Patrick Jeanty Jr. never thought of himself as political.
The Atlantic City native and DJ didn't want his views to get in the way of his career.
Then, he watched the aftermath of what had been an hours-long peaceful protest in his city sparked by the killing of George Floyd.
“That’s when I hit record,” he said.
Jeanty’s Facebook Live captured not only the looting, the police in riot gear, the fights and arrests, but also his shocked reaction to it.
“I had never seen anything like all that in my life,” he said.
Then he saw the reaction.
A few thousand views surprised him.
"When I woke up the next day, my whole life changed," he told a gathering at a rally in Brigantine. "I became an activist for Black Lives Matter."
Jeanty realized he now had a platform, and he wasn't going to be silent, he says.
Then, the comments came. Ugly ones on his videos and in his messages, he says.
“That’s when I started exposing them,” he said. “I don’t care if I lose friends or colleagues or even my career.”
So he went to the Ocean City rally, where more watched his coverage.
Then Galloway Township, Wildwood and back to Atlantic City.
While the protests stayed peaceful, the views continued to rise.
But not everyone supported what he was doing. Some, he says, came into his messages with hateful comments, he says. Some even threatened him.
He made those messages public.
“This is not going to stop me,” he said.
Others were inspired to do the same, posting screenshots of offending comments and tagging him.
Jeanty said he doesn’t believe in looting. Instead, he is intent on using his newfound audience to hurt those offenders with their own words.
“I’m going to use my voice as a platform,” he said. "Enough is enough."
