On Thursday, a Black Lives Matter activist berated a CVS store manager in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington D.C., for calling the police on black men who allegedly shoplifted from the store. Riffing off of the despicable narrative that all police are racist and likely to kill black men with abandon, the activist accused the CVS store manager of having “elicited violence” against the shoplifters. The store manager refused to press charges against the shoplifters, instead merely banning them from entering the CVS location again.
The activist, who goes by Charity Sade on Twitter, approached the store manager after the incident.
“May I ask why you called the police on those two men?” she asked.
“CVS policy states that if there are shoplifters that exit the store with merchandise, we should get the police involved,” the manager replied.
Sade responded with some bizarre nonsense. First, she pointed out, “It’s not your merchandise, it’s the store’s,” as if that distinction made it more acceptable to steal.
Her main argument concerned the idea that by calling the police, the manager had put the shoplifters’ lives in danger.
“You decided to call the police on two black people that stole — that allegedly took something from the store — because you’re willing to uphold the policy and they could have lost their lives,” Sade charged.
“We can agree to disagree on this, because I don’t work for you, and I need to follow my company’s policies,” the CVS store manager politely replied.
“So you’re willing to risk someone’s life for what, $30,000 a year?!” the activist charged.
“There was no risk in my opinion. Thank you, you have a great night,” the manager replied.
“What is your name?” Sade asked in an accusatory tone. “My name is, ‘store manager,'” the manager responded.
Sade pressed again. “No one’s gonna tell you my name when you’re sitting here videotaping us so that you can try to elicit some sort of violence against me,” he replied.
“Elicit violence against you? You just elicited violence against two black men by calling the police on them!” the activist claimed.
The CVS store manager rightly pointed out that he decided to drop charges and let the men go.
“They got to walk away when one of them had a warrant and could have been arrested and the cops still let him go,” the manager said.
Video recorded by Charity Sadé (@charindc), a BLM activist in DC, shows her confronting & recording a CVS pharmacy staff person who called police on thieves. She accuses the employee of endangering the lives of black people. #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/6YiHR7XFTa
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) September 18, 2020
BLM Mob Harasses Diners, Invades McDonald’s in Pittsburgh. Where Is Joe Biden?
Sade was also present when the police arrested to detain the alleged shoplifter. During the incident, an officer said, “This freedom is dependent on your actions.”
The BLM activist, outraged, asked, “So, you’re saying his freedom is dependent on his actions?! Because he was saying something?”
She proceeded to ask for the officer’s name and badge number, as if she had exposed some nefarious police abuse.
Here ya go: pic.twitter.com/meoib8Rv40
— Jessica (Fletcher) O’Donnell (@heckyessica) September 18, 2020
Sade posted the videos on Twitter, and TheBlaze’s social media editor, Jessica O’Donnell, shared them. Sade proceeded to lock down her account, but the videos still went viral.
According to some forms of Marxist critical race theory — which animates The New York Times‘ “1619 Project” and a large “anti-racist” movement that picked up steam after the death of George Floyd — “institutional” racist oppression is embedded in many aspects of American society, requiring both a re-education and an aimless revolution similar to the riots that spread across America this summer.
While leftists repeat claims of “institutional racism,” the riots have victimized the black community. The destruction disproportionately hit black communities in Kenosha, Wisc., Minneapolis, and Chicago. The riots also proved to be the most destructive (in terms of insurance claims) in U.S. history. The violence destroyed black lives, black livelihoods, and black monuments. At least 26 Americans have died in the riots, most of them black.
For these and other reasons, many black leaders have denounced the official Black Lives Matter movement, the founders of which have described themselves as “trained Marxists.” Over 100 black pastors recently condemned the Black Lives Matter movement and urged Nike to distance itself from it.
Yet some continue to push the destructive Marxist narrative that the police — if not the institution of policing itself — are “institutionally racist” and de facto a threat to the lives of black people. While black people are disproportionately more likely to get shot by police, the numbers are minuscule. Black Lives Matter activists trot out a list of names, but they do not cite the statistics, because black-on-black crime takes far, far more lives than the police.
Some forms of police reform are necessary, but Charity Sade had no right to harass this CVS store manager for following the rules and doing his job. The police did not pose a deadly threat to the black man who allegedly shoplifted.
Update 11:25 p.m.:
It seems a Black Lives Matter mob has decided to protest the CVS for calling the police on shoplifters.
Black Lives Matter protest at CVS in Georgetown because they called the police on two shoplifters. Of course they’re carrying signs that say “quit your job.” pic.twitter.com/CUg1kl0aCQ
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) September 18, 2020
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Tyler O’Neil is the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Follow him on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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