--- title: Black Activist Punched at Donald Trump Rally description: A black activist was punched and choked before being kicked out of a Donald Trump rally canonical: https://time.com/4123674/black-activist-punched-trump-rally/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-22T17:49:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:50:00.695Z article:section: Politics og:title: Black Activist Punched at Donald Trump Rally og:description: He was shouting "Black lives matter" og:url: https://time.com/4123674/black-activist-punched-trump-rally/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04a2b5bccde08758/6988725b2dce01696a9e69df/ap_374191480402.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: GOP Trump 2016 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Black Activist Punched at Donald Trump Rally twitter:description: He was shouting "Black lives matter" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04a2b5bccde08758/6988725b2dce01696a9e69df/ap_374191480402.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Black Activist Punched at Donald Trump Rally ## Video: Black Lives Matter Co-Founder: No Endorsement For 2016 [Watch (HLS stream): Black Lives Matter Co-Founder: No Endorsement For 2016](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gsYoy8U6.m3u8) (1:26)  _Published 2015-09-19. Alicia Garza told the Associated Press Black Lives Matter will continue protesting and advocating for social issues rather than endorse a 2016 presidential candidate._ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Nov 22, 2015 5:49 PM UTC  A protester is removed by security as Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop in Birmingham, AL on Nov. 21, 2015. A protester is removed by security as Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop in Birmingham, AL on Nov. 21, 2015.Eric Schultz—AP by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Nov 22, 2015 5:49 PM UTC A black activist was reportedly punched and choked before being kicked out of a Donald Trump rally Saturday in Birmingham, Ala. [According to the Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/11/22/black-activist-punched-at-donald-trump-rally-in-birmingham/), activist Mercutio Southall Jr. was shouting “Black lives matter” during Trump’s speech and Trump responded by asking his security to “get him the hell out of here, will you, please?” Before Southall could be led out of the venue, the _Post_ reports that he was surrounded by men, who appeared to punch and kick him. One man reportedly choked him and as a bystander repeatedly said: “Don’t choke him!” In an interview with Fox, Trump said maybe the man should have been “roughed up.” “I had 10,000 people in the room yesterday, 10,000 people, and this guy started screaming by himself and they — I don’t know, rough up, he should have been — maybe he should have been roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing,” Trump said. \[[_Washington Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/11/22/black-activist-punched-at-donald-trump-rally-in-birmingham/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4123674/black-activist-punched-trump-rally/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4123674/black-activist-punched-trump-rally/"},"headline":"Black Activist Punched at Donald Trump Rally","datePublished":"2015-11-22T17:49:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:50:00.695Z","description":"He was shouting \"Black lives matter\"","url":"https://time.com/4123674/black-activist-punched-trump-rally/","keywords":["Election 2016","Donald Trump","rally","black lives matter","trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04a2b5bccde08758/6988725b2dce01696a9e69df/ap_374191480402.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04a2b5bccde08758/6988725b2dce01696a9e69df/ap_374191480402.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GOP Trump 2016","caption":"GOP Trump 2016","creditText":"Eric Schultz—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/election-2016/","name":"Election 2016"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4123674/black-activist-punched-trump-rally/","name":"Black Activist Punched at Donald Trump Rally"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Black Lives Matter Co-Founder: No Endorsement For 2016","description":"Alicia Garza told the Associated Press Black Lives Matter will continue protesting and advocating for social issues rather than endorse a 2016 presidential candidate.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/gsYoy8U6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-09-19T17:05:39.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gsYoy8U6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4123674/black-activist-punched-trump-rally/","duration":"PT1M26S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4123674/black-activist-punched-trump-rally/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```