Justice · 7:02pm Jun 5th, 2020
I do my level best to stay away from posting about current events on this site. I come here to have a mental space away from that.
I’m going to make an exception here.
Among the greatest of tragedies are those compounded by other tragedies. Among the cruelest injustices are those which are used to create mounting injustice.
George Floyd was cruelly, brutally murdered. He was tortured to death, flat out, over the course of minutes in front of a crowd begging for mercy. People are right to be furious at such evil. I know I am. People are right to demand justice. I know I do.
And for a brief moment after the tragedy, there was a chance – I looked around me and I saw, both among my friends and associates and among the general populace, a universal fury and call for justice. Black and white, young and old, conservative and liberal, police and military and civilians – I did not see a single group or demographic in this country that wasn’t calling for justice for George Floyd.
I saw hands reaching across aisles and opponents overcoming divisions and people joining together in a shared cry for honor and right in the face of evil.
I saw a chance for unity.
Then the riots started.
Then the lunatics perverted the protests.
Now, more lives have been lost, like 77-year old retired police captain David Dorn, who was murdered in cold blood while defending a store from looters. He is one of at least seventeen people who, at the time of this writing, have died in the unnecessary violence of the riots.
By the way, David Dorn was black.
People who had nothing to do with the cruel murder of George Floyd are losing their lives, homes, and livelihoods.
People from the same neighborhood as George Floyd are having their worlds destroyed.
Why?
What could that possibly do to bring justice to George?
How could anyone possibly think that honors his memory?
The family, friends, and loved ones of George Floyd are begging, pleading for the violence to stop. But, even if it were to stop right now, George Floyd’s name will still be forever tied to these acts of evil. An innocent man will forever be remembered in the context of not only his own murder, but also the evils which followed.
Even in death, George Floyd is not allowed to know peace because of these riots.
It’s sickening.
“Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the earth,” is God’s chilling condemnation in Genesis when Cain murders his brother Able.
Injustice demands justice, and we are right to seek it. But if our manner of fighting for justice is only to commit further evil, then we do not honor the victims. Instead, we spit upon their memory.
I, for one, do not want to dishonor the life of George Floyd, nor the lives of any others lost to the actions of the cruel and the wicked. I want to fight for justice – a true, lasting justice built upon the truth of universal human dignity. So this is my cry:
Justice for George.
Justice for David Dorn.
Justice for all the victims of this senseless violence.
Justice for everyone who has been marginalized, hurt, or put down by the sins of others, not just here, but anywhere in this country, anywhere in the world.
Peace, unity, and love between all members of the human family, whatever our race and creed.
We are one human family.
Let’s start acting like it.
Thank you for the excellent blog. It was actually fairly relaxing to read too (some of the others I've seen have been oddly hostile), and I'm very much in the same boat as you are with this. All these injustices have been horrid. I've seen a lot of people link to various charities and organizations in their posts. I know that there are a lot of GoFundMe campaigns set up to restore the business/homes/places that have been destroyed by those who weren't protesting. I don't know any off the top of my head, but I'm sure that anyone who reads this and wants to act financially, GoFundMe, or non-profit organizations are going to be some of the best places to start. I imagine there are also a lot of community centers and educational organizations that could use funds too, for those who have something to spare.
Well said, pone.
I too have been a victim of undignified injustices most of my life for the crimes of being poor & being disabled. As Deadpool would say,
This violence & the hatred that Humanity has for each other needs to stop & it needs to stop now.
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Thank you. It has been a comfort to me to see the outpouring of generosity on the communities and people who have been harmed through charity. I know that good people raised something like a million dollars for the former firefighter who had his bar burned down by rioters, as one example. I wish that kind of thing is what got reported heavily - the solution to this violence is love, and I want to see more people focusing on the goodness in humanity. I've seen pictures of peaceful protesters protecting a cop who got separated from his unit, cops kneeling in front of protesters, people going through areas that have been hit by looters and cleaning the places up, and so many examples of good people doing good. They are the way towards justice.
5278004 At the very least (from what I've seen, anyway), it does seem like people are getting the message and are focusing more on the peace than the looting. I have faith in the strength of human decency, and I have faith that justice will be served in due time.
"The violence of the wicked will sweep them away, because they refuse to do what is just."
If only I could put this better; this whole thing has thrown me for a loop and I haven't had my afternoon tea either.
