Civilization requires self-restraint. The terrible events in Minneapolis this week, at every juncture, have featured the polar opposite. It is past time for all of us to defend civilization and push back against lawlessness in all forms.
The first thing to say, without disclaimer or weasel words, is that George Floyd should still be alive today. There is no justification for the police officers, all four of them, who bear responsibility for having administered to him a slow, agonizing death by suffocation as he and others pleaded for his life. This looked like an execution without benefit of due process, evidence, jury, or judge. It cannot be condoned, and the officers should be investigated and prosecuted as the law prescribes, given the sort of fair trial that Floyd himself was denied.
It is, though, hard to imagine a swifter, more admirable response than the one that came from Minneapolis officials. They dismissed all four officers within a day of Floyd’s killing. Mayor Jacob Frey denounced the killing in unambiguous terms and promised a full investigation and sure justice. He called in federal authorities with dispatch. And Police Chief Medaria Arradondo apologized profusely and promised a “culture change” in his department.
While nothing can bring back George Floyd, this is how a civilized society does justice. There is no justice in riots, vandalism, looting, or arson. We live in a constitutional republic that, while imperfect, provides for just trial and punishment for those who violate the laws made through a representative legislative process. Human rights, in the aggregate, enjoy copious protections. Peaceful protest is not just allowed but encouraged.
In sum, there are plenty of legitimate ways to express revulsion at what happened to Floyd, to achieve retributive justice, and to work to fix systemic flaws. It is not legitimate, ever, to victimize other innocent people while reacting against the deadly injustice done to Floyd.
Extreme violence against Floyd does not justify extreme violence (or theft) by protesters.
Owners of small businesses were not responsible, even indirectly, for Floyd’s death, but they were hideously abused by looters. Police precinct offices were also set ablaze. There was no excuse for this, although network hosts on morning news shows attempted feebly to do so.
In response to violent riots, police have the right and duty to restore and maintain order. To do so, they should use the least force necessary to achieve that end. Still, they must achieve it. Careful, lawful use of force is justified to protect the lives and property of innocents from the ravages of a mob. There are laws that govern riot suppression, and where the law allows nonlethal force such as rubber bullets or, in desperate circumstances, tear gas, it is proper for authorities to warn that such force may be used. And, then, if necessary, to use it.
The idea of such warnings, issued in sober tones and terms, is to dissuade the violence from occurring. That, however, is not what President Trump did in his series of inflammatory tweets Thursday night. Calling Frey, who acted with such dispatch, a “very weak Radical Left Mayor,” Trump threatened to send in the “military” and, worse, warned that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
Even the most charitable interpretation of Trump’s words does not excuse him for speaking in such inflammatory terms. This is a time at which a president ought to tamp down tensions, not raise them.
Almost everywhere one looked, therefore, people overreacted in dangerous ways. The police did, the rioters did, and Trump, with his bigger megaphone, did so, too.
Rational, responsible leaders must step forward. The flames must be doused. Civilization and law must prevail.
