Freelance photojournalist Raquel Natalicchio was an eyewitness to the brutal white supremacist attack on Berlinda Nibo during a "Stop the Steal" rally in downtown Los Angeles on January 6, 2021. (Images: Racquel Natalicchio via screenshot Twitter/@RaquelNPhoto)
Black Woman 'Heartbroken' After Vicious Attack by Racist MAGA Mob in Downtown Los Angeles
"All of a sudden I'm just getting cornered by 30, 40 people," said Berlinda Nibo. "That's what started all of them to jump in."
Fears of racially motivated attacks by white supremacist supporters of President Donald Trump after this week's deadly insurrection in Washington, D.C. were realized as a MAGA mob viciously attacked a Black woman and other people of color in downtown Los Angeles Wednesday afternoon.
"They're yelling at me because of my color, calling me the N-word calling me the B-word, saying, 'All lives matter, Black lives doesn't matter.'"
--Berlinda Nibo
Defying record-setting Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths, scores of largely maskless Trump loyalists took to the streets in the middle of the nation's second-largest city to protest a lie--that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" from the president.
Berlinda Nibo, a 25-year-old downtown resident, was walking in her neighborhood when she came upon the "Stop the Steal" demonstration. Nibo told KCAL that some of the Trumpists then began harassing her and then physically attacked her.
"They're yelling at me because of my color," she said, "calling me the N-word calling me the B-word, saying, 'All lives matter, Black lives doesn't matter.'"
Watch:
Nibo told The Root that when a white woman yelled at her to take off her mask, she shouted back to put on a mask, and that's when the mob surrounded her.
"All of a sudden I'm just getting cornered by 30, 40 people," she recalled. "That's what started all of them to jump in and shoving me around. Then some lady comes out of nowhere and starts tugging on my hair, trying to pull my hair off of my head."
Nibo told KCAL that she was smacked in the face and that a man pepper-sprayed her in the eyes. Freelance photojournalist Raquel Natalicchio was covering the rally and witnessed the attack.
"I'm definitely shaken to see men beat a woman in that way, especially since there's no excuse for it," Natalicchio told The Root. "But also it was very disheartening to see so many people, like over 50 people watching this happen and nobody stepped in."
Nibo said that strangers eventually intervened to help her, including the burly, red-bearded man seen in some of Natalicchio's photos.
"He was whispering in my ear going 'You're OK, I got you, I've got you, don't do anything. These people are literally trying to kill you,'" Nibo told KCAL."If not for him stepping in at that moment, these people would have literally tried to kill me."
This woman was walking home.
She lives on Hill St. , two blocks away from LA City Hall where a "Stop the Steal" Rally was taking place.
A mob of at least 20 Trump supporters circled her, beat her and maced her. It took two bystanders to pull her out. No arrests were made. pic.twitter.com/kHkFAMlf2v-- Raquel Natalicchio (@RaquelNPhoto) January 7, 2021
Other witnesses, however, said the man was no hero, and had verbally abused Nibo and at least one other woman. The eyewitnesses, including Chad Loder, a self-described "anti-fascist" and "anti-racist," posted multiple videos on Twitter supporting their claim.
NBC Los Angeles reports six people were arrested at the rally. None of the arrests involved the attack on Nibo, which Los Angeles police said they were "looking into."
On Friday, the Los Angeles Police Department released a statement promising a "thorough investigation."
Nibo told KCAL that the attack left her afraid to walk down her own street.
"I don't understand what's going on in the world," she said. "I'm saddened by it. I'm hearbroken by it."
Trump's racist rhetoric and refusal to promptly disavow white supremacists have been widely blamed for soaring hate crimes during his tenure. According to the most recent FBI statistics, there were more than 7,000 attacks and 51 hate-motivated murders reported in 2019--more than double the previous year's total.
Although the Department of Homeland Security asserts that white supremacists pose the greatest domestic terrorism threat in the U.S., Trump has largely downplayed or ignored the danger they pose. Less than a month into his administration, for example, he pushed to refocus Countering Violent Extremism--a government program tasked with combating all violent ideologies--solely on radical Islamists.
