There is nothing restraining the people who destroyed property, looted, attacked federal and local law enforcement and even built autonomous zones from doing it all again.
In fact, unless those activities have fallen out of favor — supplanted by some new cultural recreation, the mostly-young people involved have both implicitly and explicitly been encouraged to take it up a notch.
And why wouldn’t they?
There have been almost no legal ramifications for looters and rioters. In fact, their actions have been sanctioned by elected officials.
Last summer, Kamala Harris, tweeted out support for the Minnesota Freedom Fund, a bail fund, in Minneapolis. At least a dozen Biden campaign staffers donated to the MFF.
As the Washington Post reported at the time, the fund sprang some serious criminals.
One defendant, Jaleel Stallings, was charged with attempted murder after allegedly shooting at police during protests on May 30, county records show. MFF paid $75,000 in cash to get Stallings out of jail, according to MFF interim director Greg Lewin. He said Stallings was among a dozen people MFF helped with direct bail actions after the protests.
Famously, Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley made it clear that it was everyone’s responsibility to mobilize, declaring, “There needs to be unrest in the streets for as long as there’s unrest in our lives.”
The coffers of Black Lives Matter were engorged in 2020 to the tune of $90 million. The donors are not listed but BLM reported that individual donations were more than $30 million.
BLM is just one of the money-raising initiatives in the vast swath of social justice outfits to have raked in millions of dollars in the name of the great racial reckoning of 2020.
Yes, some of that dough comes from woke, upper class suburbanites who were thrilled to PayPal their way into social nobility, and remotely binge watch the carnage happening in major cities without fear of their own neighborhoods suffering a similar fate.
And they were in good company.
Professional sports teams and leagues, the entertainment industry, the news media, corporate America and many public health officials all praised the unrest in the streets as not only commendable but necessary.
Some may suggest that peaceful protests are being conflated with violent protests but the two went hand in hand in many large urban areas in 2020. Generally the demonstrations began peacefully but devolved as the night went on.
Media did all it could to cover for the bad elements by declaring acts of violence, mayhem, looting and arson as “mostly peaceful.”
In fact, even the more violent and destructive elements of the movement were endorsed, sometimes explicitly, in culture and media. The MLK quote that “riots are the language of the unheard” was repeated ad nauseum.
NPR interviewed author Vicky Osterweil on her new book In Defense of Looting, which makes the case that the tactic is sometimes justified because it “questions the justice of ‘law and order,’ and the distribution of property and wealth in an unequal society.”
Careers were ruined and accusations of racism were hurled at those who expressed hesitation about the wisdom and appropriateness of not just the peaceful protests, but everything that came with them.
Later in the year, when some wondered if the protests, riots, and extremist calls to abolish police had hurt Democrats in Congressional races, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes tweeted that “the whole point of protesting is to make ppl uncomfortable.”
Back in June, Kamala Harris had told Stephen Colbert that “this is a movement, “ and the protests are “not gonna stop before Election Day in November, and they're not gonna stop after Election Day."
"They're not going to let up — and they should not. And we should not," she continued.
Although some politicians and media members eventually called out the violence in the streets, especially as the election neared, the damage had been done and the spirit of the demonstrations blessed by national influencers.
For many young people involved in the violent civil unrest in 2020 there has been no incentive to avoid repeating the action. It has been codified in our culture as a historic positive in the move towards racial progress in our country.
Looters were defended, Antifa positioned as being legitimate “anti-fascists” and the entire destructive coalition has been recast as heroes of the movement.
In sanctioning and rewarding such behavior we have encouraged and endorsed a 2021 sequel.
With the Derek Chauvin trial in full swing, the table has been set. If he is found guilty that is adequate reason to take to the streets and reaffirm that the proceedings are undeniable proof of racial oppression.
If he is acquitted of all or some charges, the resulting eruption of outrage could be massive. Around the country, policing has been “re-imagined” and crime rates are already through the roof.
The prospects for wanton death and destruction are real.
Some feel that the overall temperature of the country has subsided since Trump, the primary accelerant, is off the scene. But the Biden-Harris administration is powerless to be a bulwark against the civil unrest as it has fully adopted the tenants of the social justice movement from A to Z. All who talk the talk are expected to walk the walk.
Also, racially charged rhetoric has been pouring out of the White House since the inauguration. Just this week, on ESPN, Biden said of new voting laws, “This is Jim Crow on steroids, what they’re doing in Georgia and 40 other states.”
They’re making it hotter at this volatile moment in time.
Can Covid restrictions be used to contain crowds? Good luck. If they weren’t last year they certainly won’t be this year.
The truth is, so many progressive forces gained so much power and influence last year that they are emboldened to repeat and expand it. If the President and Vice President were to plead for temperance, their own legacies on criminal justice reform make them easy marks for the mob.
The left set the table for disaster. Let’s hope against hope that there is no appetite for it in the streets.
Unrest in the Streets
I wish the PAC that all the BLM donations are redirected to was reported on more. Possibly the largest scam of our generation. That organization & this administration has done nothing for “black lives.” Simply generates millions for democratic candidate’s across the country. Joke.