Author Heather Mac Donald, whose book War on Cops shows how activists have attempted to tie the hands of police in several cities, was shouted down by Black Lives Matter protesters during a lecture by Mac Donald at UCLA.

College Fix:

A speech by Heather Mac Donald at UCLA on Wednesday frequently descended into chaos as Black Lives Matter protesters stormed the stage and chanted their signature phrase over and over, and also took over portions of the Q&A with angry accusations and raucous shouting, a video of the event shows.

Mac Donald, a Manhattan Institute scholar who spoke on campus at the behest of the Bruin Republicans to give a "Blue Lives Matter" talk about her 2016 book "The War on Cops," appeared to be able to largely get through the first half of her speech without much dissension.

But when she opened the floor to questions, the uproar began. The chants launched, with several people taking over the floor at the front of the room and continuing to yell over and over: "Black lives – they matter here! Black lives, they matter here!"

Event organizers tried to calm the crowd and regain order. After the Black Lives Matter chant ended, several protesters remained at the front of the room, shouting and making gestures as a student organizer asked for calm. But they started up with more chants, including: "America was never great!"

After the uproar – which lasted about eight minutes – finally died down, Mac Donald (pictured) fielded questions from the audience, including from a black female who asked her to speak on whether "black victims killed by cops" mattered.

"Yes," Mac Donald replied. "And do black children that are killed by other blacks matter to you?"

At that the room erupted in gasps and angry moans and furious snaps, and the young lady who asked the original question began to yell at Mac Donald, pointing her finger and repeating the original question.

Mac Donald, known and admired for her unapologetic stance to report facts over emotion, doubled down on the infuriated young black woman.

"Of course I care, and do you know what," Mac Donald said. "There is no government agency more dedicated to the proposition that black lives matter than the police."

Again, gasps and moans filled the auditorium.

Note that there was no rational response to Mac Donald's statements – only hysterical, emotional outbursts.  Mac Donald did something that most BLM sympathizers and liberals would never dream of doing: she challenged the false, warped worldview of activists by directly confronting their hate.

But Mac Donald may as well have been speaking to collection of stones:

Mac Donald took more questions and at times was able to articulate her points during the Q&A, but was also often interrupted by angry audience members shouting out things such as:

"I don't trust your numbers."

"Why do white lives always need to be put above everybody else? Can we talk about black lives for one second?"

"The same system that sent police to murder black lives …"

"You have no right to speak!"

"What about white terrorism?!"

How many times would Mac Donald have to say that yes, black lives matter and no one cares more about them than the police before the activists would have actually heard her?

It's a useless exercise.  The BLM activists are not interested in the truth – only their paranoid, delusional worldview. 

If that's the case, why should authors and commentators like Mac Donald even make the effort?  BLM efforts to incite violence against police and white people must be countered by reason and logic, even if the activists themselves are unreasonable and illogical.  Mac Donald is not seeking to alter the perceptions of BLM members.  She is trying to place a logical context around a serious issue – that there is a widespread perception in the black community, not based on reality, that police are more willing to take black lives than white ones.  That poisonous perception is being used by BLM activists to gain power and influence in the black community. 

For those in the black community who are persuadable, Mac Donald's conclusions are compelling.  Eventually, BLM hysteria will be discounted, although probably not until damage done to law enforcement leads to making neighborhoods less safe.

In the meantime, disagreeing with BLM about anything will lead to scenes such as the one at UCLA.