My Friend Bob Steele Physically Attacked & Injured By BLM Protesters

I should be in South Bethany Beach, DE right now nursing a chilled adult beverage, listening to music on the radio and hearing the sound of the surf pounding on the beach…That was the plan for the evening, but I’m not…Instead, I’m nursing two busted lips a swollen jaw and cuts to the inside of my mouth that probably should be stitched up at the local ER! My hippie van driver’s door latch is damaged, to what extend I don’t know right now but I can’t get in and out of the door! For those of you that want to see how it all happened apparently, there are pictures and videos of the incident on the Frederick Scanner Fb page. AND I’m extremely angry! More on that later…At roughly 8:30 this evening this aging hippy ran afoul of a 3-400 person protest that blocked Route 70 at the intersection of Route 40 in Frederick MD. Understand I was doing 65-70 MPH as I encountered this sea of people blocking the Eastbound side of the interstate. As I tried to maneuver around them a young white girl with a BLM sign told me I was not allowed to continue down the interstate and had to get off at the Route 40 Interchange. I took exception to her standing in front of my van on a 6 lane Federal Interstate (defense highway for those that know what that is), and told her in no uncertain terms to get out of my way. She got right in front of the van to block me as I inched forward. As I told her to get out of the way yet again a crowd of 15 to 20 young men of color ran up to the van and told me I had to get off the interstate. I told them I would be happy to move if they could get the girl out from in front of the van. At that point, several of the young men tried to open my locked driver’s door that I had luckily locked at the beginning of the trip. They darned near ripped the door handle off the van. I can only assume they were going to open the door and discuss with me topics such as the 200 years of slavery they had personally experienced, maybe the fact that my 1987 van violated their concept of what I should be driving, possibly they wanted to discuss the fact that Washington Bullet Wes Unseld had passed away yesterday, or possibly they just wanted to kick some old white dude’s ass. Not really being interested in any of those topics and not really wanting to get into a political discussion with a crowd of angry young men of color I decide it would be wise to move on off to the off-ramp. At that point, the crowd parted briefly and I was sucker-punched by one of the nice young men without provocation, without cause, and I guess because he just wanted to coldcock an old white dude. I quickly had blood running down my face, my mustache turned a fashionable shade of crimson and I immediately felt a shooting pain across my jaw where the young gentleman decided his fist should be placed with great force. Reeling from the blow, I stepped on the gas, the crowd was throwing stuff at the van and kicking the sides. As I drove away, the group dispersed as quickly as it had assembled, and as I rolled up the off-ramp flipping them off in a last act of defiance all the while dialing 911. At the top of the ramp were a number of Frederick County Sheriffs' deputies blocking access to the Westbound side of the interstate. I talked to one officer who took down my information and apologized for the treatment I had received at the hands of the “peaceful protestors” (my words not his). I told him no need to apologize I said, "you have to deal with this for the rest of the night, I don’t". After refusing medical treatment (I had no idea the cuts in the inside of my lip were so large or so deep). I looked down to Route 70 and noticed the throng had moved to the Westbound side of the Interstate and that side was now at a complete standstill.
Those of you that don't know me, I am a radio air personality, I have been in the business of entertaining and information for 46 years. in addition, I have been involved in many protests, marches, and sit-ins, and covered many more for a wide variety of news organizations from local to national, hell, I grew up in the 60s and 70s (BTW my news credentials were on the dashboard of the “Hippie Van” in full view of the crowd of nice young men of color). Understand, we are not talking about a newbie to protest movements here...My creds of being on both sides of the protests in DC, Largo, MD, Gainesville, FL, College Park, MD, and others are without question. Further, I have analyzed the video of the cop with his knee on the neck of the handcuffed George Floyd in Minneapolis from all angles. Finally, I absolutely believe in our constitutional right to protest things we personally object to. There are a lot of people that have died for that right and privilege

Here are some thoughts in retrospect:

1) A peaceful protest is way more effective than a violent one. The results from Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Nelson Mandella, and others certainly prove the effectiveness of non-violent protests.
2) I firmly believe the riots we are seeing in our cities are coordinated and instigated by outside forces.
3) There are paid instigators all over the country inciting violence.
4) How does a pallet of bricks just happen to appear?
5) I believe the cop that killed George Floyd is guilty of first-degree murder. I also believe he won’t last more than 24 hours in a general prison population anywhere in this country, and his death will not be pretty
6) There are a lot of people going freaking stir crazy because of the lockdown from the COVID 19 Virus quarantines
7) Because you are pissed off at the world does not give you the right to be violent. Nor does it give you the right to drag me out of my van. Nor does it give you the right to violate my personal space, Nor does it give you the right to strike me!
8) I think that burning and looting because you are pissed off about something is simply wrong. Who do you hurt? 
9) Back to me…I have a right to roll down Highway 70 unimpeded by your sorry asses at the 70 MPH speed limit I I so choose.
10) If you get in my way and I accidentally hit you, well, it sucks to be you! 

Now let’s talk about my newfound anger! I was willing to give the protestors all over the country a bye because I think the killing of anyone in the “protective” custody of police in the way George Floyd was killed is a crime. A criminal act to revenge a criminal act is nothing more than anarchy! We are a nation of laws…and maybe it’s time to look at those laws to make sure they are fair and equitable across the board. BUT when people decide that the law doesn’t apply to them and they violate basic human rights and decide they can do anything they damn well please including attempting to pull me out of my van because of the color of my skin, well I have a basic problem with that. So now I’m angry! And the person to blame is the guy that sucker punched me this evening! I don’t blame all people of color for this act I blame him! He is the asshole that punched me for no reason! So here is my question which will certainly go unanswered because he can hide in his anonymity…Now that you have punched a White Guy does that somehow bring back the life of anyone who has wrongfully perished in police custody? I think not…so now you are on the exact same level as the four police officers that killed George Floyd! I know, as do you, that had you and your friends been able to get me out of the van, I wouldn’t be in any shape to be writing this tonight! And more than likely your anger would have been the end of my life! So before you do this again, and while you and your buds are hi-fiving each other over the “fun” you had tonight, you got to wonder what I’m doing to prevent this from happening to me and my family the next time. See how this works? One wrong, no matter how tragic, does not justify another! That is nothing short of revenge. There are bad apples in every crate…one individual does not represent an entire race! Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and Nelson Mandella warned against that. To the guy that thought it would be cool to sucker-punch me tonight...so we all understand where I'm coming from…# All Lives Matter! Your’s, Mine, The Cops, and everyone else…you have no right to take the law into your own hands, And you sure as shit have no right to punch me!