December 27, 2021
BEVERLY HILLS, California—The Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter held a “Smash and Grab” event on Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive Thursday evening, targeting a shopping area renowned for high-end luxury stores.
According to MSN, the protest reportedly shut down the area for around two hours on one of the last shopping days before Christmas. The gathering was specifically organized to target “white capitalism.”
“SMASH white capitalism; GRAB justice! Meet us in Beverly Hills for sign-making, justice carolling, dancing, and beloved community. Bring your family, friends, comrades, singing voices, dancing/marching shoes, Santa hats, revolutionary holiday spirit, and freedom dreams,” the post stated.
The protest began at Beverly Gardens Parks at 4 p.m. with organizers stating capitalism was historically linked to violence against bodies of color, according to MSN.
“Today is a smash and grab. It is a different kind of smash and grab — don’t nobody go and grab Gucci purses, ok? We are smashing white capitalism and we are grabbing some justice. We are smashing and grabbing in the name of our people — we know that every year, the reason we do this is because our people are killed by white capitalism,” said Melina Abdullah, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Los Angeles chapter.
BLM Los Angeles shut down the roads in Beverly Hills the day before Christmas Eve for their “Smash and Grab” direct action. They say capitalism is white supremacist so made it a goal to disrupt Christmas shopping. pic.twitter.com/PVX3hs2AiN
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) December 24, 2021
Around 60 protestors marched down Rodeo Drive at around 5:25 p.m. through the rain, repeatedly chanting “Black lives, we matter,” “Whose streets?” Our streets” and “What do we want? Justice!” When do we want it? Now!”
As the protestors passed by businesses, store employees began locking the protestors out. According to Post Millennial, some stores closed early; anticipating smash-and-grab robberies.
“We know white capitalism utilizes police violence to steal the lives of our people so that they can make a profit. So every year we celebrate Black Xmas to disrupt white supremacist patriarchal heteronormative capitalism,” Abdullah said.
Asian Dawn often receives messages about Black superiority and how Asians should hand over their major corporations as a form of reparations.
One Asian woman shared her story of Black Lives Matter intimidating her last year during the mass protests in Los Angeles for being proud to be Asian. Some BLM members often blame Asian and Caucasian control of “capitalism” as the “greatest form of tyranny and monopoly of our time.”
“I walked out into the parking lot after buying groceries in Downtown LA and noticed two African-Americans, one male and one female standing behind my car, both wearing Black Lives Matter T-shirts and shaking their heads. I drive a 2019 Lexus LC 500 and I proudly put a sticker on the back window of the Japanese flag because it’s a Japanese car and I’m half Japanese.
I asked them what was wrong and they asked ‘Is this your car?’ I answered yes and then they started giving me this whole lecture on why I shouldn’t display the Japanese flag on a Japanese car because it makes me seem like an ‘Asian Supremacist.’ I asked them how so? I’ve seen White-Americans display the Irish flag on a Ford, I’ve seen white people in Beverly Hills display the Italian flag on a Ferrari or the UK flag on an Aston Martin, but I’m an Asian Supremacist for displaying the Japanese flag on a Japanese car?
They told me ‘Asian pride is more dangerous than white supremacy and I should check myself.’ I didn’t know what to say, I was so confused. The African-American gentleman told me to take that ‘insidious flag’ off and Japanese cars wouldn’t be possible without African-American innovations. They said they wouldn’t be responsible if I was physically attacked by BLM protestors nearby for being so overtly racist. They then both walked away, got into their BMW, which is a German car and they’re supporting white supremacy? And drove off.”
Feature Images via Instagram & Andy Ngo Twitter