A word to the looters - those who burned buildings, destroyed things and tried to hurt people - whoever you are:
You’re not helping the family of George Floyd. You’re not helping black people. You’re not helping ensure justice. You’re victimizing other people yourselves.
You’re not helping the family of George Floyd. You’re not helping black people. You’re not helping ensure justice. You’re victimizing other people yourselves.
You’re not Civil Rights Activists, Freedom Fighters or whatever the hell else you might want to call yourself. Thank God that the true Civil Rights workers from decades ago were smart enough to not act like you. We’d still be living under Jim Crow.
Those things ended not because people got mad and burned things up. They ended because people strategized and came up with peaceful protests and economic boycotts. And when violence occurred during protests, they were not the perpetrators. They maintained the moral high ground.
Those of you who burned up Minneapolis haven’t brought attention to the killing of George Floyd. You’ve diverted attention from it. People aren’t talking about what happened to him this morning. They’re talking about what you did last night. But that’s what you wanted. Attention.
In the 60’s we had the nonviolent Civil Rights movement. What did it accomplish? It ended a century of Jim Crow segregation. It changed American culture so that not even most racists want to be called a racist. And they didn’t burn anything to accomplish that.
We also has the rioters. People who responded to the conditions in which they were living by burning, looting and trashing everything. And what was the result of that? Areas that weren’t rebuilt for decades if ever. Businesses and jobs that moved out forever. Lasting depression.
It’s not about not being angry. What happened to George Floyd makes every decent person angry. But don’t act on your anger that sets back everything that you SAY that you care about. The Floyd family. Racism. Inequality. This stuff makes all of this worse, not better.
* had (typo)
