People who painted over Black Lives Matter street art decry ‘double standard and hypocrisy’ over hate crime charge

Two people charged with a hate crime after attempting to paint over Black Lives Matter street art are rebuking their repercussions as unjust.

Nicole Anderson, 42, and David Nelson, 53, were captured on video on Saturday painting over yellow block letters with gray paint in Martinez, California. Nelson, who was seen wearing campaign gear supporting President Trump, can be heard arguing with a woman asking why they were painting over the letters.

“This is the double standard and hypocrisy of the whole thing,” Nelson said Thursday on Fox News’s Tucker Carlson Tonight. “It’s okay for BLM to go around and burn down the country, terrorize America, actually kill people … When we stand up and give them a little iota, a taste of their own medicine, this is the extreme measures that are being taken, and we can’t let it happen.”

“We need to stand up, we need to get together, all Americans in every city and take to the streets,” he added.

In addition to being charged with a hate crime, Anderson and Nelson also face charges of vandalism and possession of tools to commit vandalism or graffiti. If convicted, the two could each face up to a year in jail. Local police condemned the couple’s actions.

“The community spent a considerable amount of time putting the mural together only to have it painted over in a hateful and senseless manner,” Martinez police said.

Anderson said part of her motive was to oppose calls to defund the police, which she felt came out of the Black Lives Matter movement. While she said she’s not concerned about losing her job over the incident because she’s self-employed, Nelson said he’s been placed on leave. He said the fear of losing one’s job and “cancel culture” is part of the reason he believes more aren’t following he and Anderson’s lead to push back on Black Lives Matter.

“If an American can’t stand up and voice their opinion and we’re being silenced, it’s the cancel culture that we are living in, and if we don’t do something, we need to stand up. Everybody needs to get together and band together and actually take to the streets,” Nelson said. “I hear a lot of talk, but I don’t actually see Americans standing up and doing something about it, and the reason being is because we are losing jobs when we stand up.”

*story by The Washington Examiner