Well said.
5278052
Well come on, buddy, you've got to have your afternoon tea.
In all seriousness, though, I think you are right - the violence of the wicked will sweep them away. The proverb "you reap what you sow" exists for a reason. "An eye for an eye, making the whole world blind," said Gandhi.
5278097 Thank you.
Proverbs has been my daily reading this week, and each one I've read has felt like a hammer blow. Couple thousand years on and it's still so accurate... makes me feel bad for lapsing as often as I do.
My thoughts on this are different, but we agree this is a terrible tragedy and that there is a need for justice and massive, institutional reform. So the important stuff we're on the same page.
My thoughts on this are largely informed by a piece by Trevor Noah. Who, remember, lived through apartheid and saw it fall. And while he said it more eloquently, his point was this. Riots like this don't happen simply because people are angry. They happen because they have tried protesting the right way for years and found that there is no right way. They'll be condemned and lose their careers for kneeling during the national anthem. Obstructing traffic is taking things too far. Anything that makes their protests visible and effective will be denounced, because many people would prefer to simply be able to ignore it. Being made aware of problems and calls for change are uncomfortable, and if they don't need to effect you it's tempting to look away.
Further they've seen, time and again, over years of protests 'the right way', that the police can murder black men with no consequences. With barely a slap on the wrist. And they look around the world, and see that it doesn't have to be this way. Germany had eight people killed by police last year, the US had what, eight hundred? They have seen how the police close ranks to defend themselves against any kind of supervision or accountability. They see, every day, that they live in a society which treats them as criminals, doesn't value their lives, and will not hold the powerful to account.
There comes a point where people decide that the only thing they have to gain from society is complicity in their own oppression.
We've seen the riots... but it turns out it doesn't have to be this way in the United States either. In many cities throughout the country protests are peaceful. And it's not because the people who live there are simply more moral. And a lot of it has to do with the police there, but not the way you'd think. It's places where there has already been reform, where police are trained in deescalation and the community know they have a voice. It's places where peaceful protests aren't attacked, or sabotaged from within by agent provocateurs. It's places where the fascist counterprotesters aren't discretely told to clear out before the tear gas comes out. All these things have happened over the past week, and more. Protests are often not allowed to be nonviolent. It's a dirty trick going back to the Pinkerton's tactics against unions.
The deaths and the damage to a property are a tragedy. And what's worse, they're an avoidable tragedy. The so called 'militarization' of our police force is a big part of that... and an insult to the military. The military understands rules of engagement and minimum force. I have actually been very proud of the stand the army leadership has taken, that despite any illegal orders they may receive from the president they will not allow themselves to be deployed against our citizens. But the siege mentality, the culture of no accountability, the endemic racism in many police departments has to go. And it can be done, has been done... but it won't happen unless people in power can both listen and call the police to account.
Martin Luther King said that riots are the voice of the voiceless. And I think that's true. At the last escalating to the point where you can't be ignored. It's a tragedy that it's come to this and I truly hope we find peace as soon as can be. But I don't blame them. It's not fair to demand that oppressed people be saints, and I'm not willing to demand that they endure in silent, heroic stoicism until they can receive help on my terms.
Very well spoken my friend.
5278102
Another passage I've always taken comfort in is "To everything there is a season." There is nothing new under heaven. Good times are followed by bad times are followed by good times. There is no present evil that has not been faced and overcome in years past. We may never have a perfect world this side of Eternity, but we can have a better one, and there is no evil that can't be defeated. Such is my comfort.
Thank you for your deeply inspiring post @antiquarian. #BlackLivesMatter
5278168
"There is no new thing under the Sun" has long been a favorite Old Testament quote of mine, though usually for the reason that it means the quest for true originality is a fool's errand when you can still tell a good story even if all stories are remixed culture in some way or another. But now it's comforting for another reason.
Thanks for helping remind me of the good in the world, too, and for reaffirming that I'm not wrong to look on violence with horror. That murder for shock value is still murder, but that the original message of the protests isn't invalid just because some people chose to pervert it.
I'd try to be more eloquent, but I'm running on too little sleep. In short: Thanks for the post, and keep doing good and doing well.
PREACH, brother. Righteous outrage can and should be channeled constructively. It is most unfortunate that our brains prioritize emotion over logic in such circumstances.
