The Attorney General of the United States said yesterday that the violence resulting from the murder of George Floyd was caused by external ‘leftist’ groups infiltrating the peaceful protests. Two things about this don’t make any sense.
First, the politicizing of this event . . it is reprehensible. It is, however, not the first unprofessional act of this once-respected lawyer-turned-syncophant.
The second is the feeling that this reaction is an over-reaction to 150 years of killings by the establishment . . police, neighborhood bigots, and administrators and the apparent absence of any real desire to improve the situation.
And, to top it off, we have our top-cop, the President, throwing gas on the fire so the American people don’t have to focus on his mishandling of the pandemic. Another politicization of a tragic situation.
I would like to close with this cheerful thought.
In Michigan, when extremist groups flooded the capital with military gear, including automatic weapons, and threatened government buildings and personnel, the police just let it happen. No problem here. No expectations of violence.
But, let some populist group object to the brazen, video-taped murder of a person . . for the umpteenth time, and after umpteenth promises to fix the situation, and the police and national guard show up in force, with automatic weapons, expecting violence.
And, we all know the role of expectations in actualizations.
I abhor the violence. It is a tragic direction. But, there is a lesson in it for all of us. Let’s just hope the ones that should be listening are listening.
Maybe, this time.