BOBBEE BEE: BLACK LIVES MATTERS KICKED OUT OF THE TRUMP RALLY IN KENANSVILLE

by Eric D. Graham

 According to Author Jeff Chang’s book We Gon’ Be Alright, the racial apocalypse is the recurring “white” American narrative in which the civilizers, the chosen people meant to fulfill their diversity, are overrun by the savages, the barbarians who embody chaos and ruin.

Matter of fact, the racial apocalypse is part of the DNA of American culture-Buffalo Bill Cody’s cowboys and Indians show and D.W. Griffth’s The Birth of the Nation.

It’s in the series told about the Alamo, General Custer, Reconstruction, the Sixties. It’s even there in the fixation on the Civil War, Lincoln’s Life and assassination and the common disappearance of slavery from that story.

 So, in the southern heat of 2009, Tea Party activists appeared under Confederate flags bearing signs that read “Bring Back “We The People,”Trump’s Birther Campaign followed. And by 2016, Trump supporters and voters appeared at his rallies “talking about building walls, closing borders, checking papers, and sending people back where they came from.”

Therefore, when potential presidential candidate Donald Trump came to Duplin County on September 21, the security inside and outside the Duplin County Event Center was extremely tight.

 But, despite all the flashing cameras and nosey news reporters roaming the parking lots, one revolutionary act slipped under their radar.

 That incident involved Elizabeth Meyers Murphy of Wallace, NC, who is a graduate of James Sprunt Community College.

 Murphy, whose husband (Tracey) is Black, said while living in the small southern community of Duplin, she has seen her “fair” share of racial profiling.

 According to Murphy, while her husband was working as a pizza delivery driver, in uniform, with the sign on his car, he had a police officer, lights flashing, pull him over, in front of his place of employment, because he “fit the description.”

 “I sit and worry about him every time he is late getting home...” she admitted.

 With incidents like this fresh in her mind along with the reports of unarmed Black men getting murdered by police on the Nightly News, Murphy felt she was obligated to take a stand when she discovered that Donald Trump was coming to Kenansville. Especially, with all the racist rhetoric surrounding his past rallies, as well as, his recommendation of re-impending the unconstitutional stop and risk policy, which had been practiced by the New York Police Department. 

Matter of fact, according to analysis conducted by the NYCLU, that same stop and risk policy, which Trump desired to re-impede nationwide, was revealed to have subjugated hundreds of thousand Blacks and “Latinos” to racial profiling tactics, illegal stops and privacy rights violations.

With the knowledge of this unconditional policy, Murphy along with her friend Terrell Sutton, who became an ordained minister last year to perform her wedding, were not going to be bullied by the Trump supporters in order to make an every lasting statement during this historic event.  

“I was very nervous heading in. We (Terrell Sutton) and I stood in line for a long time, listening to what was going on around us and seeing the signs along with the merchandise being sold. But, I said nothing.” Murphy explained. 

Despite their fear, Murphy and Sutton made a conscious decision to continue their plan even in a coliseum full of rowdy Trump supporters.

The plan.

Was simple.

Yet brave.

Get inside the Trump rally.

Without “looking suspicious.”

And reveal a Black Lives Matter Shirt.

Which, Murphy had cleverly hidden underneath another Tee-shirt that ironically had a peace sign on it. 

Unfortunately, Murphy’s plan was interrupted by two Secret Service agents, who surrounded her and Terrell and ushered them out of the Event Center.

“I planned to get past the entrance (metal detectors) and then remove it (the peace shirt) to display the BLM shirt.” Murphy said.

“I wanted to make sure I made it to my seat and make sure the statement showed up on the news. Unfortunately, however, after we got in the building, several secret service agent came over and circled the two of us.” 

After being stopped by Secret Service Agents and pulled out of line, Murphy alleged that they asked her what was on her shirt and was there any words on it. She claimed that she said a picture of a silhouette of a woman with the words Black Lives Matter. With that knowledge, the Secret Service Agents allegedly asked Murphy and Sutton to leave the rally. 

“My friend asked why (the only thing he had said the whole time) and was told he needed to leave, too. I asked the guy why we couldn't talk where we were, and he wouldn't answer me. Murphy admitted. 

“I asked a couple more times, and he just kept telling me to come with him. Once he got us just outside the gate, he got right on top of me and told me we had to leave. I asked why? And, he repeatedly said I had to leave. I said that I had tickets and had only been standing quietly in line.” explained Murphy, who has been keeping herself political aware by watching the political debates. 

Despite having tickets, and tents outside selling Tee-shirts with statements like Deplorable Lives Matter, Trump The Bitch, and Hillary For Prison, Murphy’s Black Lives Matters shirt was still considered offensive. As a result, she was again told to leave. Not only from the event. But, from the parking lot.

“I guess they (the Secret Service) had informed the police what was going on as we were walking out because 4 or 5 of them had formed a circle around my friend and me.” Murphy wrote. 

 According to Murphy, after being told to leave the premises, they were escorted back to their car by two officers and watched very closely. When asked why they had to leave, they were told that they were inciting a riot. By this time, the officers ran their license plates, while another officer stopped traffic in order for them to leave.  

“I hear a lot of people that seem to have a profound misunderstanding of what the idea of Black Lives Matter even means. They only get their info from horrifically flawed and biased sources that always present the movement in the worst possible light. I had hoped they would see us and realize we weren't scary, we weren't there to fight, we have this idea that we believe."

Eric D.Graham is  a graduate of Winston-Salem State University, where he received a BA in Mass Communication with a concentration in Radio & Television, with a minor in History with an emphasis on African-American Studies. Currently, he is a Sports Reporter/Columnist and Cartoonist for the Black Athlete Sports Network in Harlem, NY, where his thought-provoking articles appear on a weekly basis. www.blackathlete.net