This Saturday after the rain let up, there was a gathering of people in support of the local police in Seattle’s Green Lake Park. It wasn’t a particularly large gathering, and the most noticeable thing about it was the “blue” American flags and the singing of “God Bless America,” a song written by Irving Berlin that conveniently leaves out any mention of American “ideals” as reasons why “God” should “bless” America. As usual with these type of rallies, this was an all-white affair who with no indication they understood what the issues of the day were, and yet were still expecting to find “common ground” with counter-protesters on their terms.
Fat chance of that. The “counter-protesters” showed-up, just not the ones they were expecting to see; the “peaceful” protesters were not going to waste their time discussing police abuse with these hardheads. Nope, it was another group of hardheads, those black-clad guys, who showed up in force with those black umbrellas that are supposed to be a defense against pepper spray and tear gas. They don’t belong to the so-called Antifa movement, but the “black bloc” anarchist movement that was mostly a European protest movement that found its way to Seattle during the anti-WTO riots in 1999.
The black bloc people were not in a “common ground” kind of mood, because there was none to be had. Eventually everyone just went home because the bike cops were just watching and the “back the blue” people were out-numbered and out-shouted, so there was no point of hanging around. The local news coverage seemed to sympathize with the “back the blue” people because they were “peaceful,” but it was pretty plain that they were Trump supporters with all those flags around and that hypocritical “God Bless America” stuff, and there is no “common ground” to be had with those people anyways, because they just don’t “get it.” On the other side, at least we can be “glad” that the black bloc guys didn’t immediately engage in another round of property destruction after having accomplished their mission.
But I have to ask myself: “What have all these anti-police “protests” by mostly white people in cities like Seattle and Portland accomplished in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, save providing fodder for news coverage of their graffiti-spraying, window-busting, fire-starting and property destruction mayhem? Black folks can do that all by themselves, except that unlike these white folks they eventually get tired of it and go home, because nothing ever really changes. In these cities with majority white populations, they just don’t seem to have anything else to do. You can’t really change police behavior; what you have to do is demand that the “bad apple” be punished, or at the very least take his badge and gun away forever.
These white folks are like game show contestants given an all or nothing choice; they’ve won $10,000 that they can take home with them, or bet it all on another spin or the “secret prize” in one of the boxes. Nine out of ten times it is a loser. But in these “protests” gone awry are they really the “losers”? No, the people who are the victims of police violence are the losers, because all people see on televisions news are these nut-jobs running around busting and burning things up, and the “point” of it all is completely lost. They might say this is to “wake people up” and to force reforms being made, but as we are seeing in Minneapolis, the city council isn’t talking about “defunding” the police anymore, because these “protesters” keep demonstrating the need for police on the streets.
Now we are learning about another far-right counter-insurgent who was shot in Denver by a white “protester.” Why do we need to make these people “martyrs” that Donald Trump and William Barr can use for political fodder and fear-mongering, and make it so easy to people to “forget” what the point of all of this is? Why can’t protesters just stay “peaceful” and prove by their own actions who the real “thugs” are?
An editorial in the Detroit News last May demonstrates that no lessons have been learned since then:
Check out the photographs and videos from the violence that rocked Detroit and other American cities over the weekend in response to the alleged killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. What you see is a large contingent of young whites fueling the mayhem, helping turn what started as angry but peaceful protests into riots marked by arson and looting. Detroit Police Chief James Craig reported most of the people arrested Friday night were from "outside the city," code for suburbanites. Of course, they could be among the great number of young whites who live in the city but use their parents' suburban addresses to avoid paying city taxes and higher insurance rates.
Either way, they aren't helping the city, or black residents who deal daily with racial injustice. They can confront police in the street, but they have no idea what it's like as a black person to be face-to-face with a racist cop. Rather, they are fueling a false narrative of violent blacks destroying their own communities. Those weren't African Americans cleaning out stores in Portland before setting them on fire. They were white punks wearing the attire of the anarchist Antifa movement. In Minneapolis, officials say most of those arrested were from out of state.
Certainly, there were many African Americans among those who became violent in Detroit and elsewhere. But their numbers were swelled by whites trying to prove who knows what. And yet when President Donald Trump and others rail against "thugs" in the streets, the stereotypical image is of black males. Certainly, the cause of racial justice is one all races should embrace and visibly support. But engaging in violence that will inevitably be blamed on African Americans is not the way to do it.
Perhaps it can be said that people who have a deep antipathy for anything Trump will look for any reason to act out on their grievances, and the BLM movement is just a cover story for them. It is also being used by anti-government types from both the right and left to act out on their anarchic tendencies. Trump himself has used the “anarchy” to rationalize his unsubtle support for far-right hate groups like the “Proud Boys” and “Patriot Prayer,” who are supposed show us what “real Americans” look and act like in the face of “danger,” instead of just what your typical Trump supporter looks and acts like on a normal day. It is said that people will go home once Trump is defeated in his re-election bid, which isn’t completely certain even at this late date. What is certain is that ultimately it is white people who are responsible for the end result, one way or the other.
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