I watched the 1 hr press conference that was convened by
Gov. Tim Walsh at 1:30 AM last night. The mayor of Minneapolis Jacob
Frye, the Commissioner of the Department of public safety John Harrington and
the commanding office of the National Guard Maj. Gen. Jon Jensen were all
present and spoke. There was a strong unity message. I was
impressed that so far nobody has been killed despite people shooting at the
National Guard.
There was a clear message that what started out as a
protest against police brutality and killing has morphed into something else at
this point. I use the term morphed loosely
because there is no real evidence that there is continuity between protesters
and rioters.
There was evidence for example that drug cartels were
operating to secure their distribution networks and that criminal enterprises
were behind a lot of the looting and general chaos. I received an email that
large retail pharmacy networks were closed and in many cases they were looted
and prescriptions and other pharmaceuticals were stolen. There was
information that armed white supremacists were in the area and a photo of armed
men standing in front of a Target store. There is video evidence that white men wearing all black clothing and face masks are vandalizing buildings and being confronted by protesters. St. Paul has previous experience with anarchists from 2008 when they disrupted police operations at the time of a Republican National Convention.
There is probably a significant element of people who have
the general solution to "burn everything down". I encountered
them during Vietnam War protests. They were the driving force behind the
radicalism of the 1970s that led to 1900 domestic bombings in 1972 and the
single most destructive act of sabotage in American history up to that point -
the bombing of Sterling Hall on the University of Wisconsin campus.
I think it is a reminder to all of us how tenuous civil order
can be. We have all observed these behaviors in one way or another.
At the societal level, Americans are far too self-congratulatory as being
"the best" when we clearly have done a very poor job of correcting
racism and other forms of discrimination, mass shootings that are so routine
they are part of the culture, and economic inequality. Addressing all of those
dimensions lead to a preference over social order than not - and keep the
opportunists in check.
The lesson from the call to violent revolution in the 1970s
was that it eventually fell flat because nobody was interested apart from a few
of the leaders of the radical organizations at the time. They made an active
effort to expand and recruit more members to do more bombings and kill more
people. The average man and woman on the street just wasn’t interested. Life in general could be problematic but it
was clearly preferable to anarchy.
Religious and civic leaders are making broad appeals today
to their constituencies to remember the triggering event and actively work on
reforming the associated factors of police brutality, racism, and justice for
the victim and his family. But they are also reminding people to stay off the
streets and remember that these changes need to occur in the context of community
and cooperation.
At the time I am writing this, the Governor has apparently
mobilized the entire Minnesota National Guard or a total of 13,000 members. That number was just 1,000 yesterday. Given the effort and current uncertainty, I hope
that it will be possible to look at the anatomy of this riot and draw clear
markers around some of the elements involved. I am sure that will not be an easy task. But there is going to be political pressure
to blame peaceful protesters for the riots and try to detract from their cause.
That gives criminals and agitators a pass and it can also be used to emphasize
some of their own pro-chaos messages.
The righteous protest that an innocent black man was
detained using excessive force and killed by the police cannot be obscured by
the subsequent riots. Those responsible need
to be prosecuted. Peaceful law-abiding protesters are not rioters.
And this cannot happen again in the state of Minnesota or
anywhere else.
George Dawson, MD, DFAPA
Graphics Credit:
Minneapolis Riots map was apparently compiled by a number of anonymous users. I am posting it here because it is being used by some Twin Cities newspapers. There is an extensive list of businesses that have been looted. Many of them are pharmacies. See the list at this link.
Current Evidence:
1. St. Paul Mayo Melvin Carter: "Every single person arrested last night was from out of town".
2. Not the first time that protesters have attacked the Twin Cities. Here is a 2008 incident where "anarchists" attacked St. Paul and "took control" of the city for several hours: https://youtu.be/gkZvtGCh5YA
