--- title: "Stop what you’re doing and watch this interview with the badass Navy vet who went viral in Portland" date: "2020-07-23" modified: "2020-07-23" authors: - name: "Jared Keller" job_title: "Former Managing Editor" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jaredkeller.md" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/navy-veteran-christopher-david-interview-portland/" categories: - "Around the World" - "Military Branches" - "Navy" - "News" - "United States" tags: - "Black Community" - "Northern Command" --- # Stop what you’re doing and watch this interview with the badass Navy vet who went viral in Portland ![]() Christopher David has a message for his fellow veterans: If you're ever interviewed on national television, make sure you don't make it all about you. David gained national attention after footage of the 53-year-old Navy veteran shrugging off blows from federal law enforcement during protests in Portland over the weekend [went viral](). In the footage, David is shown stoically taking baton blows and pepper spray to the face while wearing a Navy sweatshirt, finally turning and flipping the unidentified federal officers who assailed him a pair of middle fingers. https://twitter.com/PDXzane/status/1284733976582615040 While the video is [undeniably badass](), David's response to the incident is even more so: rather than making a recent interview with ABC News about himself, the Navy vet sought to refocus viewers' attention on the circumstances that led him to protest in the first place. "I ... want to use my 15 minutes to refocus the whole discussion back to Black Lives Matter as opposed to an old white guy who get beat up because I don't think I'm worth the attention, to be perfectly frank," David said. "I think it's a little overblown, to be perfectly honest." https://twitter.com/evanmcmurry/status/1285957415918276608 Citizens have flooded the streets of American cities for weeks to protest police brutality and racial inequality since the death of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of white Minneapolis police officers back in May. "I was an old white guy that got beat down ... that's an acute situation, right? Being a black person in this country is a chronic situation every day. So no, I didn't get a taste, I just got beat up," David continued. "If i had been a black veteran that had gotten beaten down, do you think I would have gotten as much as I did?" he added. "If they can beat somebody down like me, they can beat anybody down." You can watch the entire interview below [starting around 5:17]() https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSFhvwakazQ ## Author Jared Keller is the former managing editor of Task & Purpose. His writing has appeared in Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post, among other publications. ### Author social links [Twitter]() [Facebook]() [LinkedIn]() [Instagram]() ## More - [A ‘Wall of Vets’ joined the ranks of the Portland protesters]() - [Watch this Navy veteran shrug off batons and pepper spray like a badass amid protests in Portland]() - [Stop What You’re Doing And Read These Stories That Got Missed In The Insane News Cycle]() - [Stop what you’re doing and watch this Army general’s emotional speech about the cost of war]() - [There’s A Big Problem With That Viral Military Spouse Photo]() - [Ferguson: Where Little Boys Get Big Guns]() - [Fort Jackson soldier convicted of assault in viral video moved to next assignment]() - [Airman charged with torching police car while wearing Air Force gas mask during Salt Lake City riot]()