Backues, yang bertato peta Indonesia di tangannya, tertangkap kamera pewarta foto Philadelpia Inquirer sedang melempar semacam kotak ke arah perusahaan layanan jasa finansial Wells Fargo, Sabtu (30/5).
Backues, lewat akun Instagram miliknya @rainsfordthegreat pada Minggu (31/5) mengaku bahwa dia sebenarnya adalah warga negara Amerika Serikat naturalisasi yang lahir di Pulau Jawa, Indonesia.
You might recognize me from several photos making the rounds on social media in the last several hours. If you know me personally, you will know that that what is represented there is quite unlike me. I initially began my day by going out for a daily bike ride, and I went through Center City, ending up at the protests. This helps explain why I was not covering my identity in the photos. At first, I simply wanted to document on my Instagram story what I was seeing for those who were at home. But, as the evening went on, I began to feel a combined anger from the murder of George Floyd and a feeling of energy in the face of national police injustice from the rioting welling up inside of me. Even today, I still feel the passion of hurt brought about by the racial injustice that is frequently directed towards people of color, myself included. This emotion runs deep. However, I now regret that my justified anger and impulse to not stay silent too quickly turned into movements to destroy property. Demonstrating is not the same thing as destruction. Thus, I would now like to apologize to the BLM movement as well as to the protestors who are legitimately exhibiting their disagreement with the present injustices we all have witnessed. Since one of my tattoos shows the islands of Indonesia (I am a naturalized US citizen, but I was born on the island of Java), I would also like to apologize to the Indonesian community in Philadelphia. Finally, to clarify, I must make it clear that, though I foolishly posted selfies holding sneakers up to my ear on my Instagram story, I did not loot them nor did I take any home with me. The streets were littered with clothing and shoes and I thought it would emphasize the amount of looting that was happening if I posed with them in this way. I now regret posting those photos. Once again, I apologize to all the communities that I have negatively affected and embarrassed. I am willing to take full responsibility for my actions. I have learned a great deal from this incident.
A post shared by Rainey A. Backues (@rainsfordthegreat) on
Dia mengklarifikasi bahwa dia sama sekali tak ada niat untuk rusuh dan dia meminta maaf kepada seluruh komunitas warga Indonesia di Philadelphia.
"Awalnya aku cuma bersepeda lewat (jalan) Center City," kata dia menjelaskan mengapa dia tak menutupi identitas diri saat itu.
Lalu seiring hari makin gelap, dia mengaku merasa marah atas kematian George Floyd dan atas ketidakadilan polisi nasional.
"Apalagi aku juga termasuk orang kulit berwarna," kata Backues yang lantas merasa menyesal atas kemarahannya yang berakibat pada pengrusakan bangunan itu.
"Oleh sebab itu aku ingin meminta maaf pada gerakan Black Lives Matter serta kepada para pengunjuk rasa yang secara sah menunjukkan ketidaksetujuan mereka dengan ketidakadilan saat ini yang kita semua saksikan," kata dia.
"Karena salah satu tato saya menunjukkan pulau-pulau Indonesia (saya adalah warga negara AS yang dinaturalisasi, tetapi saya lahir di Pulau Jawa), saya juga ingin meminta maaf kepada masyarakat Indonesia di Philadelphia," kata dia.
Dia menegaskan betapa dia sangat menyesal sudah berswafoto menunjukan barang jarahan, tapi dia mengaku tidak menjarah.
"Meski saya dengan bodohnya memasang selfie yang memegang sepatu sampai ke telinga saya di Instagram feed saya, saya tidak menjarahnya dan juga tidak membawa pulang apa pun," kata dia.
Dia mengaku berpose dengan sepatu sekedar untuk menunjukkan pada orang-orang bahwa sedang terjadi penjarahan besar-besaran di lokasi dia berada.
"Saya sekarang menyesal memposting foto-foto itu. Sekali lagi, saya meminta maaf kepada semua komunitas yang telah terkena dampak negatif dan malu. Saya bersedia bertanggung jawab penuh atas tindakan saya. Saya telah belajar banyak dari kejadian ini," kata dia.
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