A peaceful protest in a small Montana resort town turned ugly Wednesday night when a visibly angry man confronted demonstrators, yelling at them while standing only inches away from their faces.
a man is seen yelling profanities at a group of demonstrators supporting Black Lives Matter in Whitefish, about 60 miles from the Canadian border.
The man, identified by police as Jay Snowden, 51, is clearly agitated and becomes increasingly so as the group starts chanting "peaceful!" to drown out his yelling.
In a powerful image shared by Samantha Francine, who is one of the protesters, Snowden, a tall white man, is seen looking down on a much smaller Francine while she looks up into his eyes, holding a poster that reads "Say Their Names."
The 27-year-old protester said the words of her white father, who died 16 years ago, ran through her head: "No matter who the threat is, no matter what the threat is, you look them in the eye so that they know you're human."
In her post on Facebook, she said
"I have been trying to find my words about this moment for the last few days. For all who have reached and checked on me, thank you. For all of you that have stood by my side, THANK YOU! I want to start off saying I am so proud to be standing there with all of you, especially you beautiful teenagers! There is a lot of emotion and it’s awesome that your generation is leading the way. Secondly I have received so much love from family, friends, and strangers! It’s been overwhelmingly beautiful. My perception of myself and how other’s see me are vastly different and you all have given me so much love and support. Thank you. A friend of mine sent me a screenshot of this photo the day it was posted by my beautiful friend Grace Jensen. With everything going on I immediately just thought “wow, what a powerful photo”, then I realized it was me. The words are still hard to find, but I wanted to share the one thing that did go through my mind in this moment. As a child, I grew up with a single white father and who was originally from Chicago. He taught us from a young age that things were going to be different for us just because of the color of our skin. One of the things he use to remind us constantly was that “no matter the threat, always look them in the eye so they have to acknowledge you’re human”. My father past 16 years ago this month. In this moment, those are the words that went through my head. When I lifted up my glasses, he saw me. I saw him. He was acting out fear, I know that. I hold no malice in my heart for this man. I hope this moment will soften him. I hope he will be changed. But even if he isn’t, I am. Yes I had power this day, but I couldn’t have done it without all of the courageous people around me. We are stronger united and in this moment I felt the that. Whether you will be standing with us tonight, or holding space, I ask you to join US as we continue to be apart of the change. Dear Whitefish, big things are coming. It’s going to be beautiful"! #blacklivesmatter #strongerunited #lookmeintheeyes
Snowden was ultimately removed from the scene by police. Later, after police consulted with the Whitefish city prosecutor, he was charged with disorderly conduct,Whitefish police said in a statement posted on social media. He is expected in court on June 17.
"The City of Whitefish is dedicated to protecting the First Amendment rights of individuals to peacefully protest and ask all who are involved to respect each other's rights and protest peacefully," police said.
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