Hard to imagine this going wrong!
Reuters notes that the chairman of the “black power” movement, Hashim Nzinga, said his group will arrive armed with fire power for its planned protests of the Republican National Convention next week. Nzinga added that “there are other groups … threatening to do harm to us” and explained the guns are being brought purely in self-defense.
Officials in Ohio have said it will be legal for protesters to carry weapons at demonstrations under the state’s “open carry” laws. Several other groups, including some supporters of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, have said they will carry weapons in protests as well, leading to concerns about rival groups being armed in close proximity.
Nzinga said he expected “a couple hundred” members of the New Black Panther Party to join a black unity protest that is scheduled to begin on Thursday in Cleveland.
The New Black Panthers were an odious presence outside polling places in Philadelphia during the 2008 presidential election, which resulted in Barack Obama’s winning his first term as president. The organization was brought up on charges of voter intimidation, which were later — and inexplicably — dropped by Obama’s Justice Department after his election.