipartisan via self-preservation for their own seats.

[octex]

BLM/antifa protestors were assaulting police, burning their cars, looting and burning stores and killing people.

Truckers have committed no violence.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

As far as I know, the truckers haven’t attacked federal courthouses, destroyed and burned shops, or attacked military veterans in the street. Also, as far as I know, a lot of BLM protestors, if not most, are actually White.