Trump has courted and inspired white supremacists from the day he announced his bid for the presidency in 2015. Not only has he refused to condemn neo-Nazis and right-wing vigilante killers, he has demonized the Black Lives Matter movement and infamously called white supremacists who attended the 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia rally where anti-racist protester Heather Heyer was murdered "very fine people."
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. In a few short weeks, US voters will have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. Our Fall Campaign is underway, and we need your help. To power our newsroom through the rest of the year, we need to raise $125,000 by midnight on October 31. So if you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
Fears of racially motivated attacks by white supremacist supporters of President Donald Trump after this week's deadly insurrection in Washington, D.C. were realized as a MAGA mob viciously attacked a Black woman and other people of color in downtown Los Angeles Wednesday afternoon.
"They're yelling at me because of my color, calling me the N-word calling me the B-word, saying, 'All lives matter, Black lives doesn't matter.'"
--Berlinda Nibo
Defying record-setting Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths, scores of largely maskless Trump loyalists took to the streets in the middle of the nation's second-largest city to protest a lie--that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" from the president.
Berlinda Nibo, a 25-year-old downtown resident, was walking in her neighborhood when she came upon the "Stop the Steal" demonstration. Nibo told KCAL that some of the Trumpists then began harassing her and then physically attacked her.
"They're yelling at me because of my color," she said, "calling me the N-word calling me the B-word, saying, 'All lives matter, Black lives doesn't matter.'"
Watch:
Nibo told The Root that when a white woman yelled at her to take off her mask, she shouted back to put on a mask, and that's when the mob surrounded her.
"All of a sudden I'm just getting cornered by 30, 40 people," she recalled. "That's what started all of them to jump in and shoving me around. Then some lady comes out of nowhere and starts tugging on my hair, trying to pull my hair off of my head."
Nibo told KCAL that she was smacked in the face and that a man pepper-sprayed her in the eyes. Freelance photojournalist Raquel Natalicchio was covering the rally and witnessed the attack.
"I'm definitely shaken to see men beat a woman in that way, especially since there's no excuse for it," Natalicchio told The Root. "But also it was very disheartening to see so many people, like over 50 people watching this happen and nobody stepped in."
Nibo said that strangers eventually intervened to help her, including the burly, red-bearded man seen in some of Natalicchio's photos.
"He was whispering in my ear going 'You're OK, I got you, I've got you, don't do anything. These people are literally trying to kill you,'" Nibo told KCAL."If not for him stepping in at that moment, these people would have literally tried to kill me."
This woman was walking home.
She lives on Hill St. , two blocks away from LA City Hall where a "Stop the Steal" Rally was taking place.
A mob of at least 20 Trump supporters circled her, beat her and maced her. It took two bystanders to pull her out. No arrests were made. pic.twitter.com/kHkFAMlf2v-- Raquel Natalicchio (@RaquelNPhoto) January 7, 2021
Other witnesses, however, said the man was no hero, and had verbally abused Nibo and at least one other woman. The eyewitnesses, including Chad Loder, a self-described "anti-fascist" and "anti-racist," posted multiple videos on Twitter supporting their claim.
NBC Los Angeles reports six people were arrested at the rally. None of the arrests involved the attack on Nibo, which Los Angeles police said they were "looking into."
On Friday, the Los Angeles Police Department released a statement promising a "thorough investigation."
Nibo told KCAL that the attack left her afraid to walk down her own street.
"I don't understand what's going on in the world," she said. "I'm saddened by it. I'm hearbroken by it."
Trump's racist rhetoric and refusal to promptly disavow white supremacists have been widely blamed for soaring hate crimes during his tenure. According to the most recent FBI statistics, there were more than 7,000 attacks and 51 hate-motivated murders reported in 2019--more than double the previous year's total.
Although the Department of Homeland Security asserts that white supremacists pose the greatest domestic terrorism threat in the U.S., Trump has largely downplayed or ignored the danger they pose. Less than a month into his administration, for example, he pushed to refocus Countering Violent Extremism--a government program tasked with combating all violent ideologies--solely on radical Islamists.
