2020 BLM Protests vs. 2021 Capitol Riot

Because if we're going to point out hypocrisies, we really should point them out.

Since May 26, 2020, as of this time of writing, there have been at least 1,700 Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death. In the wake of the devastation and destruction at the Capitol, many people have asked why the “left” is upset about what happened on January 8th, 2021. They say that “if BLM was allowed to protest, why can’t we?”. Besides the fact that it was a blatant attack on democracy and set a terrible example to other countries who think we are weaker by each passing day, let’s go ahead and compare the numbers to Black Lives Matter protests. Exponentially explaining why what happened that day was not okay.

To start with, it is estimated that around 15 million to 26 million people participated in Black Lives Matter demonstrations between the months of May-August. That averages out that around 121,950 to 211,380 people were protesting every day. Now, we obviously don’t have an official count as to how many people were protesting at the Capitol on January 8th, but if I had to take a wild guess I would say that it was a lot less than 120,000 or more.

But let’s not even focus on that, because that’s not a good exponential number to break down the damage and destruction caused by this riotous mob versus Black Lives Matter protesters. To start with, it is estimated that the damage from Black Lives Matter protests this summer caused around $1 billion to $2 billion in total damages. However, what they won’t tell you is that most of the damage was to insured properties and that those insurance policies cover riot-related losses. The total amount of financial cost damage to the Capitol is still unknown, but the big kicker with this one is that federal buildings usually don’t carry insurance, which means the Architect of the Capitol will have to pay for the repairs, which gets billed back to us taxpayers.

And finally, let’s take a look at the total deaths from these events. Out of 1,700 estimated Black Lives Matter protests, 19 people died. Out of this one singular event at the Capitol, 5 people died. The majority of people who died at Black Lives Matter protests were protestors, and not a single police officer was killed. At the Capitol, a police officer was killed in the riot. That means that, exponentially, if the riots at the Capitol continued during the length of the Black Lives Matter protests, there would be a potential for 615 deaths, and 123 of those deaths being police officers.

Obviously, numbers can fluctuate once the data is finally there, but the fact still stands: what occurred on January 8th, 2021 was more dangerous and more destructive than any of the Black Lives Matter protests. So you can stop saying that you get to protest too because you didn’t protest. You rioted.