Black London protester who helped injured white man during protest explains actions
Patrick Hutchinson immediately recognized how those optics of the man lying on the ground could be manipulated and used against everyone at the protest.
The stunning image of a Black protestor carrying an injured white man to safety in London has gone viral over the last few days. Now the man captured in that moment has come forward to explain why he did it.
Saturday, the image of Patrick Hutchinson‘s unexpected moment of grace spread across the world. Protestors continue to take to the streets in support of Black Lives Matter, and the numerous injustices that Black people continue to endure at the hands of law enforcement.
Protesters take over Hollywood Boulevard during the All Black Lives Matter solidarity march as unrest continues in the wake of the death of George Floyd, on June 14, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
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Sunday, while speaking to CNN, Hutchinson revealed that while this was the first Black Lives Matter protest he’d ever attended, he chose to help the man so that the main focus of the protests wouldn’t be overshadowed by the image of a white person being trampled.
“My real focus was on avoiding a catastrophe, all of a sudden the narrative changes into ‘Black Lives Matters, Youngsters Kill Protesters.’ That was the message we were trying to avoid,” he explained matter of factly.
He went on to recall how he’d first spotted the man lying on the ground in the fetal position while surrounded by protestors and immediately recognized how those optics could be manipulated and used against everyone there.
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Patrick Hutchinson, the black man seen carrying an injured white man to safety during a chaotic scene at protests in London, tells CNN he did it to avoid catastrophe. https://t.co/nOoTUlg3bb pic.twitter.com/a356nTeq9G
— CNN (@CNN) June 15, 2020
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It has not been verified what the injured man was doing at the protest or how he got hurt, but when Hutchinson saw the man, his friends formed a shield around him as he scooped him up to take him directly to the police.
“I am carrying him, my friends are protecting myself and the man on my shoulder. He was still receiving blows, you can feel people trying to hit him,” he said. “There were people trying to protect him at the same time carried him over to the police and I said here you are. One of them said ‘thank you – you did a good thing there.'”
“I want to see equality for everybody. I am a father, a grandfather and I would love to see my young children, my young grandchildren, my nieces, my nephews have a better world than I have lived in,” he concluded. “The world I live in has been better than my grandparents and my parents and hopefully we can continue until we have total equality for everyone.”
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