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In 2020, armed groups and individuals confronted racial justice protests with guns at least 100 times. Our new video shows how police officers often gave these groups a pass, and in extreme cases even affiliated or coordinated with them: https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000007424380/police-black-lives-matter-protests.html
There have been more than 7,700 Black Lives Matter protests since the killing of George Floyd in May, the vast majority of them peaceful, according to researchers. But in scores of cases, we found that armed right-wing groups confronted them with guns.
The left used violence this year too, most prominently in the killing of Trump supporter Aaron J. Danielson in Portland, Ore., on Aug. 29 ( https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/31/video/portland-protests-shooting-investigation.html). But we saw armed groups confronting protesters far more often on the right.
The most common response we saw from police officers was a permissive attitude toward armed groups and individuals who confronted Black Lives Matter protests, like this scene in Crown Point, Ind., on June 1, shot by Isabella Gomez.
Or this incident the same day in Yucaipa, Calif., where people — some affiliated with anti-government armed movements — fought with BLM protesters while a police officer sat in a car around 200 feet away
We also saw some officers affiliate with armed groups, like these Philadelphia police officers posing with armed men guarding property on June 1, while elsewhere in the city that day a mob carrying bats and axes confronted BLM protesters.
In places like Chicago and Orange County, Calif., officers and deputies wore the symbols of anti-government armed movements like the Three Percenters ( https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/06/08/cpd-investigating-after-officer-wore-extremist-militia-logo-to-downtown-protest-saturday/) and the Oath Keepers ( https://voiceofoc.org/2020/06/oc-deputy-under-investigation-for-wearing-extremist-symbols-at-protest/).
In Michigan, a county sheriff appeared on stage with a member of a militia group who was later charged with plotting to kidnap @GovWhitmer, and he seemed to sympathize with their actions in an interview: https://wwmt.com/news/local/neighbors-10-09-2020.
In a few extreme cases, we even saw officers seem to coordinate with armed groups, like this Clackamas County, Ore., sheriff's deputy who tells men “defending” their area from antifa that he’s “on their side” and how to plant a knife on a victim.
Experts say that the hands-off approach we saw this year from some police officers can lead armed people to believe that they have the government’s support, are subject to different rules than everyone else and might be justified in taking violent action.
The events of 2020 suggest that even as the country grapples with police reform, it has another problem on its hands: an increasingly blurred line between armed groups and the police https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000007424380/police-black-lives-matter-protests.html.
Thanks to @ACLEDINFO, @IREHR, @areidross, @HamptonStall, @MeganSquire0, @dburghart for their research, data and valuable insights.
