Without in any way condoning violent demonstrations and the destruction of private property, I like most, will defend the right to civil and peaceful protest by any group that seeks to redress discrimination and injustice. Law enforcement intervention is warranted in the occurring disturbances in SC. That being said, I also see the willingness of the dominant group (whites) to view black protestors as offensive and insulting and worthy of a far right, lock them up solutions. I also see that this law and order, get tough attitude is not universally applied specifically when the shoe is on the other foot. IMO this betrays a seed of racism latent in all of us. Perhaps the ravaging opioids epidemic running rampant in the white suburban communities may help illustrate my point. Since this dreadful calamity is happening in suburbia drug users are generally not treated as criminals arrested and locked up. These white folks are treated as victims’ worthy of medical treatment for their "substance abuse." There is no narrative that lays the blame on the lack of parental skills, broken homes, laziness, or any other moral condemnation. You find lawmakers tripping over each other to set aside their austerity mantra in other to fund drug treatments centers. Ask yourself why? Please don’t misunderstand, is the right thing to do, but completely discriminatory when only applicable to the dominant group.
Contrast the reaction to the drug epidemic in the suburbs to the actual treatment of the drug epidemic in mostly black and poor communities. Users are deemed criminals that deserved what they get for messing with illegal substances. Send in the cops, lock them up and shoot to kill if necessary; or not. The result, there are more incarcerated black men today than slaves during the slavery period. Some states spend more in incarceration than in education. One addict is white, a victim, worthy of medical treatment and society’s compassion and empathy. The other is black, a worthless criminal, deserving of the full wrath of the justice system. Could you see the disparity? Our black brothers and sisters do.
**In the news today, a right winger law professor encouraged drivers to “mowed down” protestors blocking the highway. Think about this suggestion for a moment. This would be an act of terrorism akin to the massacre in Nice, France. Shoot them up, mowed them down, the end result is the same.
It seems that the spirit of Chief Justice Taney is alive and well today as when he declared black men “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”