Two Trump supporters painted over a Black Lives Matter mural in Martinez, Calif., on July 4 and are now facing three misdemeanor counts, including a hate crime charge.
Nichole Anderson, 42, was captured on video using black paint to cover a BLM mural finished previously that day. David Nelson, 53, who wore a Trump shirt, was also charged for directly aiding in the alleged crimes.
The mural reads “Black Lives Matter” and is painted on the street in front of the Wakefield Taylor Courthouse. It was approved by the city after a resident applied for a permit.
In the video, Nelson can be heard saying, “All lives matter” and “Don’t have a run-in with the law and don’t resist arrest and it [police brutality] won’t be a problem.”
Bystanders argued with Nelson and Anderson. One bystander said,“You’re not f*****g from America, you’re f*****g colonizers,” with both sides using expletives.
Nelson also agreed with bystanders, saying “that was wrong,” referring to George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
Besides the hate crime charge, both Anderson and Nelson are being charged with vandalism leaving damages under $400 and possession of tools to commit vandalism or graffiti.
District Attorney of Contra Costa County Diana Becton said in a July 7 press release, “We must address the root and byproduct of systemic racism. The Black Lives Matter movement is an important civil rights cause that deserves all of our attention.”
California Penal Code 422.6 regarding hate crimes reads,, “No person … shall knowingly deface, damage, or destroy the real or personal property of any other person” because of their disability, gender, race or ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, or association with persons related to these characteristics.
But Black Lives Matter is a radical Marxist group, not simply an organization aimed at supporting black people. Therefore, an act of vandalism against BLM is not inherently a “hate crime,” since, name aside, they represent an ideology, not an entire race.
Nelson and Anderson said they were “sick of this narrative” of systemic oppression promulgated by Black Lives Matter, a group defined not by their skin color, but by radical ideas like disrupting “the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure,” as stated on BLM’s website.
The video may indicate that the vandalism charges are reasonable, but the hate crime charge against Nelson and Anderson is not. This “hate crime” against BLM should not be considered legitimate because although they call themselves a racial justice movement, they are more than that: they are, in reality, radical Marxists.
