Adrienne Dunn, USA TODAY•June 19, 2020
The claim: Witches and the Amish protested the death of George Floyd
As thousands have gathered across the country — and the world — to protest the death of George Floyd, police brutality and systemic racism, photographs and videos from the protests have gone viral.
At the center of the protests is the phrase Black Lives Matter, a movement that began in 2013 following the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the man who fatally shot the unarmed Black teenager Trayvon Martin.
A Facebook post falsely indicates that "witches" and "Amish" are at a protest following George Floyd's death.
The movement has been met with pushback for years, but in recent weeks it has seen widespread support from politicians, celebrities, organizations and businesses — some of which had previously voiced criticisms.
Among the viral images of protests were claims about groups that supported the movement. Some of the most reshared posts claimed that remote groups had joined the protest.
One viral post included two photos and claimed that witches and the Amish had joined protests saying "You know how wrong you gotta be for witches and Amish to be on the same side?"
Are those photos authentic? Did witches and the Amish join protests?
The post includes two photos, one of people dressed like witches and one of a group that the user identifies as the Amish. The two photos are real, but they have been taken out of context and misidentified.
The photo of the people in witches' clothing is actually from a 2017 protest in Boston. The "witches" held signs saying "Hex white supremacy" and "Good night alt-right."
The photo was taken by Scott Eisen and can be seen in a Guardian article about the counterprotesters or on Getty Images. The people in the photo are not explicitly identified, so it is unknown whether they are simply dressed up in costumes or actually identify as members of Wicca or other witch communities.
The other photo, which has widely circulated with claims that the people are Amish, has also been misidentified.
The image is real and it's recent, but the people in the photo are actually members of the Church of God.
The group has attended various protests and addressed the viral posts about being Amish in a message on Facebook, "We're onsite in Minneapolis, sharing the message of God's love to a hurting community. We're not #Amish, of course, but we are part of the one human family and we must stand together against oppression."
Our rating: False
The claims in the post are FALSE. While both of the photos in the post are real, they were taken out of context and misidentified.
The photo of witches does not identify the people — so it is unknown if they were dressed up or if they identify as members of witch communities — and was actually taken during a 2017 protest in Boston. The image of people described as "Amish" is actually a photo of members of the Church of God.
The movement has been met with pushback for years, but in recent weeks it has seen widespread support from politicians, celebrities, organizations and businesses — some of which had previously voiced criticisms.
Among the viral images of protests were claims about groups that supported the movement. Some of the most reshared posts claimed that remote groups had joined the protest.
One viral post included two photos and claimed that witches and the Amish had joined protests saying "You know how wrong you gotta be for witches and Amish to be on the same side?"
Are those photos authentic? Did witches and the Amish join protests?
The post includes two photos, one of people dressed like witches and one of a group that the user identifies as the Amish. The two photos are real, but they have been taken out of context and misidentified.
The photo of the people in witches' clothing is actually from a 2017 protest in Boston. The "witches" held signs saying "Hex white supremacy" and "Good night alt-right."
The photo was taken by Scott Eisen and can be seen in a Guardian article about the counterprotesters or on Getty Images. The people in the photo are not explicitly identified, so it is unknown whether they are simply dressed up in costumes or actually identify as members of Wicca or other witch communities.
The other photo, which has widely circulated with claims that the people are Amish, has also been misidentified.
The image is real and it's recent, but the people in the photo are actually members of the Church of God.
The group has attended various protests and addressed the viral posts about being Amish in a message on Facebook, "We're onsite in Minneapolis, sharing the message of God's love to a hurting community. We're not #Amish, of course, but we are part of the one human family and we must stand together against oppression."
Our rating: False
The claims in the post are FALSE. While both of the photos in the post are real, they were taken out of context and misidentified.
The photo of witches does not identify the people — so it is unknown if they were dressed up or if they identify as members of witch communities — and was actually taken during a 2017 protest in Boston. The image of people described as "Amish" is actually a photo of members of the Church of God.
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