Black Lives Matter leader promises 'uprising' against 'racist' vaccine mandates

A Black Lives Matter leader is railing against New York vaccine mandates and has promised an "uprising" against mandatory vaccinations and vaccine passports.

New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio (D) signed a vaccine mandate order on Aug. 17, requiring everyone over the age of 12 to present proof that they are vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to enter indoor restaurants, bars, nightclubs, gyms, movie theaters, concert venues, museums, and event spaces.

According to the New York City Department of Health, only 38% of black New Yorkers are vaccinated, compared to 49% of whites, 51% of Hispanics, 76% of Asians, and 78% of Native Americans.

Hawk Newsome, the co-founder and chairman of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, argues that the vaccine mandates are racist.

"I think, in a perfect world, [vaccine requirements] should be business by business. But it could be a slippery slope, so the mandate should be removed completely," Newsome told the Washington Examiner. "It's not gonna be white men in suits on Wall Street who are gonna get stopped. There's such hypocrisy in this thing."

"It's black people who have a natural distrust of the vaccine," Newsome said, citing the Tuskeegee Syphilis Study.

"We are not anti-vaxxers. Some of us are vaccinated," Newsome said of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York. "It's an individual's choice. No one should be forced to put something in their body."

Newsome, a Baptist, is especially bothered that the vaccine mandates do not allow for religious exemptions.

"How dare they remove religious exemptions? It's the most disrespectful thing I've ever seen," Newsome said. "Now the government has decided your God doesn't matter? I love God."

"It fits a narrative to say crazy Trumpsters are the only ones who don't want to take the vaccine," Newsome said of the media coverage of those who are vaccine-hesitant.

Newsome said he wasn't aligning with conservatives who are against vaccine mandates because he says the GOP is built on the oppression of black people. But he also said he is wary of liberals.

"I'm a follower of Malcolm X," Newsome said. "Malcolm X didn't trust the Republicans, but he also didn't trust the Democrats."

Newsome told the New Yor... (Read more)

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