Ocasio-Cortez Helps Raise Money for Arrested Antifa-Associated Protesters
Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez put herself on the side of law-breakers Saturday by urging her Twitter followers to donate to the bail fund for antifa protesters who were arrested during Boston’s “Straight Pride” parade on Saturday.
The fundraiser for the Solidarity Against Hate Legal Defense Fund set a goal of $15,000 but raised $24,652, according to the site Ocasio-Cortez promoted.
One way to support the local LGBTQ community impacted by Boston’s white supremacist parade?
Contribute to the Bail Fund for the activists who put themselves on the line protecting the Boston community:https://t.co/z2NRSqHMve
(Any $ left over goes to @MassBailFund+@Boston_GLASS) https://t.co/G9xhIda6sF
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 1, 2019
The parade of several hundred marchers was met by thousands of protesters. Clashes resulted in 36 arrests and injuries to several Boston police officers, Fox News reported.
The Boston Police Department said it plans to review officers’ use of force and the reports of four injured officers.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh told The Boston Globe that he will also be looking over the investigators’ shoulders with an eye to how protesters were treated and that he takes “any accusation of police misconduct seriously.”
“I also want to be clear that sowing division between people is exactly the goal of Straight Pride organizers, and I will not stand for it,” Walsh said.
“Just as the people of Boston work to make our values of love, inclusion, and acceptance known to all, our public safety officials work tirelessly to keep people safe from harm every single day of the year, and that will never change.”
The march was sponsored by the group Super Happy Fun America, which issued a statement in reply to Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet.
“Not sure which parade and ceremony she watched over the weekend, but of the 12 speakers on our stage, five were African-American, four were women, and three were African-American women. This was not intentional on our behalf, they reached out to us in support of our movement — it happened organically. If you remove the three main organizers from the lineup, the majority of speakers were African-American,” the group told The Daily Caller.
“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley also shared a link to a bail fundraiser set up in advance of the parade, which gives people the impression that they condone illegal behavior. This is not a good example for elected officials to set, and contributes to dangers associated with free-speech and activism in general,” the statement said.
“The only connections to racism are in the deluded minds of protesters who all repeat the same mantra against those whom they disagree with: Racist, Fascist, Nazi, etc., are what detractors fall back on when their arguments are met with logical and rational push-back. They cannot win on an intellectual level, so they resort to name-calling. Those same people must have missed the Israeli flags and African-American supporters in our group,” the statement said.
Marchers faced opposition from protesters who chanted, “alt-right, get off our streets, no justice, no peace,” Fox reported.
“I’m outraged by the idea that straight people need a pride parade,” parade attendee Shoshanna Ehrlich said. “We are not an oppressed majority by any stretch of the imagination. This is full of hate and offensive.”
Some protesters came ready to rumble.
“We’re covered in black so when we attack these guys we can’t be prosecuted,” said Jon Crowley, an antifa member who spoke to the Boston Herald.
“They are fascists, 100 percent. How else are you going to get them to shut up?” Crowley said.
Many marchers said they are misunderstood.
“It’s like we’re second-class citizens for being straight these days. We really are. I feel that way. I feel in the current political situation, straight white men are the devil,” marcher Ralph Anker of New Jersey said, WBUR-FM reported.
Parade organizer John Hugo said the event was “a celebration of heterosexual rights, which we think is just great. We think it’s fine to be straight.”
“Why is it that other people can have a pride parade and it’s considered OK, and they have about 2,000 LGBTQ events every year, but we want a few hours and they all get out and protest and give us the finger and swear at us? Give me a break,” he said, according to the Boston Herald.
Dre Cron of North Carolina, who is gay, also traveled to Boston for the march.
“I just wanted to exercise my free speech. We do gay pride a lot, if people want to have a straight pride parade, by all means have it. You love being straight? Just do it,” Cron said.
“Maybe this will be a historic moment, when I can hopefully give more people on the left some options other than being leftist.”
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