The man that was "hit by the car" is the lynchpin the protesters needed to justify their actions. From their point of view, this march that blocked the street caused a white man to drive into the crowd due to his lack of regard for black lives mattering. The fact that he was not arrested for these actions but held in protective custody further supports the notion that the Carbondale police stand by the BLM opposition.

However, from the beginning the media has made clear that this man was beaten and a smokebomb was put into his vehicle. Those two acts seriously muddied the claim the protest was trying to clarify. The point that I wish to elucidate is that had the event maintained some organizational boundaries, the discipline required to effectively participate in nonviolent direct action and had done so "openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty" rather than masked, tagging property, shooting off fireworks and smokebombs at 10:30 p.m., the results may have allowed the man driving into the crowd to be under the magnifying glass of the media as an example of the problems BLM