The Black Lives Matter official Instagram account has shared a reel asserting that “oppressed people have a right to violence,” as public fury boils over the recent stabbing murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, North Carolina.
While the post does not directly mention Zarutska, the timing has fueled accusations of racism and deliberate incitement.
Zarutska, 23, fled Ukraine in 2022 due to the war with Russia. She was fatally stabbed from behind multiple times on August 22 while riding Charlotte’s Lynx Blue Line light rail train at the East/West Boulevard station.
Surveillance footage captured the unprovoked attack by suspect Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr., 34, who has been arrested 14 times in the past, including prior assault and weapons charges, but remained free.
On Wednesday, just one day after the full video of the murder was made public, Black Lives Matter posted a clip from the 1983 film “Born in Flames,” in which a black woman declares, “Right to violence. All oppressed people have a right to violence… It’s like your right to pee. You gotta have the right place, Gotta have the right time.”
