BLM organizer says de Blasio vaccine mandate weaponized against black community
The co-founder of New York's
Black Lives Matter chapter said New York City Mayor
Bill de Blasio's citywide vaccine mandate is targeting the black community and creating conditions akin to segregation.
“Seventy-two percent of black people in this city from ages 18 to 44 are
unvaccinated," Chivona Newsome said during a Monday
protest in New York City. "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?”
Newsome warned that her group could respond with an "uprising" similar to the ones that followed the death of George Floyd in the summer of 2020.
“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 said. “The
vaccination passport is not a free passport to racism.”
Kimberly Bernard, the co-founder of the Black Women’s March, made a similar claim that COVID-19 mandates are being used to target black people and other minorities.
“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,” Bernard said.
De Blasio issued a vaccine mandate in August, requiring New Yorkers to show proof of vaccination to enter indoor restaurants, gyms, and entertainment centers.
“When you hear those words, I want you to imagine the notion that, because someone’s vaccinated, they can do all the amazing things that are available in this city,” de Blasio said of the order.
The Washington Examiner reached out to BLM Greater New York for comment but did not receive a response.
