‘Grabbed, Punched, Kicked’ — Protesters At Brian Kilmeade Book Promo Attacked (RAW FOOTAGE)

If you haven’t forgotten, Fox News host Brian Kilmeade casually dropped some holiday racism by asking his black co-host Harris Faulkner if she made Kool-Aid with her Thanksgiving meal. Because, you know, only black people drink Kool-Aid (there’s a full gallon jug in my refrigerator for my son). This isn’t Kilmeade’s first time revealing an ugly side. In 2009, while discussing a Swedish study on Alzheimers, Kilmeade commented:

“…we [Americans] keep marrying other species and other ethnicities… Swedes have pure genes… in America we marry everybody…”

In response to Kilmeade’s ignorance, a protest was organized by Long Island Black Lives Matter activists Anthony Zenkus, Robert Schainwald, and Shari Newman. They crashed the business networking event held in Patchogue, Long Island, NY, where the featured speaker was, you guessed it, Kilmeade. Opening the event was Jackie “The Joke Man” Martling, who is known for his propensity for racist and sexist jokes.

Zenkus shared:

“Racist words, jokes, and innuendos give cover to acts of racial intolerance and violence. We protested Brian Kilmeade to say this is unacceptable, and that this needs to stop now. Racist talk has no place in the national dialogue.”

Kilmeade was at the restaurant promoting his book Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History (because you know, they are all a bunch of historians at Fox) when the activists interrupted the event stating it was a “…peaceful and respectful interruption.” One activist held a Black Lives Matter sign while another went on to shout:

“Brian Kilmeade, your racist words and innuendos are unacceptable…”

Raw footage shows that the crowd reacts by turning on the protesters, booing them, and pushing them out of the restaurant. According to one activist (who wishes to remain anonymous):

“As soon as race was mentioned, we were grabbed, picked up, punched, kicked, and pushed. One of us was thrown to the ground. The crowd booed us, and we weren’t even asked to leave. We were just instantly assaulted.”

Before leaving, the activist shared that members of the crowd snapped pictures of their license plates.

It should be noted that this is the same area in which Hispanic immigrant Marcelo Lucero was murdered by Jeffrey Conroy and six friends. Despite almost 100 letters sent to the court asking for leniency, Conroy was convicted of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime and received a maximum sentence of 25 years. Conroy and his friends referred to their violence as “beaner-hopping.” Gives you a good idea of the atmosphere of this area, doesn’t it?

You can watch the video below of the protest.

Featured image from Salon.