In an eye-opener of a demonstration, Black Lives Matters activists on Tuesday evening besieged diners at Maya Taqueria in Prospect Heights, screaming “stay the f–k outta New York.”
“We don’t want you here,” one ringleader shouted from atop a table in the outdoor dining area, leading the mob in a call-and-response of “We don’t want your f—ing money! We don’t want your f—ing taqueria, owned by f—ing white men!”
What’s the ideology here? It certainly has nothing to do with policing, the Chauvin verdict, nor even the supposed menace of “systemic racism.” At best, it seems like crackpot black nationalism — and a deranged claim that the whole city belongs to the mob.
Then again, sometimes it seemed like a straight holdup or at least a protection racket, as one woman switched her chant from “we don’t want your f—ing taqueria” to “tip 30 percent!” — and the whole crowd then marched off down Vanderbilt Avenue chanting, “Tip 30 percent!”
The eatery’s been open more than a decade, to rave reviews from at least some locals. Owner Daniel Nassar recently told ChowNow that his staff all relied on the “neighborhood staple” to survive during the pandemic: “There’s employees that need their paychecks on a weekly basis to support their families.”
But the protesters didn’t care: They saw a few white people and went lunatic. And this was just a less genteel version of the now-years-old phenomenon wherein BLMers barge into restaurants and lecture about racism, etc.
The slogan “Black lives matter” is something Americans support. But the second-favorite phrase, “All cops are bastards,” tells you this movement’s “ideals” quickly boil down into ignorant hatred.
And actions of activists like that Brooklyn mob suggest that, for all too many of them, the whole thing is little more than an excuse for incoherent hate and rage.