@UserAccount
The protests I have participated in have been very much like the Philando Castile protests. People peacefully walking in support of our community and in support of the families and our neighbors and friends. Lots of crying and prayers and even police officers walking along side of us.
I’ve seen some videos of people showing up during peaceful protests wearing what appear to be very high-end gas masks and breaking windows then walking quickly away, acts which were immediately followed by police in riot gear hurling tear gas and arresting news crews who filmed them.
And I’ve seen people taking advantage of the resulting riots breaking into stores and grabbing whatever they can grab. I have some parishioners who have confessed to grabbing some things - most of them have been unemployed since the lockdowns, so sometimes people are stealing because they simply are unable to feed their families, sometimes because they see an opportunity to enrich themselves, or to act out.
As you might expect, it’s complex.
It’s all very reminiscent of
1968. The
world-wide escalation of protests and
police beating up news crews for having the temerity to do their jobs.
A new pandemic killing a million people worldwide.
A tightly contested presidential election that resulted in a president who
was closely tied to illegal actions.
Yeah, this is all very familiar.
Are the protests good? Yes - I think they are very needed. People are getting to express their grief and anger in a peaceful way, and our elected officials are getting to see that this is important and must be dealt with.
But they are also bad. Not least of which because it’s going to result in a lot more spread of the pandemic, and also because people are being hurt, and also because everything is becoming more violent and a peaceful resolution seems more and more distant.
Just like 1968.
