Cities keep blaming protests on 'outside agitators.' Arrest records show that's not true.
Every U.S. has state has seen protests against police brutality. And in several of them, police have arrested protesters for breaking curfews, failing to disperse, and, in some cases, for violent behavior.
Leaders in those cities, as well as Attorney General William Barr, have often blamed non-peaceful actions on "outside agitators" with an apparent agenda of their own. But as cities start to share arrest data, the numbers don't add up.
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Howard University law professor Justin Hansford described "outside agitator" as a "racial term" that means "protests are somehow less legitimate," in an interview with Vox. "Not only do you delegitimize the protest itself, but you also delegitimize the activists as not being skillful enough, or clever enough, to do this on their own," Hansford said.
Rapper and filmmaker Boots Riley meanwhile had his own assessment of the term. Kathryn Krawczyk
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