'Terrorists are people, too': BuzzFeed offers sympathetic glimpse at 'the two human beings' who torched a police car for justice

We’ve been highly critical of mostly peaceful protesters setting fire to stuff and being violent. But we never really stopped to think about the people behind the mostly peaceful protests, you know?

Thank goodness that BuzzFeed is around to show us rioters’ humanity:

2 Black Lives Matter protesters face 45+ yrs in prison for allegedly torching an empty, damaged police car—part of a wider Trump administration crack down. @rubycramer & I wrote about the case & what it reveals about this moment of turmoil: https://t.co/BFaCna61Zx

— Albert Samaha (@AlbertSamaha) September 16, 2020

Colin & Urooj are children of immigrants, beloved by friends, lawyers working to balance the justice system. Now they face 45+yrs for allegedly setting fire to an empty cop car. One story from the Trump crackdown on #BLM protesters, from @AlbertSamaha & me https://t.co/QWqRopZ5WX

— Ruby Cramer (@rubycramer) September 16, 2020

Lots of new reporting here not only on the case and how & why it was almost immediately picked up by federal prosecutors, but about the two human beings on the other end: https://t.co/PxmPisZWun

— Ruby Cramer (@rubycramer) September 16, 2020

They are not animals! They are human beings!

Well-respected lawyers who had met at a birthday party in 2014, Rahman and Mattis are both in their early thirties, with large social circles and close-knit families, living the American dream their immigrant parents had aspired for them. Rahman defended tenants facing evictions, and Mattis did pro bono work representing women with low incomes in family court while practicing corporate law at a prestigious firm. They had become attorneys in hopes of using the law to help balance the scales of a justice system that, in their eyes, favored rich over poor, white over Black, citizen over refugee.

“It’s very easy to suggest they could have reacted differently from what’s alleged, but what’s being expressed in the streets is a hurt people of color have had to hold for generations,” said a friend of both who requested anonymity for fear of losing her government job for speaking up about the case. “Before they’re attorneys, they’re human, they’re people of color, and they see their fellow people of color suffering.”

Not shedding a single tear of sympathy for these premeditated firebombers who tried to blow up a police car during a riot, despite the misguided effort to paint them as freedom fighters. They definitely should have known better, and they deserve the consequences.

— 90-93% Peaceful Enrique ??? (@enrique_pause) September 16, 2020

No! They deserve our sympathy! Who among us hasn’t considered arson as a means of fighting for justice?

They threw a firebomb at a cop car in a city that is an established terror target.

Buzzfeed – Racist Trump is going after protestors.

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) September 16, 2020

What's the big deal? It was damaged anyway! https://t.co/4mYtPklUZ7

— I did not and will not vote for him. Calm down. (@jtLOL) September 16, 2020

Wait, wait, wait. They're the children of immigrants AND their friends like them? Well then, never mind. https://t.co/3AIvDmFD2I

— I did not and will not vote for him. Calm down. (@jtLOL) September 16, 2020

Terrorists are people too. https://t.co/cGVkffDH8w

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) September 16, 2020

That’s basically BuzzFeed’s angle here.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is a child of immigrants, beloved by friends, a student working to balance the justice system for Muslims. Now he faces life in prison raising awareness for his cause. https://t.co/yt5IrA5TKu

— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) September 16, 2020

BuzzFeed really missed an opportunity. Oh well.

These people literally just crib each other's work. NY Mag wrote a sympathy piece on these two already, so now Buzzfeed goes, hey we should do that also! It's the definition of a bubble.

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) September 16, 2020

It’s the definition of hackery.