“That’s not a protest. That is not a statement. That people, a handful of people, take advantage of the situation for their own ends – and they need to be treated as criminals, “said the commander in chief …” … a number of criminals and thugs tore up the place. “
The president, of course, is Barack Obama, speaking of the riots that followed the protest over the 2015 death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore. The difference is that Obama faces a small reaction from the liberal media as Donald Trump did because he tweeted the same word to describe the looters: Thugs.
Both presidents are right. A thug is not black or white, a thug is a person who takes the anger of righteous people for injustice like George Floyd and burns an affordable housing complex. A thug is someone who uses protest to rob a Scores Sports Bar in Minneapolis, which is owned by a black firefighter, KB Balla, who pours every penny he has into the business.
A thug is someone who destroys a city, which led Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to plead, “What I saw happening on the streets in Atlanta is not Atlanta. This is not a protest. This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. “
A thug is someone who just wants to see him burn, as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said yesterday. “The situation in Minneapolis is not about the murder of George Floyd, it’s about attacking civil society, instilling fear, and disturbing our big cities. When you see this widespread throughout the United States, and you begin to see whether it is domestic terrorism, whether it is ideological extremists to fan groups, or whether it is international destabilization of the workings of our country. “
The way our country works. Slowly, sometimes frustrating. It is a measure of justice that Derek Chauvin, a police officer who had knelt on George Floyd’s neck for eight minutes, had been arrested and charged with third-degree murder. His fellow officers will also face charges. We hope to live on a day where men like George Floyd and Freddie Gray don’t die at first.
The American project continues, and the country is grappling with racism and justice every day. There will be protests to make things better, as they should, and we believe that in us as a nation to be better. We have to get better. And we cannot let the criminals frustrate that.