Trump has courted and inspired white supremacists from the day he announced his bid for the presidency in 2015. Not only has he refused to condemn neo-Nazis and right-wing vigilante killers, he has demonized the Black Lives Matter movement and infamously called white supremacists who attended the 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia rally where anti-racist protester Heather Heyer was murdered "very fine people."
Fears of racially motivated attacks by white supremacist supporters of President Donald Trump after this week's deadly insurrection in Washington, D.C. were realized as a MAGA mob viciously attacked a Black woman and other people of color in downtown Los Angeles Wednesday afternoon.
"They're yelling at me because of my color, calling me the N-word calling me the B-word, saying, 'All lives matter, Black lives doesn't matter.'"
--Berlinda Nibo
Defying record-setting Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths, scores of largely maskless Trump loyalists took to the streets in the middle of the nation's second-largest city to protest a lie--that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" from the president.
Berlinda Nibo, a 25-year-old downtown resident, was walking in her neighborhood when she came upon the "Stop the Steal" demonstration. Nibo told KCAL that some of the Trumpists then began harassing her and then physically attacked her.
"They're yelling at me because of my color," she said, "calling me the N-word calling me the B-word, saying, 'All lives matter, Black lives doesn't matter.'"
Watch:
Nibo told The Root that when a white woman yelled at her to take off her mask, she shouted back to put on a mask, and that's when the mob surrounded her.
"All of a sudden I'm just getting cornered by 30, 40 people," she recalled. "That's what started all of them to jump in and shoving me around. Then some lady comes out of nowhere and starts tugging on my hair, trying to pull my hair off of my head."
Nibo told KCAL that she was smacked in the face and that a man pepper-sprayed her in the eyes. Freelance photojournalist Raquel Natalicchio was covering the rally and witnessed the attack.
"I'm definitely shaken to see men beat a woman in that way, especially since there's no excuse for it," Natalicchio told The Root. "But also it was very disheartening to see so many people, like over 50 people watching this happen and nobody stepped in."
Nibo said that strangers eventually intervened to help her, including the burly, red-bearded man seen in some of Natalicchio's photos.
"He was whispering in my ear going 'You're OK, I got you, I've got you, don't do anything. These people are literally trying to kill you,'" Nibo told KCAL."If not for him stepping in at that moment, these people would have literally tried to kill me."
This woman was walking home.
She lives on Hill St. , two blocks away from LA City Hall where a "Stop the Steal" Rally was taking place.
A mob of at least 20 Trump supporters circled her, beat her and maced her. It took two bystanders to pull her out. No arrests were made. pic.twitter.com/kHkFAMlf2v-- Raquel Natalicchio (@RaquelNPhoto) January 7, 2021
Other witnesses, however, said the man was no hero, and had verbally abused Nibo and at least one other woman. The eyewitnesses, including Chad Loder, a self-described "anti-fascist" and "anti-racist," posted multiple videos on Twitter supporting their claim.
NBC Los Angeles reports six people were arrested at the rally. None of the arrests involved the attack on Nibo, which Los Angeles police said they were "looking into."
On Friday, the Los Angeles Police Department released a statement promising a "thorough investigation."
Nibo told KCAL that the attack left her afraid to walk down her own street.
"I don't understand what's going on in the world," she said. "I'm saddened by it. I'm hearbroken by it."
Trump's racist rhetoric and refusal to promptly disavow white supremacists have been widely blamed for soaring hate crimes during his tenure. According to the most recent FBI statistics, there were more than 7,000 attacks and 51 hate-motivated murders reported in 2019--more than double the previous year's total.
Although the Department of Homeland Security asserts that white supremacists pose the greatest domestic terrorism threat in the U.S., Trump has largely downplayed or ignored the danger they pose. Less than a month into his administration, for example, he pushed to refocus Countering Violent Extremism--a government program tasked with combating all violent ideologies--solely on radical Islamists.
Trump has courted and inspired white supremacists from the day he announced his bid for the presidency in 2015. Not only has he refused to condemn neo-Nazis and right-wing vigilante killers, he has demonized the Black Lives Matter movement and infamously called white supremacists who attended the 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia rally where anti-racist protester Heather Heyer was murdered "very fine people."