I’m not writing about this because it’s a terribly important incident in the scheme of things. I’m writing about it because it’s a pretty revealing one at this point in time. First the backstory. Last Saturday the NYPD cleared people out of Washington Square Park to enforce a 10 pm curfew. As 10 pm approached, cops started gearing up and people in the park started chanting things like “abolish the police.”

NYPD cops with helmets & batons were on the north side of Washington Square Park last nite getting ready to clear it. People inside the park were preparing for the incoming assault by cops. Chants of “We’re not leaving the park!” Most folks in the park were just chilling though. pic.twitter.com/vwqibP2gsp

— Ash J (@AshAgony) June 6, 2021

At 10 pm police moved into the park and pushed people out which led to some scuffles.

Mass clashes broke out between police and people at an unlawful assembly at Washington Square Park in NYC. pic.twitter.com/sIusBP3Aap

— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) June 6, 2021

Many of the people who’d been in the park refused to disperse. Instead they gathered at the police line.

“The whole world is watching y’all!” Parkgoers were not happy about the army of NYPD cops pushing them out of Washington Square Park last nite. pic.twitter.com/TpClsJktB3

— Ash J (@AshAgony) June 6, 2021

At 10:30 it was a kind of block party in defiance of the police:

It’s 10:30, NYC said fuck the 10 pm curfew, NYPD cleared out, and Washington square park is a party pic.twitter.com/s2bLXjuBMl

— Read Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (@JoshuaPotash) June 7, 2021

Some arrests were made but for a while there was a stalemate at the police line.

“Can you guys go home now? We need to go back in our park.”

Chants of “Fuck 12!” as parkgoers & NYPD cops on bikes had a standoff towards the south side of Washington Square Park last nite. At this point, people had been pushed to the south side but were still inside the park. pic.twitter.com/qZiSmq2FGY

— Ash J (@AshAgony) June 6, 2021

Eventually, one of the people pulled a bike away from one of the cops on the line and police then pushed people back declaring an unlawful assembly.

Despite the army of NYPD cops facing them just outside of Washington Square Park, parkgoers stood their ground. One cop even got his bike pulled away from him. Cops then rushed out into the street, declared the parkgoers an “unlawful assembly,” & threatened to make more arrests. pic.twitter.com/9WfZcfJPaA

— Ash J (@AshAgony) June 6, 2021

Cops eventually chased the group several blocks away. So that’s the larger context in which to watch this next video. The location is Washington Square Park and one man has decided to single out an Asian cop for a tirade or abuse, repeatedly calling him a “ch**k.” The other cops try to deescalate but this guy will not be dissuaded. Apparently, verbally abusing this officer and threatening him is really important to this guy.

And then a white guy rides past on a bicycle and tells the guy to stop. “Stop talking about ch**ks, man, that’s f**ked up,” he said. He then adds that it’s racist, which it clearly is. But the guy attacking the Asian officer has a ready response for that, “Black people can’t be racist.”

One of the cops tells him to “watch his mouth” and the man tries to provoke a confrontation. “Watch my mouth or what, you ch**k?” “Go look me up, you f**kin’ ch**k!…Back up you ch**k.”

At the end of this he repeats that black people “cannot be racist” despite all the evidence he has just provided to the contrary.

*From Wash Sq. Park on Sat*

Criminals know that politicians are all talk. They know there are no real consequences for their vicious anti-Asian hate, even when it’s directed at a PO. If the pols really want to ‘Stop the Hate,’ they need to stop demonizing cops first @NYPDAJS pic.twitter.com/3BOk1Hkuvj

— NYC PBA (@NYCPBA) June 7, 2021

If you’ve spent any time watching video of protests over the past year, you probably already know this kind of abuse is not unique. Often it’s the black officers who seem to get the worst of the abuse from BLM protesters. But other minority officers and white officers get it too. And meanwhile there’s a false assumption that black people can’t be racist which, for people like the guy in this clip, means they can act like hateful creeps and target other minorities with a clear conscience.