One of the protesters who helped occupy a street in the Uptown area of Minneapolis didn’t know why he was there.
“Bro we’re holding space obviously for — I’m not gonna lie I forgot his name,” a protester said during an interview with Unicorn Riot as fires burned in the background. “We here showing solidarity for Winston Smith. I didn’t even know about it, I don’t think like any fuckin media knows about this shit either,” the man said after he was informed that he was at a protest for Smith.
Antifa activist forgets the name of the person he is out protesting for in Minneapolis pic.twitter.com/ue2ew0m6ae
— AntifaBook.com (@JackPosobiec) June 4, 2021
“We’re gonna fight for him [Smith] just the same way we fought for George Floyd,” the protester concluded.
Smith was killed by members of a U.S. Marshals task force June 3 after he allegedly fired a gun at the officers who were trying to apprehend him in an Uptown parking garage.
Smith, aka “Wince Me Boi,” a stage name he used to launch his fledgling rap career, was also a provocateur who encouraged people to kill police officers.
In a video that has circulated around social media following his death, Smith can be seen saying he’s “finna move on these ‘ops,” a slang phrase that means he will kill police. He also encouraged “all the shooters” to “suit up” because “it’s war fuckin’ time. Bring your gun to the protest, bring them fuckin’ bombs and rocket launchers and all that shit.”
"It's war fuckin time. Bring your gun to the protest, bring them fuckin bombs and rocket launchers and all that shit."
"Fuck anybody who's peaceful right now."
–Winston Smith, the man who people are protesting for in Minneapolis pic.twitter.com/rqD0DZOR5O
— Kyle Hooten (@KyleHooten2) June 5, 2021
Since Smith’s passing, leftists have employed this video as an online rallying cry, drawing attendees to their protests that began almost immediately after Thursday’s shooting transpired.
Protests continued through the pre-dawn hours of June 5 as demonstrators attempted to create another autonomous zone.
“This isn’t about changing minds or winning people over,” one protester posted on Twitter. “It’s about shutting down business as usual. Everyday our lives our interrupted by brutal systems of oppression. Disrupt those systems.”
Intense scene pic.twitter.com/KKhHiJf7fW
— Sophia (HaRMful SaTiRe) Narwitz (@SophNar0747) June 5, 2021
Apparently this disruption took the form of lighting fires and knocking people out.
A guy got his head split open. When I asked around a black male said “I knocked him out” pic.twitter.com/KtNnITr3PT
— Sophia (HaRMful SaTiRe) Narwitz (@SophNar0747) June 5, 2021
Kyle Hooten
Kyle Hooten is Managing Editor of Alpha News. His coverage of Minneapolis has been featured on television shows like Tucker Carlson Tonight and in print media outlets like the Wall Street Journal.
