These are some thoughts I shared with friends and was arrogant enough to
think I should share them here too.
think I should share them here too.
------
I've been trying to put some sense to what I saw in Saint Paul yesterday
with the looting and subsequent burning of Midway and comments of friends
and others on Facebook about this situation. I think the dynamic in
Minneapolis was different, can't speak to it. I welcome comments. These are
things I think.
I want to note again that Saint Paul was not a protest - it started as a
looting, continued as a looting + arson, and continues that way now. There
were some people who came out to protest and I don't know that they stuck
around long - if they did, it was to watch a show more than to protest
(based on my observations).
I did not see a cross section of the oppressed communities. Nearly everyone
was between 17 and 30 I would say. Most of the people were more milling
around in a near-festival-like atmosphere. It became a spectacle.
I read people who may be trying to justify the looting and destruction
because of the discrimination some communities continue to face in an
unjust system. I'm not interested in justifying or excusing these actions
and I don't think I can. But I can understand them.
I see a lot of people using the MLK quote that the riot is the language of
the unheard. But he was sorrowful, not vengeful. I think he felt these
actions came from weakness, not strength and I worry that some who use that
quote miss this distinction because we want to see a societal revolution to
fix inequities. I do not believe that revolution will be led by looters.
In Saint Paul, I saw people that were given a license to act without facing
direct consequences of their actions. People responded in different ways.
The first wave of people that were breaking into things seemed mostly to be
there for the destruction. Others then took advantage to grab things or
just run into the building to say they had done it. It was a lark, not a
revolutionary act. For some reason, at least a few people were consistently
starting fires inside the structures.
I think we will always have some number of people that want to commit these
kinds of acts. I think the more injustice in a society, the more of these
people we produce - again, this is not to excuse the behavior but to
describe what happens. This is important because in our networked age
today, a smaller number of people can overrun the police. That is what I
think happened in Saint Paul - the police did not have the resources on
short notice to block all the roads or guard all the commercial properties.
Looters were concentrated in one part of the city but others struck all
around it.
I think an unjust system will produce these explosive and destructive
events. Like a law of physics, push people enough over time and they will
burst. It is actually surprising how much people will take before they
burst out. This is an observation - you may as well oppose these inevitable
events as oppose a forest fire. Moralizing about it is beside the point
except that we try to find some meaning in it.
I think these events will result in increased inequity and discrimination
unless we dedicate ourselves to strategies and tactics that will actually
work to reduce inequity. That doesn't mean policing people on social media
- it means making sure our schools work, everyone has good housing, and the
financial system is well regulated. It means a lot of other things too -
but I'm done with this mishmash.
--
--christopher mitchell
--http://www.sportshotphoto.com -- need a photographer?
I've been trying to put some sense to what I saw in Saint Paul yesterday
with the looting and subsequent burning of Midway and comments of friends
and others on Facebook about this situation. I think the dynamic in
Minneapolis was different, can't speak to it. I welcome comments. These are
things I think.
I want to note again that Saint Paul was not a protest - it started as a
looting, continued as a looting + arson, and continues that way now. There
were some people who came out to protest and I don't know that they stuck
around long - if they did, it was to watch a show more than to protest
(based on my observations).
I did not see a cross section of the oppressed communities. Nearly everyone
was between 17 and 30 I would say. Most of the people were more milling
around in a near-festival-like atmosphere. It became a spectacle.
I read people who may be trying to justify the looting and destruction
because of the discrimination some communities continue to face in an
unjust system. I'm not interested in justifying or excusing these actions
and I don't think I can. But I can understand them.
I see a lot of people using the MLK quote that the riot is the language of
the unheard. But he was sorrowful, not vengeful. I think he felt these
actions came from weakness, not strength and I worry that some who use that
quote miss this distinction because we want to see a societal revolution to
fix inequities. I do not believe that revolution will be led by looters.
In Saint Paul, I saw people that were given a license to act without facing
direct consequences of their actions. People responded in different ways.
The first wave of people that were breaking into things seemed mostly to be
there for the destruction. Others then took advantage to grab things or
just run into the building to say they had done it. It was a lark, not a
revolutionary act. For some reason, at least a few people were consistently
starting fires inside the structures.
I think we will always have some number of people that want to commit these
kinds of acts. I think the more injustice in a society, the more of these
people we produce - again, this is not to excuse the behavior but to
describe what happens. This is important because in our networked age
today, a smaller number of people can overrun the police. That is what I
think happened in Saint Paul - the police did not have the resources on
short notice to block all the roads or guard all the commercial properties.
Looters were concentrated in one part of the city but others struck all
around it.
I think an unjust system will produce these explosive and destructive
events. Like a law of physics, push people enough over time and they will
burst. It is actually surprising how much people will take before they
burst out. This is an observation - you may as well oppose these inevitable
events as oppose a forest fire. Moralizing about it is beside the point
except that we try to find some meaning in it.
I think these events will result in increased inequity and discrimination
unless we dedicate ourselves to strategies and tactics that will actually
work to reduce inequity. That doesn't mean policing people on social media
- it means making sure our schools work, everyone has good housing, and the
financial system is well regulated. It means a lot of other things too -
but I'm done with this mishmash.
--
--christopher mitchell
--http://www.sportshotphoto.com -- need a photographer?