WATCH: Girls Cleaning ‘BLM’ Graffiti Off Govt Building Scolded For Misusing ‘White Privilege’
A video taken earlier this week appears to show three girls being scolded for supposedly misusing their “white privilege” as they cleaned graffiti from a vandalized government building in Washington, D.C.
In the video, the girls appear to be scrubbing “BLM,” the initials of the anti-cop activist group “Black Lives Matter,” from the Lafayette Building, a federal government office building at 811 Vermont Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., otherwise known as the Export-Import Bank Building.
While they are working to clean the building, a woman, identified as “Faith Alice Sleeper” on Facebook, rolls up in a vehicle to lecture them about their supposed “white privilege.”
“Why are you guys removing ‘Black Lives Matter’ graffiti?” Alice asks the girls, videotaping the interaction from her vehicle.
“We’re just trying to take care of the city,” one of the girls responds. “We tried over there,” another girl told her questioner, “and it wasn’t coming off.”
“Why do you want that to come off?” Alice asked.
“Because it’s a federal building and we care about our county and our city,” one of the girls told her.
Alice responded combatively, “So you don’t care about black lives, then?”
“Not at all, that’s not at all what we’re saying,” the girls answered. “We certainly do care about black lives.”
“Not enough to leave up a message,” the woman said back.
“We don’t disagree with the massage, ma’am,” one of the girls said, “it’s just on the building; we’re just trying to clean it.”
“Right,” Alice answered angrily. “Not a great way to use your white privilege, ladies! Not a great — that’s disgusting.”
Alice posted the interaction to Facebook on Wednesday with the attached comment:
Yesterday I was told around 2:30am that my vehicle might be needed to give trapped protestors safe rides when curfew lifted at 6am so instead of risking sleeping thru alarms I stayed up. Afterwards I drove around to see what my city looked like. I found these women. I had to stop. I didn’t say enough. My sleep deprived brain froze and I couldn’t find enough words. I pulled over and watched the footage. “Our city.” This dumb b*tch just called Chocolate City “hers” while erasing Black Lives Matter off a building. I drove back. They were gone.White women, we need to do better. I’m obviously a white woman and I have made many mistakes along the path to unlearning the prejudices and racism that our society teaches us. I still make mistakes, I still say the wrong thing, but it’s our job as white people to examine why we say and do things, especially the things we may not initially think are problematic. It is our job to hold each other accountable. I am disappointed in myself for not saying more to these women. I will do better. We all need to do better. These women disgust me to my core. Black lives are infinitely more valuable than any building. (And before you ask, yes it’s ok to share this)
Protests started popping up across the nation on Tuesday over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a police officer had his knee on the 46-year-old’s neck for over eight minutes during an arrest, as shown in viral video footage.
However, things quickly turned ugly; arson, looting, and violence spiked in places like Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, New York City, Rochester, Richmond, and other cities.
Since the incident, all four officers involved in the arrest have been fired, investigations from the FBI and state law enforcement have been opened, and, on Friday, the officer at the center of the incident was taken into custody. The other three officers have since been charged.
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