Past midnight on July 4, a group of Black Lives Matter protesters in Seattle congregated on Interstate I-5, parking their cars on the highway to protest alleged police racism and to advocate for defunding police departments.  Seattle authorities had shut down the highway hours earlier by blocking entrances to allow the illegal protest to carry on without interruption.

The roadblock protest was being livestreamed by members sitting behind the parked cars in the otherwise empty road when suddenly a woman alerted the mob to an incoming car.  It soon became clear that the car was not going to stop, and more warnings are heard from the mob.  Dozens of protesters, clad in black, dashed out from behind several black cars and onto the shoulder of the highway, the only possible path for the incoming vehicle to avoid a collision.  Video footage taken from a nearby apartment balcony shows the incoming vehicle decelerating and swerving to avoid the protesters swarming into its path, unfortunately hitting two protesters head on, catapulting them into the air.

 
TikTok video screen grab (cropped).

Cries of panic are heard from the mob, followed by screams of "call the police!" — whom they were protesting moments earlier.  Additional cell phone footage shows protesters languishing over the slow response of 911 operators and expressing frustration with the lack of help from a police vehicle parked within eyesight of the roadblock.

The vehicle that hit the protesters had driven a comfortable distance from the mob before stopping, turning on emergency lights, and waiting for authorities to arrive.  Members of the mob descended upon the vehicle, screaming obscenities and attempting to pull the driver out, prompting the vehicle to slowly drive off.  In hot pursuit was a pickup truck driven by a member of the roadblock protest.

Far-left journalists took to Twitter to launch accusations of right-wing terrorism and white supremacy, only to be disappointed by the findings of real investigators.  The driver was identified by authorities as Dawit Kelete, a 27-year-old black man.  He had not been driving while impaired, there was no evidence of the collision being purposeful, and he inquired as to the condition of the protesters upon arrest.  The protesters, both white women, were in critical condition, with one dying the next day in intensive care.

Ordinary citizens might be deeply surprised to learn that Seattle authorities would allow road blockade protests on a highway, especially against the emphatic objections of police officers.  Such citizens should bear in mind that merely days earlier, this same municipality allowed the dangerous Antifa group to seize control of a swath of downtown Seattle and declare itself a police-free country — that is, until a 16-year-old black boy was shot and killed, marking the third black teenage shooting victim in the overwhelmingly white, allegedly anti-racist protest.

To some, roadblock protests are a mere inconvenience, but the Black Lives Matter roadblocks have recently become deadly.  BLM protesters have prevented ambulances, firefighters, and other emergency responders from reaching their destinations since the death of George Floyd, not to mention attacks on drivers. One BLM mob in Utah set upon a driver who had courteously stopped in front of their blockade, attempting unsuccessfully to pull the driver out of the vehicle before shooting the driver, who sped off wounded.  The shooter fired again, hitting the rear window.

Another driver in Seattle who stopped at a roadblock was almost pulled out of his car by a hostile mob before shooting his assailant in the arm, causing the mob to scatter.  The driver then jumped out of his car and ran to the police to turn himself in.  Multiple media outlets narrated the events as if the driver had plowed through the crowd and fired his gun into a peaceful protest group.

The psychology behind roadblock protests is extraordinarily sinister.  The mobs blocking roads are counting on the goodwill and generosity of drivers to stop for them and use that goodwill as an opportunity to conduct a deadly assault.  By relying on the benevolence of drivers, the protesters are implicitly admitting the goodness of their victims before assaulting them anyway.  A driver who refuses to remain parked after the danger critically escalates and plows through a mob of assailants is not a criminal, but rather a person of self-esteem.  He holds his life and the lives of his passengers above that of a crowd of potential murderers and takes defensive action.  It is this individualism, this selfishness, that the roadblock mob morally condemns, aghast that their sacrifice would not offer himself up willingly to be terrorized by them.  They expect the one to cater to the many, even if it costs him his life, and howl with indignation when denied their sacrifice.

It is this collectivist philosophy that animates BLM and other groups to attack America. A man has the right to life, liberty, and to pursue his own happiness? This is blasphemy to the crowd which glorifies jungle tribalism and denies the greatness of America's founding. America was the first country to be explicitly founded on the principle of individualism. In America, one does not live for the sake of King and Country, the rich or poor, his tribe or race. He has the right to live how he sees fit, pursuing his happiness instead of some collectivist greater good. It is this right that is under attack in America today, and it will require the un-silencing of Americans to defend it. One does not owe his life to those who seek to destroy him.

The roadblock protesters owe a heartfelt apology to their victim, Dawit Kelete.