System Of A Down drummer calls Black Lives Matter a "propaganda tool"

System Of A Down drummer John Dolmayan seemingly likes to court controversy.  The drummer dismissed the Black Lives Matter movement as a “Democratic party fundraiser and propaganda tool.”

Dolmayan was on Instagram responding to the murder of Secoriea Turner. The 8-year-old girl was killed when unidentified assailants opened gunfire on the car she was riding in. Reportedly, the shots were fired as the vehicle was crossing a BLM protest barricade in Atlanta, Georgia.

Read more: System Of A Down’s drummer calls defunding the police “the stupidest thing”

“The supposed black lives matter movement never had legitimacy in my view and were always a Democratic Party fundraiser and propaganda tool,” the System Of A Down member posted below a photo of the child. “Along with Antifa, they have shown themselves to be the enemy of the people of the United States and have adopted lawlessness emboldened by a sensationalist media and the moronic Hollywood elites who pander to them at every opportunity. They will be brought to justice but when? How many more innocents need to be murdered before we come to our senses.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCUw9ebnxS3/

A commenter suggested that “downplaying systemic racism in the U.S. is playing a dangerous game” in response to the drummer. Dolmayan seemingly doubled-down, coming back with, “There is no systemic racism in the United States. Name one example.”

These comments shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with Dolmayan’s Instagram feed. In early June, he addressed the movement to defund police departments as  “the stupidest thing I ever heard.” While such pronouncements fly in the face of System Of A Down’s left-leaning output—admittedly frontman Serj Tankian’s lyrical philosophy—the two of them are actually very respectful toward one another.

 

In a previous post on his feed, the singer acknowledges his and Dolmayan’s political disagreements. (Dolmayan is Tankian’s brother-in-law.) “Remember, irrespective of stance, only artists that truly care and are impassioned will risk alienating their base for what they consider the truth.”