Burning Cities
Minneapolis burned last night. Even quiet Columbus Ohio felt the strain of riot and looting. I am reading the outrage of many, mostly white suburban voices: “This is not the way,” or “ Columbus, we are better than this”. And, of course, the President, with his usual idiocy, tweeted, “…but when the looting starts, the shooting starts”.
In the United States we value property. We even know that black entrepreneurs own some of the stores burned in Minneapolis. And we expect the police to arrest the arsonists and the looters. But here’s the point the outraged black communities of Minneapolis, and Columbus, and Los Angeles, and Denver, and other cities are making. The police see an arsonist or a looter, or even a CNN news crew. They see something those folks are doing, and they have “probable cause” to make an arrest. They put them in custody, right there. The cuffs go on: right or wrong, they go to jail.
Probable Cause
Most of us have sat through the excruciating last seven minutes of George Floyd’s life. We heard him plead to the police officer to take the knee from his neck. And we listened to the pleas of the spectators, to let the man breath. He died, a knee on his neck, and two other officers holding his handcuffed body down on the ground. A fourth officer stood guard to make sure no one else could intervene.
The probable cause is self-evident, just like the young man caught throwing the firebomb, or removing a television set from Target. But the officers are not under arrest. The local prosecutor is waiting for some unknown exculpatory evidence that will somehow justify what was done to George Floyd. Sure, they have been “fired” from the police force: so what. It’s just another time of being told, “Don’t believe your lying eyes”.
Why is Minneapolis burning? Why are young people in Columbus, Ohio protesting, then attacking police and property? They are recognizing their “self-evident” truth. The Target store, the AutoZone, the doors to the Ohio Statehouse, must be so much more important than the life of a black man on the street: their lives. The point is clear: the looters and vandals are jailed; the murderers of George Floyd are sitting in their homes.
Nothing New
It’s the same question that was asked in the riots of the 1960’s: in Watts, and Detroit, and Dayton. Why are people burning their own neighborhoods, why are they destroying their local stores and buildings? It’s to make the point: our majority society values that property much more than we value the lives of minorities.
I know that many of my more conservative friends struggle with the slogan, “Black Lives Matter”. They respond with alternate sayings: “Blue Lives Matter” or “All Lives Matter”. But they miss the point. We do care about “Blue Lives”, about the police officers that risk their lives daily. Even yesterday, a Columbus Police Officer was shot in the line of duty. He risked his life to protect others, and our thoughts are with him as he recovers.
And of course, we do care about “All Lives”. But, as a society, we need to be aware of the message being sent to minorities, and particularly to black men: your lives don’t matter as much, at least to many. Your life means so little, that the policeman can kneel on your neck, on the open street in the bright light of day with cameras videoing, and nothing will be done to stop him. Not even by his brother officers.
What Matters
No one protected George Floyd’s life. It didn’t matter. No one protected Ahmaud Aubrey’s life. It didn’t matter. No one protected Eric Garner’s life. It didn’t matter. How long a list do you need to see, to see that black lives don’t matter? We watched all three die, on video. How can we not believe our eyes?
But don’t burn down the Third Precinct of the Minneapolis Police Department. That matters! It’s not about protecting property. It’s about what we as a society value, and until we make it clear that our society values minority lives, then we will continue to watch devastating videos, and continue to call on the National Guard to protect property from folks demanding that they matter too.
