Justice 4 Black Lives vs. The Media

As Black Lives Matter protests sweep the world it was inevitable that they would hit my city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Justice 4 Black Lives rally was billed as a peaceful protest, and for the most part, yes it could be described as that. There were no riots, outright violence, people marched peacefully, and there were no major incidents. It is estimated that 18,000 people showed up at the Manitoba Legislative Building on June 5 to protest against racism, especially by police. The cause was just. Black Lives DO Matter. And, it was nice to see so many people out protesting against racism.

HOWEVER, the organizers made one big error and it is important to call them out on this: The essentially declared war on the media. They decided that they didn't want to have certain news outlets there, thus creating toxic environment in a PUBLIC space at a PUBLIC event for people just doing their jobs. They decided that they would not accept the idea of freedom of the press and freedom of speech.

Now, once again, this event was a public event held in a public venue. In NO WAY whatsoever should a hostile environment be created towards the media. They must absolutely be free to report from this event. Despite the hostile rhetoric towards media outlets, most local organizations still showed up. They did, however, stick to the sidelines. But, the notion that any news media should be excluded from any public event is absolutely unacceptable. And the hostile, toxic environment created by organizers of the event resulted in aggressive behavior towards media and photographers.

One cannot claim that an event is peaceful if this is what happened to media organizations. It just can't. There was an outpouring of thanks and celebration at just how peaceful the march was, including by the Winnipeg Police Service. But, the reality is, if media is being intimidated, harassed and run out of a public space, the event is inherently not peaceful and this needs to be pointed out. Fighting against racism is important, but so is press freedom.

One media outlet that went to report was Winnipeg Alternative Media. They began to record and were quickly approached by a local ANTIFA group who threatened to kick them out of the event. How on earth can a media outlet be kicked out of a public event in a public space? This is NOT peaceful. And, in fact, ridiculous, given the fact that this group that claims to be anti-fascist took such a fascist approach to WAM. The ANTIFA group (who I've written about before) takes exception to the fact that WAM are a cross of libertarian and right-wing views, and believe that they attract an audience of people that this group disagrees with. Well, too frickin' bad. You don't have to agree with the slant a media source takes. You don't have to like their audience, which one shouldn't automatically assume is of all one mindset anyway. You don't have to like anything about the media outlet. But, they should - no, MUST - have the absolute right to report from a PUBLIC event in a PUBLIC space without intimidation or harassment. The following video showing the exchange between ANTIFA and WAM was taken by Derek Holmes.

This is not peaceful. This is authoritarian. This is threatening. This is offensive. This is harassment. One cannot claim that an event is peaceful when this is what happens. It isn't. This is NOT peaceful, at all. So, let's not pretend it is.

Organizers of the Justice 4 Black Lives put on an impressive event in many ways. They had an amazing turnout. Good for them. The issue is important. However, to take the authoritarian and dangerous approach that they did towards media, especially "white media" (whatever that is), is a serious stain on what otherwise could have been a wonderful event. Freedom of the press is too important of an issue to be sidelined here. And the ANTIFA group that harassed WAM shows just how serious the issue of far-left intimidation and violence is as well.