You wouldn’t know it from media coverage, but Attorney General William Barr struck the right tone before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. Barr acknowledged that concerns of black Americans about treatment by law enforcement had a legitimate basis while stating unequivocally that armed mobs that have deviated far from the original stated purpose of peaceful protests have no place in our cities.
In his opening statement, Barr acknowledged that “given our history, it is understandable that, among black Americans, there is at least some ambivalence, and often distrust, toward the police. Until just the last 50 years or so, our laws and institutions were explicitly discriminatory.”
Barr went on to explain that while the number of unarmed black men killed by police is low relative to the number of police interactions each year, “every instance of excessive force is unacceptable and must be addressed…”
Additionally, he acknowledged that it isn’t as if events such as George Floyd’s death were the only issue. “Apart from their numbers, I think these events strike a deep chord in the black community because they are perceived as manifestation of the deeper, lingering concern that, in encounters with police, blacks will not be treated evenhandedly; they will not be given the benefit of the doubt; they will be treated with greater suspicion than a white person would be in the same circumstances.” He noted, among other examples, that Sen. Tim Scott has recounted how many times he has been unjustifiably pulled over around Capitol Hill. “I think these concerns are legitimate,” Barr said.
Unfortunately, Barr explained, these very real concerns are being used as an excuse by bad actors to make blanket denunciations of police — even leading to the absurd “defund the police” movement, which ultimately hurts high-crime minority neighborhoods more than anywhere else. As various municipal governments rein in their police forces, this is already resulting in unacceptable spikes in crime in major U.S. cities.
In addition to the spike in regular crime, cities are seeing a more dramatic breakdown in the rule of law. In addition to temporarily taking over a neighborhood of Seattle, violent demonstrators have carried out a perpetual nightly assault on a federal courthouse in Portland, armed with sledgehammers, saws, knives, and explosive devices.
“What unfolds nightly around the courthouse cannot reasonably be called a protest; it is, by any objective measure, an assault on the government of the United States,” Barr stated. “In recent nights, rioters have barricaded the front door of the courthouse, pried plywood off the windows with crowbars, and thrown commercial-grade fireworks into the building in an apparent attempt to burn it down with federal personnel inside. The rioters have started fires outside the building and then systematically attacked federal law enforcement officers who attempt to put them out — for example, by pelting the officers with rocks, frozen water bottles, cans of food, and balloons filled with fecal matter.”
Barr rightfully noted that despite attempts by the media and Democrats to blame the federal government for instigating what has been happening, the demonstrators are actually breaking federal law.
“To tacitly condone destruction and anarchy is to abandon the basic rule-of-law principles that should unite us even in a politically divisive time,” Barr pleaded. “At the very least, we should all be able to agree that there is no place in this country for armed mobs that seek to establish autonomous zones beyond government control, or tear down statues and monuments that law-abiding communities chose to erect, or to destroy the property and livelihoods of innocent business owners.”
Indeed, we should be all able to agree on such basic principles of a free and civilized society. Unfortunately, in the current environment, it has become important to restate the obvious — that violent mobs shouldn’t be allowed to take over sections of U.S. cities without consequence. The attorney general on Tuesday made the case well.
