A group of angry, loud and wrong white people must have thought it was Angry, Loud and Wrong White People Day when they decided to stage a disgustingly insensitive counterprotest during a peaceful march against police brutality and systemic racism over the death of George Floyd.
While standing next to a pro-Trump banner, a “Blue Lives Matter” flag and an “All Lives Matter” sign, these men—who probably long for the day when displays of blatant racism were regarded as just another Monday and didn’t yield consequences for one’s actions—decided to reenact Floyd’s death by having one white man in the group place his knee on the back of another white man’s neck while expressing their contempt for Black Lives Matter protests. As a result, one of those men was fired from his job and another has been suspended.
The Washington Post reports that as demonstrators marched through Franklin Township, N.J., they were met by a group of racists who either forgot that people with cameras are everywhere or simply have no idea how to read the room to figure out that mocking a victim of police violence isn’t as socially acceptable—even among conservatives—as it may have been not too long ago.
The men were recorded putting on their abhorrent display while shouting “Black lives matter to no one,” “Police lives matter” and other wypipo proverbs. The footage was posted to social media on Monday—the day before Floyd’s funeral and burial.
“This is what happens when you don’t comply with the cops!” the man who was kneeling on the other man’s neck can be heard shouting. “Comply with the cops and this wouldn’t have happened! He didn’t comply! It’s his fault he’s dead, not the cop!”
For the record: According to the criminal complaint filed against the officers who are charged in Floyd’s death, Floyd did comply with police orders—but, hey, nobody ever accused racist Trump supporters of being informed. (Also, Breonna Taylor was shot while in bed, so…)
Anyway, let’s get to the good part where racists face consequences...
Two of the men were identified by their employers once the video was posted on Monday and, on Tuesday, one of them was fired and the other suspended.
One of the men is a senior corrections officer at Bayside State Prison in Leesburg, according to the Post, and the New Jersey Department of Corrections announced his suspension via Facebook and Twitter writing, “We have been made aware one of our officers participated in the filming of a hateful and disappointing video that mocked the killing of George Floyd. The individual has been suspended from their post and banned from NJDOC facilities pending a thorough and expedited investigation.”
The other man was identified as an employee of FedEx. Unfortunately for him (and to the delight of the rest of us), FedEx didn’t bother with a suspension or investigation and fired him outright.
“FedEx holds its team members to a high standard of personal conduct, and we do not tolerate the kind of appalling and offensive behavior depicted in this video,” the company tweeted. “The individual involved is no longer employed by FedEx. We stand with those who support justice and equality.”
Neither organization identified their employees, but some observers believe that the former FedEx worker is the man who was doing the kneeling.
The lesson here for bigots everywhere is that public displays of racism will not be tolerated. We demand you keep that shit to yourselves, and if you lose your job because you just couldn’t help yourself, well, “this is what happens when you don’t comply.”