The co-founder of a Black Lives Matter group in New York warned of an “uprising” similar to the George Floyd protests last year over vaccination requirements.
Chivona Newsome, an organizer with Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, led a protest on Monday at Carmine’s Italian Restaurant in New York City after a hostess denied entry to three black women last week because they would not provide proof of vaccination. The women, tourists from Texas, allegedly attacked the hostess and were arrested on charges of assault and criminal mischief.
“Seventy-two percent of black people in this city from ages 18 to 44 are unvaccinated,” Newsome said during the protest at Carmine’s, according to The Washington Examiner. “So what is going to stop the Gestapo, I mean the NYPD, from rounding up black people, from snatching them off the train, off the bus?”
“We’re putting this city on notice that your mandate will not be another racist social distance practice. Black people are not going to stand by, or you will see another uprising. And that is not a threat. That is a promise,” she continued. “The vaccination passport is not a free passport to racism.”
Black Women’s March co-founder Kimberly Bernard added, “We are serving notice on the mayor, on the governor, on the restaurant industry that we will not allow for you to use this pandemic, vaccination cards, and masks as another reason to be racist, to put us in prison — because there’s enough of us in there.”
An attorney for one of the women involved in the alleged assault last week claims that the Carmine hostess used a racial slur. The restaurant contested the allegation.
“Last week’s violence against our staff had nothing to do with race, despite a Texas criminal defense lawyer’s false assertions to the contrary,” the restaurant said. “Three female guests in the party who had shown proof of vaccination and been welcomed into the restaurant without issue then launched an entirely unprovoked, brutal attack on our hosts, one of whom continues to suffer from a concussion.”
President Joe Biden overhauled his approach to COVID-19 and announced heavy-handed restrictions and vaccine mandates covering millions of Americans earlier this month. His support among black Americans has cratered since the announcement. According to The Daily Wire:
President Joe Biden’s job approval has been steadily sinking over the last few weeks — he is at just 43% approval in the latest Gallup poll out Wednesday — but his decision to empower the Occupational Health and Safety Administration to police COVID-19 vaccinations in thousands of workplaces is tanking him with black voters, specifically, per Morning Consult.
The news seems to coincide with a protest out of New York City alleging that Mayor Bill de Blasio’s own vaccine mandate, which requires individuals seeking to dine indoors at restaurants have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, is providing cover for racism and may, itself, be racist.
Morning Consult found that Biden’s approval dropped a striking 12 points among black voters since September 8th, the day before the White House announced a comprehensive new COVID-19 mitigation plan that included a new OSHA rule, which, when drafted, will demand workplaces with 100 or more employees either require their workers to be vaccinated against COVID or submit to rigorous testing for the virus.