Amen brother.
Know that most of the violence is artificial, bought and paid for rent a mobs by powerful people with I'll intent.
As Ven. Fulton Sheen said,
From the excess of man's heart comes everything we see in the world. If his heart was filled with virtue and love of God and neighbor, then we would have peace. But if filled with sin and hatred for God, then we will have chaos.
This is the cause of all war and violence.
There will be no peace though until men have peace in their hearts, peace with God.
For some, it’s not about justice, but loot. IIRC, for Minneapolis at least, protesters were peaceful for several days. Then people from out of town and out of state started coming in. They, or at least some of them, weren’t there for justice. Just like some shitty people stormed statehouses with assault-style weapons and all their other toys to protest orders stay at home and wear masks in public, there are shitty people who came to loot.
That being said, riots are the language of the unheard. Businesses large and small are the innocent bystanders hurt by not only further police brutality in tear gas and rubber bullets (which were not used on armed protesters protesting far pettier things) on peaceful protests of police brutality, but also a lack of response, a lack of accountability, and most importantly a lack of change or a visible want to and movement toward change. It’s a tragedy, and worst of all, an avoidable one. But it is not an unforeseen one.
5278117
Thank you. This is far more eloquent than I could’ve managed, and largely reflects my thoughts.
Vow, way to miss a point. From beginning, protest are not about Floyd and Chauvin (this last name couldn't be less ironic), they are about system that allows thousands of Chauvins kill, torture and incarcerate thousands of Floyds every damn year. If you think about this situation in terms of individual tragedy ('bad apple' since you seem to love feel good political cliches), but not systematic issue, you are tyranny enabler. David Dorn's death on the other hand is an individual tragedy amidst troubling times.
There was no cliched reach across aisles in anything but generic platitudes and if you didn't see that - you are blind. Willingly blind. The "other side" over years apologized every murder by cops that they could by any ridiculous stretch. There is no two sides of dialogue, there is two positions. Murderer was charged only after days of protests, it took even more days of civilian resistance to make those in power to arrest his colleagues, who stood there and did nothing to stop murder that lasted for nine minutes despite Floyd and bystanders begging them to stop. By the way, this choke-hold is perfectly legal for police to use in Minnesota and some other states, despite it being potentially lethal when applied to back, let alone neck. Family had to request independent autopsy to confirm asphyxia, because state coroner tried to imply, that apparently George Floyd just happened to die under cop's knee from unrelated preexisting condition.
And this sh*t happens over and over again, people just tired because every time this happens nothing changes. You don't make politicians see your interest by being nice, its their lobby donors gimmick. Derek Chauvin had previous 18 complaints including unreasonable use of violence, none of that stick, because investigation of police misbehavior is usually done by either the very department that is suspected in it or DA, who depends on police cooperation, so is usually buddy with them. There is no penalties for cops for turning off body cams. If cops ever get in trouble, they just get fired and move to another department, there is even a term for those - 'gypsy cops'. Their records are wiped regularly and there is no national database of police misconduct. They undergo bizarre "Warrior" indoctrination-like training where they are essentially conditioned to escalate confrontations. Shooting running person in the back is perfectly legal for them. Qualified immunity guarantees that you have no chance to win court case against police for any grievance if there is no precedent of this particular abuse of power. Without any court order they can confiscate your property, including money, if they suspect that it can potentially be used instrumentally in crime. It called civil forfeiture, and under BS legal trick according to which it is property, not you, who is charged with criminal intent, inanimate object or sum of money is under trial, so it is extremely hard to win this case, and all proceedings from confiscated property go to police department that confiscated them. They can gas people who execute their constitutional rights, with substance that is banned from warfare so that discount Mussolini can get photo op with upside down Bible. They send agent provocateurs everywhere they can.
I can go on and on, with list of things why system is f*cked up and politicians of both establishment parties are not going to change sh*t if they are not bullied into it. People tried for decades to change this peacefully. It didn't work. You are of the fence-sitting bunch, whose attempts to present to sides of conflict as to side of potential dialogue with positions equally deserving consideration only enables evil. Neutrality is solidarity with oppressor, not with oppressed.
5278117
At least someone else called it out.
