President Donald Trump's supporters encountered Black Lives Matter protesters outside his Tulsa campaign rally -- and they were confused by what they saw.
Demonstrators verbally clashed with Trump supporters Saturday outside the BOK Center, and the president's fans grappled with explaining the protests to the children and grandchildren they had brought to the rally, reported the Washington Post.
“I don’t think they even understand what they want, because black lives do matter,” said Richard Standridge, who attended the rally with his 12-year-old daughter and two adults sons. “Every life matters. I have lots of white friends and black friends. I’m out in the oil field. We don’t see color. You either work, pull your weight, or you go home. There’s no color.”
Anne Harrison and her 13-year-old grandson watched police disperse protesters with pepper balls outside the rally, and she wasn't sure their protest was as peaceful as advertised.
“They were parading around fairly peacefully," Harrison said. "Their speech wasn’t necessarily peaceful.”
Harrison arrived too late to get inside, so they stayed outside watching the protests -- where she tried to explain what they were seeing by telling the teen that the Ku Klux Klan had been founded by Democrats.
“I know that they want equality, and I’m all for that,” she said, holding the boy's hand. “Democrats throughout history have not voted for black lives. The whole KKK came out of the Democratic Party. You cannot say that it’s changed. They still use them for their purposes, and their purpose today was pitting them against President Trump, and it breaks my heart, because I value African Americans and they’ve been done wrong by the Democrats.”
Ken Bonvillian and his 9-year-old granddaughter saw a white man jump out of a pickup and blast a Black protester in the face with pepper spray, but he believes the demonstrators are violent.
“I’ll just tell her it’s wrong the way they’re doing things,” Bonvillian said. “Violence is not the answer; it’s not the way we grew up learning about the history of our country.”
Bonvillian said he didn't understand why the protesters were angry at the president.
“They want equality, justice, fairness,” he said. “They want to make sure that we have a legacy to pass down to generations to come, and I really do think Trump wants that.”