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Black activists, leaders speak against perceived double standard of race, treatment of protesters after Capitol breach

Ruth Leonard with Black Lives Matter of Toledo says you can see the difference in the way Black protesters are treated versus the Trump supporters at the Capitol.

Angry and enraged Black Lives Matter activists and Black leaders in Toledo are calling on the president to be arrested following the protests at the Capitol on Wednesday. 

The group says how protesters were treated on Wednesday is a double standard.

"And I'm like how many people have been shot? Is it a blood bath? Is it a massacre?" said Ruth Leonard, the administrative aide with the Community Solidarity Response Network of Toledo.

Leonard is also a Black Lives Matter activist in Toledo. 

She says she was watching Wednesdays protests at the Capitol when mayhem struck.  

Toledo City Councilmember Cerssandra McPherson was also watching. 

"In the midst of all of that, you never heard them say pepper spray was sprayed. Never heard them say anything about gas bombs being thrown out to disperse the crowd," said McPherson. 

Both are furious at the way Black protesters were treated this past summer and at protests in Toledo, compared to how President Trump supporters were treated at the Capitol.

RELATED: Six months later | Stories from Toledo protesters who marched in wake of George Floyd's death

"Those who are protesting and breaking in and committing treason against the United States, they get a slap on the wrist. But when you have Black men and women and their allies, who are protesting the unfair practice of police, they are met with violence and tanks," said Leonard. 

"In the midst of watching that rally and protest, which was ignited by the president of the United States, I believe that somebody - the FBI, somebody - should of walked into the White House and arrested that man," said McPherson.  

They're blaming President Trump and white supremacists. 

But, another city leader says the focus should be on healing and moving forward.

"We have to be careful not to give into our emotion. And to continue to do as Dr. King, who we celebrate this month, told us: Don't judge a man by the color of his skin but by the contents of their character," said Toledo City Councilmember John Hobbs III.

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