5278670
5278117
Thank you both for your polite responses. I think we don't disagree as much in intent as in terms - MLK's riots are the sort of riots I'd adamantly support, just as much of what Gandhi did was called 'rioting' when it was a legitimate and necessary protest. I use 'riots' in this context to differentiate between the peaceful protests I support (i.e. MLK-style rioting) and the violent hijackings of those protests that has occurred. Perhaps that's not the best term I could have used, because language is always complex in its connotations, but I wasn't sure how else to phrase it. If it's wrong, I apologize, but I'm grateful that you both seem to know what my intent was.
I'm sure if we were to get into a lengthy conversation about this (which the comments section really isn't suited for), we'd find different points where we agreed and disagreed, but that's not a bad thing in itself - such things are an opportunity for us to understand perspectives other than our own. I tried to make this post as neutral as possible and, while it apparently wasn't as neutral as I thought, I still welcome the chance to hear the reasoning of other positions that differ from mine in the particulars, even though the ultimate intent (peace and justice) is still the same.
Hopefully this response is coherent (I am rather tired), but if you take nothing else from it, thank you for your polite response and I'm glad to find common ground.
🙏
5279702
It’s quite coherent, and we absolutely do have a lot of common ground and we’ve got the same goal. That’s well worth remembering. Thanks in turn for your thoughtful response.
edit: I think, on reflection, the biggest difference in our takes is that I see all of this as the culmination of tension that has been building for years and frustration at the apparent lack of change despite ongoing public outcry. And I also take this as a symptom of a deep systemic problem rather than an individual deplorable incident.
5279702
Thank you for your polite response, though really anything else from you would be unexpected. The issue I took was mainly the implication that the looting/rioting ruined the possibility of people on both sides of the aisle unifying. While they certainly undermined it, IMO if you’re going to focus on a minority of shitty opportunistic people and use that to criticize peaceful protests, then you’re not really with us and we’re just doing it to look good anyway. (Not you you but in general you. I’m not trying to imply you were insincere. I was referring to some individuals and groups of people focusing almost exclusively on riots and entirely ignoring further instances of police brutality and dozens of entirely peaceful protests.) Additionally, while I haven’t been keeping a close eye on protests, I do know there have been multiple instances where protesters did their best to protect small businesses and officers who’d become isolated, and thought those merited mention as well.
As for the rioting, while I don’t support it, some forms of rioting I understand. The 1968 and 1992 riots were understandable in that they were people expressing tremendous anger and hurt and rage. It was a very destructive way to do so, but one of the five stages of grief are anger, and 1968 in particular I can understand feeling the notion that the consequences of your actions don’t matter anymore, because nothing matters anymore. Back to the present, I’m not sure how much rioting is more along those lines, or because police responded to peaceful protests over police brutality with police brutality (which at that point my attitude is that if there are then more rowdy or violent protests you brought that onto yourself and it’s not unreasonable, because those people tried things the “right” way and you meet them with rubber bullets and tear gas, why should they be peaceful), and how much is it shitty people being opportunistic or inciting violence, so I’m not sure how vigorously I should condemn it.
5279851
Again, thank you. You know, our opinions might be closer than you think: I do think that there are systems that allow racism to thrive; at the same time, I don't think it's correct to call the entire system or all systems equally broken. And perhaps you don't think that either, which is part of the challenge with terminology - depending on how one word is used, if someone asks me "do you believe X is the root cause," my answer is "it depends what you mean by X." This is why I like to love seeing people drill down to what they actually believe (as you were kind enough to do), because assumptions are such an easy trap. Once people define their terms, they often find they have more in common than not, even if connotation makes it initially unclear.
5279889
Yeah, in hindsight I wish I'd made it a little clearer in my initial post that good people are still trying to cooperate and sort things out. As I mentioned in a comment to someone else on this thread, I love seeing those pictures of protesters protecting businesses, protesters protecting cops who got separated, cops giving water to protesters, cops marching with protesters, and so on. This is what I wish our media focused on and promoted as the golden standard. Perhaps I should have included some of that in the original post, but I didn't want it to be too long.
5279898
Yeah I do agree, different places have different police cultures and we’ve seen some handling things FAR better than others. But where it’s bad it can be very bad. Responding to protests against police brutality with further brutality.
That’s where both following this and reporting on it gets difficult really. It’s not a single thing, it’s hundreds of situations in hundreds of places.
5279927
Amen. The picture's always bigger than what it first appears to be.