Protests continue across the country following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Calls for justice are deeply justified for the brutal way Derek Chauvin killed Mr. Floyd by kneeling on his neck for 9 long minutes, despite Floyd pleading for help because he couldn’t breathe. Chauvin and 3 other Minneapolis officers involved were fired immediately. Chauvin was offically charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter a few days later. An investigation into the actions of the other officers is still ongoing.
But what started as peaceful protesting of a gross injustice quickly devolved into ugly rioting, vandalism, arson, looting, and random violence. It didn’t have to be this way. The irony is, virtually everyone was on the side of the protesters at the very start. Justice for Derek Chavin was already coming. The peaceful protests, which every person of conscience could easily get behind, were an opportunity to really put pressure on the people and institutions that allowed an animal like Chavin to remain on the force in the first place. To get the kind of reforms that will prevent these kinds of tragedies in the future. Instead, the violence and mayhem has people retreating back into their respective tribes. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Far from trying to stop the rioting, many big city Mayors seem to be implicitly encouraging them. Telling their police forces to stand down. Announcing publicly they won’t defend private property from looting and vandalism. The excuses and rationalizations for this gross dereliction of duty, spewed like clockwork from both the authorities and the media, are pathetic and laughable.
Legitimate protesters don’t need to be “given space” to operate. Criminals do. It’s unclear how letting criminals vandalize, loot, and burn a community will make things better. Stealing a big screen TV doesn’t deliver justice. Burning a building won’t affect change. And if beating random victims makes you feel better, than you are scum.
While rioting, looting, and beating innocent bystanders to bloody pulps certainly is a way to get the people’s attention, it will not be in a good way. The gut reaction of decent people will be revulsion, regardless of the merits of your cause. And examples of riots leading to positive change are pretty much non-existent, while examples of riots leading to broken communities suffering for decades from the aftermath abound.
Another common refrain is that it’s just property, and thus no big deal. Of course, it is a very big deal to the people who are losing everything and watching their life’s work go up in flames. I find it hard to imagine the people who have to live in these burnt out shells of a city are happy about the decision to let “protesters” blow off steam in this way. I doubt the celebrities bailing out the rioters would be as enthusiastic if it was their town being destroyed and their lives being upended. And of course it’s not just property. Horrible acts of violence have occurred against innocent victims of the mob. Scores of people have been bloodied, maimed, crippled, and killed. For what?
One thing that is new about these riots is how organized they are. Far from spontaneous eruptions, many of the riots appear to be premeditated crimes. In city after city, the people being arrested for causing trouble are outsiders. Anarchists and anti-social radicals are pouring into the urban areas to get in on the “fun.” Antifa is definitely one of the groups that has taken advantage of the situation, brazenly coordinating their attacks on social media. Even more crazy are the neatly stacked pallets of bricks strategically placed for the rioters to terrorize with. Who is delivering these pallets of bricks? Why does nobody stop them? What kind of sick bastard would facilitate the pain and loss of fellow citizens? Something really dark is at play here.
If anyone should be upset about the looting, rioting, arson, and beatings, it is the people genuinely protesting for positive change. Their message of outrage and moral clarity is being diluted, abused, and ultimately destroyed by the rioters, looters, and opportunistic radicals. The actions of the violent few once again ensures that nothing positive will come out of this. The cycle will continue.