Thread: Disturbing a BLM Protest and Got The Cuffs

Student arrested after wearing gorilla mask to Black Lives Matter protest
(Video at the link)

An East Tennessee State University student was arrested Tuesday week after wearing a gorilla mask and carrying a rope during a Black Lives Matter protest on campus, according to local reports.

Tristan Rettke was charged with civil rights intimidation following the incident, according to a Johnson City Police Department report, WCYB-TV reported.
Earlier this week as students protested recent police shootings, Rettke walked amongst the crowd wearing a gorilla mask and offering protesters bananas attached to a rope, the East Tennessean, the university’s newspaper, reported.
Grant Madison, a junior at the university, told USA TODAY he was talking with a friend when Rettke walked up behind him.

He passed by me and handed me a banana,” he said. “I snatched it out of his hand. I knew what he was trying to say, but I wasn’t going to try to retaliate against him.”
Madison, who livestreamed the incident on Facebook, said the young man stood there and taunted protesters for 15-20 minutes.
“As younger black folks … we don’t always see the same overt displays of racism our parents may have experienced or our grandparents,” he said. “For me, it was the first time I’ve experienced something so blatantly disrespectful and racist.”

East Tennessee State University Public Safety officers eventually led Rettke, who was also carrying a burlap bag with a Confederate flag on it, away from the protesters, Madison said.

http://amp.usatoday.com/story/91259986/

It is unfortunate that some people exhibit themselves in this manner, or turn to violence and looting. The crowd in the pictures looks like a fairly diverse group.