Video footage from Brooklyn, New York shows former Democratic presidential candidate and current mayoral candidate Andrew Yang being booed out of a Black Lives Matter protest by angry women screaming “We don’t want you here” and “shame, shame, shame!”
In the video, taken by local media organization FreedomNewsTV, Yang arrived to a protest helmeted and riding a bicycle while wearing business attire to show solidarity with Daunte Wright, the 20-year-old black man mistakenly shot while resisting arrest whose death set off a string of nationwide riots.
Though the protesters allowed Yang to ride his bike with them across the city, when they reached the site of the vigil the collective mood quickly took a sour turn.
“We don’t want you here! We do not want you here, and you are not welcome here!” a female protester yelled at Yang through a megaphone.
Another female activist seized the megaphone and yelled even louder, “We don’t want you here, you’re broke up, get out of here! Boo, shame on you Andrew Yang. Shame, shame, shame, shame!”
Yang then dejectedly rode his baby-seat-equipped bicycle away from the protest as the crowd serenaded him with a cacophony of boos.
Yang has expressed vigorous solidarity with Black Lives Matter on Twitter, but received backlash from far-left activists for not supporting “defunding the police.”
“My heart aches for the family of Duante Wright, pulled over near Minneapolis and killed by the police,” Yang wrote on Twitter. “As the Twin Cities awaits justice for George Floyd, how much can a community bear? Black Lives Matter today and every day.”
My heart aches for the family of Duante Wright, pulled over near Minneapolis and killed by the police. As the Twin Cities awaits justice for George Floyd, how much can a community bear? Black Lives Matter today and every day.
— Andrew Yang
(@AndrewYang) April 12, 2021
Levels of animosity from the black community towards the Asian community have spiked in recent months, particularly in New York City, where Asian-Americans are repeatedly racially insulted and physically attacked.