A protester in Minneapolis on Thursday was standing in front of a fiery backdrop when he divulged that he did not know the name of the person he was rioting for.
Winston Smith, 32, was shot and killed Thursday in the city after an exchange of gunfire with police from a fugitive task force, KSTP-TV reported. Friends of the deceased man told the outlet that he loved music, had a family and didn’t deserve to die.
Police had a different perspective of Smith.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said the man fired a gun at police as they attempted to apprehend him over a warrant. The agency said Smith fired a handgun at officers from inside of his car, and they returned fire.
When the smoke cleared, Smith was dead and his 27-year-old female passenger needed to be hospitalized due to glass injuries sustained. She was released after a short hospital visit with non-serious injuries.
“He could sit down and write a song in 10 minutes. There was passion behind it, words had meaning,” a friend of Smith said after his death, which of course sparked rioting and protests.
Smith was a black American, so after his death was announced, people took to the streets of Uptown Minneapolis.
No, this is not a third-world country.
It’s Minneapolis.
pic.twitter.com/Jsr6HvFqmU— Andrew Pollack (@AndrewPollackFL) June 4, 2021
But one of those behind the rioting apparently had no idea who Smith was. The man admitted that fact when he was interviewed Thursday night while the city again experienced the scourge of civil unrest.
WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language that some viewers will find offensive.
“Not gonna lie, I forgot his name,” Antifa activist can’t remember who he’s out protesting for in Minneapolis. pic.twitter.com/EqbFig7xFP
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) June 4, 2021
“Stay here, show, like — bro — we’re holding space obviously for, I’m not gonna lie, I forgot his name,” a masked protester said on camera when asked why he was raising hell in the streets. The protester was black-clad and holding a microphone bearing the name of left-wing media organization “Unicorn Riot.”
The protester was quickly informed that the man the group was rioting over was named “Winston Smith.”
“Winston Smith, thank you. Alright, so, we here, you know, showing solidarity for Winston Smith. I didn’t even know about it,” the man said, oblivious to the optics of what he was doing.
“The person that was shot up in there, his name is Winston Smith — don’t forget that name, Winston Smith,” he continued. “Say his name, and make sure y’all remember this sh** because we’re gonna fight for him just the same f***ing way we fought for George Floyd.”
Leftist Democrats love to say that rioting is the voice of the unheard. In this case, one of those demonstrating near a riot couldn’t even offer an explanation for why he was there. How are people supposed to convince others to chant the names of the dead when they themselves don’t even know them?
The riot isn’t the voice of the unheard. The rioters, at this point, don’t even know who they’re speaking for, or what they’re trying to say.
Every police shooting death now, justified or not, is simply an excuse for debauchery, organized unrest and hedonistic destruction in President Joe Biden’s lawless America.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
