Some people used the George Floyd protests as cover to endanger lives and destroy property.
They are being prosecuted and sentenced to prison.
The Capitol rioters should get equal treatment.
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| KSTP-5, St. Paul, MN |
A federal judge sentenced a Minnesota man who participated in arson at a police station in Minneapolis to three years and ordered him to pay $12 million in restitution. He was one of several hundred people at the police station where a fire was burning. He pushed a barrel into a pile of burning debris, "literally adding fuel to the fire" as the prosecutor noted. He also stole a vest, riot helmet, police radio and other police gear. He was arrested five days later wearing the vest.
Both men were prosecuted for arson. Their crimes were part of a bigger story of public protest. Each were using protests as an excuse for criminal activity. They attacked the civic order. The prosecutions and sentences restore that order by making a public statement of disapproval and punishment. Are three-year and nine-year sentences enough? Too much? People will disagree, but three and nine years of imprisonment make a statement that the public takes this seriously. It is not hijinks, and it can be distinguished from peaceful protest.
They also stole something fragile and priceless from the BLM movement, but there is no way to restore that. They hijacked the protests that gave them cover, turning the public meaning of those from disapproval of the slow police killing of George Floyd into a story of street violence. Their criminal activity shaped public opinion and therefore public policy.
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| CNN |
The January 6 "Stop the Steal" rally had a disruptive theme from its very origin. Trump and the rally organizers intended it to demonstrate the will of an aroused citizenry, so that Congress or the Vice President would ignore the votes in a sufficient number of states to overturn an election. The rally was legal, even if disreputable. Americans allow people freedom of speech and peaceable assembly, even if the speech and assembly is to overthrow an election.
Like the Minneapolis arsonists, many of the Capitol rioters were joyful and bragged about their actions. The protests gave cover; it was part and parcel of some good purpose. Like the arsonists, they abridged civic order. The Capitol rioters changed from legal to illegal when they left the rally and went past the barriers. Their crimes escalated when they attacked police, broke windows, stole police gear, and vandalized the Capitol building.
If Capitol rioters served serious time in prison--similar to the Minneapolis sentences--they would send a message to future potential insurrections. Whether they be Trump supporters overthrowing an election, Antifa supporters in black clothes, White nationalists demanding an end to immigration, Muslim terrorists hoping to install a caliphate, supporters or opponents of abortion, or an aroused movement of soccer moms, the message is clear. If they break into public buildings and damage them, or set fires in stores, the crimes will be investigated, prosecuted, and on conviction people will serve serious prison time.
The rioters did more than damage public property. They threatened our safety. They showed contempt to the civic order. They threatened our republic. The prison sentences are not there to stifle public protest. The sentences are there to protect it. There is a difference between peaceful protest and riots.
4 comments:
Not to put too fine a point on it, I'd mention that the BLM vandals were not directly associated with the protests, and completely disavowed by the movement. The BLM protests are non-violent in the tradition of civil rights activism, and you are right in that the arsonists and looters sabotaged the purpose.
The Jan 6th rioters were intent on causing harm, to "stop the steal", completely unjustified and I would argue irrational, based on a lie that now has become a national security threat. Those who perpetrate the lies should be held accountable as well. The BLM crimes were the actions of individuals, while the Capital insurrection was incited by political leaders in the Republican party.
So far the guilty pleas are for trespassing and minor offenses. The more serious crimes have yet to be adjudicated, and should bring harsher penalties, otherwise black/white justice will come into question.
As long as we have a major political party led by the perpetrator of an attempted coup, you can be sure those responsible won't be held accountable.
"The Capitol rioters should get equal treatment".
Agreed. They are being treated far more harshly per capita than the Floyd rioters, or the Michael Brown rioters in Ferguson. The vast majority of Capitol rioters are being charged and then sentenced heftily, often for comparatively minor crimes. The vast majority of Floyd/BLM/Antifa rioters nationwide are not being charged, often for serious, violent crimes, occurring at hundreds of times the volume compared with January 6.
"Some people used the George Floyd protests as cover to endanger lives and destroy property".
Respectfully, this should read, "...as justification to endanger lives and destroy property". Mr. Millward is incorrect. The Floyd riots in their worst criminal excesses were openly supported and justified as "reparations" via "insured anyway" properties, and against "ACAB" targets, by many local BLM leaders in news interviews, and also by national allies. The NYT's Nikole Hannah-Jones said she'd be honored if the Floyd riots became known as the "1619 Project riots". Kamala Harris openly supported and urged others to support bail funds for BLM rioters charged with arson and assault. BLM began in Ferguson joining the Brown family in the streets urging rioters to "Burn It All Down!".
In Portland, a BLM/Antifa thug gunned a MAGA hat counter-protester down in cold blood. A BLM "Security" figure kicked a helpless bystander in the head while seated helpless on the street, knocking him unconscious. He received a sweetheart plea deal. Perhaps worst of all, Mayor Wheeler himself had to move after BLM/Antifa rioters started fires in the vestibule of his full-occupied residential building. Nobody was charged with what is the very worst sort of arson. Bluer than blue--and green, as in wet behind the ears--Multnomah DA Mike Schmidt has dismissed outright a sizable majority of all felony charges against rioters, including crimes of violence.
Twenty years in prison does not sound excessive, for some of these ihsurrectionsts:
18 U.S. Code § 2385 - Advocating overthrow of Government
U.S. Code
Notes
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Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or
Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or
Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
If two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in this section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
As used in this section, the terms “organizes” and “organize”, with respect to any society, group, or assembly of persons, include the recruiting of new members, the forming of new units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes, and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 808; July 24, 1956, ch. 678, § 2, 70 Stat. 623; Pub. L. 87–486, June 19, 1962, 76 Stat. 103; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(N), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)
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