Minnesota rapper defends 'solidarity' with France radical activists, push for protests to come to US
A Minnesota rapper has stood by his social media posts idolizing the increasingly violent protests in France, which resulted in some 2,500 arrests over the weekend.Tufawon, whose real name is...
By Fox News · Fox News
A Minnesota rapper has stood by his social media posts idolizing the increasingly violent protests in France , which resulted in some 2,500 arrests over the weekend. Tufawon, whose real name is Rafael Gonzalez Jr., made a series of posts on Facebook advocating for White people in the United States to "go outside and raise hell" after he and Greta Thunberg visited Lycée Paul Éluard, the high school in Saint-Denis where many of the student demonstrations kicked off this month. "Do I think way more people need to become radicalized here? Absolutely, especially white people, and that’s where I think we can take influence from the French. "All Power to the People!" the 40-year-old rapper wrote on Facebook. "Go f— s— up white people. It's your time." In an earlier post, he clarified that when he says White Americans need to "raise hell" or "f— s— up" about supposed fascism and authoritarianism under the Trump administration, he means they need to "take it to next level peacefully and legally." RO KHANNA SPARKS BACKLASH OVER FRANCE RIOT COMMENTS AS CRITIC SAYS HE WANTS TO ‘RIDE THE RAGE WAVE’ And in a statement to The New York Post , Tufawong said his Facebook posts "fall under figurative speech and in no way, shape or form did I use them with the intent to incite violence of any kind." Tufawon, who is part Native American, also told the Post that his participation in some of the French protests last week was impromptu because he had been on vacation in the country. In one video, he was in front of a crowd chanting "f— ICE" and "ICE out" before performing his song "No One Is Illegal." The protests in France, which began weeks ago as student-led demonstrations against poor classroom conditions and education funding cuts, have now devolved into widespread riots involving a range of political and ideological factions. VIOLENCE ERUPTS AT FRANCE PROTESTS AS MACRON WARNS UNREST IS BEING EXPLOITED Images and videos posted to social media on Saturday and Sunday showed groups of m…