WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

BLM Riots and January 6th

Common Ground

Both the BLM riots and the January 6th riots were spawned by feelings that the people involved weren’t being heard and injustice was the result.  BLM supporters wanted to band together against police brutality; January 6th supporters were (mostly) those who felt there was sufficient election fraud to make the outcome moot.  While you may agree or disagree with either or both groups, we have a tradition of supporting protests, but they have to be peaceful.  Neither of these were peaceful and neither stayed simply a protest.  Both involved lawbreaking and harm.  Most people do not support this and the recent failed attempts to defund the police point to this.

Similar numbers of people were involved at each site of each protest.

In both cases, we don’t really know the motivations of all those involved.  It has become clear that a lot of the January 6th group weren’t Trump supporters, and in fact, the riots started long before Trump had finished speaking.  We can speculate, but unless you get specific answers from them (if you can find all of them), we don’t really know.  Different people have different motivations.

Differences

Though the numbers involved were similar, even after some arrests, most BLM rioters were quickly released.  Over 500 people were arrested for the January 6th action and many were held without bail or charges for a long period of time. 

The costs, however, were very different.  In human terms, only one person was killed on January 6th and that was by a police officer.  Dozens of people were killed or injured in BLM actions.  In financial terms, insurable costs for BLM were between $1.5BB and $2BB.  January 6th rang in at a much less impressive cost of $1.5MM and that covers everything, not just insurable costs.  It should be noted that many small businesses have little or inadequate insurance to recover from the kind of vandalism and wanton destruction they suffered under the BLM riots.  Those costs aren’t included in the estimates, but probably double or triple the total costs.

Despite this, there has been no talk of a commission to study ALL protests and understand the causes and implications. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden noted, “Prosecutors have been treating the Jan. 6th rioters who’d rioted for a single day significantly harsher than the Black Lives Matter and Antifa rioters who’d rioted for an entire summer and longer.”

Jonathon Turley said, “There is clearly a reluctance by many local officials to prosecute violent protesters. Cities like Atlanta have dropped charges against protesters. Most of the charges brought for violent protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd were dismissed.”

Even when sentences have been imposed, a cry from many sources challenge charging any of the protestors, even as the crimes are clear.  The implication is that the actions, however violent and vile, are justified. It is clear that members of Congress hold their person and property as more valuable and important than that of the rest of us.  Think about that for a moment.  A group of people making far more money than the rest of us, working much shorter hours is more important than the owner of a small store in Seattle.  Or whose life is more important than the life of a Black security guard who was guarding someone’s property.  In fact, none of the Congressmen’s lives were threatened, especially true for the few who claimed to be there (and terrified), but who weren’t actually onsite.

No one has stepped up to say that January 6 protests were a legitimate form of protest, but that excuse has been voiced by authorities on multiple occasions for the BLM damage.  For those on the front lines, the harm that the “Defund the Police” movement has caused is clear.  Cops are retiring at a record rate with few prospects looking to take their place.  Crime is on the rise in many primarily Blue cities.  People are demanding more cops to protect them, but there isn’t any action to protect cops, nor to incentivize them to come to the rescue.  Prosecutors who won’t charge perps translates into cops who won’t risk their lives arresting people.

Conclusions

After a long period of BLM rioting, which caused great harm and fear to many communities, people’s lives and livelihoods are shattered, public trust is gone and we may wait a long time to recover the police community. Businesses will never reopen and people are afraid to come into the cities.

January 6th?  Well, perhaps Congresspeople are a bit nervous of their constituents, but there is no real lasting damage here.  The price tag is real, but miniscule compared to other riots.  Few people were involved in January 6th, but many were encouraged to join in the “fun” in BLM riots, enriching themselves by looting and enjoying the vandalism.  No one believes this is completely over, but does anyone really worry that January 6th will repeat?  In fact, there is evidence (but none I can say is verified) that Antifa and other activist groups spawned some of the action on that date.  The fact that they were willing to pretend to be badly behaving Trump supporters to hurt Glenn Youngkins campaign is telling.

At the end of the day, the kind of truly peaceful protest encouraged by Mahatma Gandhi is not what we are seeing now.  And only those kinds of protests are justifiable.  But we have to treat bad behavior the same, no matter who is involved or whose “ox” might be gored.  We are equals under the law; it’s time to act on that truth.

Sources

My sources come from a variety of publications, but include the Washington Post, the Western Journal and FEE.