While the news cycle has left them behind, cities such as Portland and Minneapolis are still picking up the pieces from their summer of violence. Given the direction they are taking, they may be picking them up for a long time.
Democratic leadership in the state of Minnesota and the city of Minneapolis stood by and watched as violence consumed the city. The estimated damages in the city topped $500 million, and crime has risen throughout the city. Assaults and property crimes have risen, and homicides have nearly doubled. According to the Star Tribune, minority communities have been the hardest hit. What was the ingenious solution thought up by the Minneapolis City Council? Dismantling the police department.
While the Minneapolis police abolition plan has been put on hold, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler is now trailing in the polls for reelection. One would hope that this was the result of residents punishing Wheeler for his refusal to maintain order, but in this race, Wheeler is actually the law and order candidate.
Wheeler’s opponent is Sarah Iannarone, who has described herself as “I am Antifa.” Wheeler now warns that ending violence is the main issue in downtown Portland, but this summer he refused to step in during the city’s 100-plus days of riots and deadly “autonomous zones.” Portland businesses are now boarded up, and the city’s crime rate has increased dramatically.
Businesses have fled both Portland and Minneapolis, recognizing the direction that both cities have chosen. Ferguson, Missouri, has still not recovered from the riots that broke out there in 2014 over the death of Michael Brown. The media and the movement that pushed lies about Brown’s encounter with police, in which the officer fired on him in self-defense, abandoned the city after the fires fizzled out, leaving the city on its own and in ruins.
Portland and Minneapolis have embraced this future, cleaning up after riots that should never have been allowed to rage on. These cities deserve no sympathy for their decisions, nor do they deserve any federal assistance in their rebuilding efforts. One day, they may realize their mistakes. Until then, they can only serve as a reminder to other cities what lawless riots will lead them to.
