While North Carolina decides on a new anti-rioting bill, activists are claiming that it is racist and targets the Black Lives Matter movement.
The ACLU and activists are claiming that a North Carolina anti-rioting bill that would increase penalties for rioting and looting is “racist” and “anti-Black Lives Matter.”
The bill was sponsored by Republican North Carolina Speaker of the House Tim Moore. Like many other cities, Raleigh experienced rioting last summer as protests and riots plagued the U.S.
If the new bill passes, people would be charged with a felony for causing major property damage, severe bodily harm or assaulting emergency personnel during a riot.
Attorney Dawn Blagrove of the activist group Emancipate NC told WNCN: “This bill HB805 is racist. It’s an anti-Black Lives Matter bill.”
“That’s a ridiculous claim,” Moore said, concerning the backlash. “This law applies to anyone who would go in and destroy property. Like so many Americans, I was outraged at what I saw at the U.S. Capitol. The destruction that happened there.”
Many of them were engaged in violent federal crimes so it is entirely appropriate (& expected) they would be “targeted.” The problem we’ve seen is too few have actually been prosecuted. The few who have get sweetheart deals with no jail time despite the severity of the crime(s). https://t.co/2iTyYYaQBF
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) August 19, 2021
To most Americans, the penalties included in this new bill are not racist—they are sensible. Anyone who causes destruction during a riot or hurts people in the process will be punished accordingly. As conservatives have said for a long time, peaceful protesting does not include violence or vandalism. Once that line is crossed, the law can and should be enforced.
Leftists who defend looting and rioting only do so because it gives them some level of power over the “racist” system. They would remove all penalties and accountability in general if they could.