This page contains links to recent blogs by Lincoln Mitchell
Tagged with: Black Lives Matter
In the US, the court systems may sometimes function as a substitute for policy or politics, but as demonstrated in the trial of Derek Chauvin, it is a very poor substitute. By looking for justice from a legal system rather than solutions from a political system we all but ensure that the root problems will go unaddressed.
Rittenhouse’s search for some twisted form of heroism and vigilante justice should never be legal or permissible in a free or democratic society. The Portland events are a little more complex. Counterdemonstrations, are, and should be, protected by the First Amendment, but when those actions are linked to provocations, they contribute to violence. Had the pro-Trump demonstrators been on foot, waved banners and chanted slogans, rather than threaten protestors and fire paintball guns into crowds of demonstrators, it is much less likely that anybody would have been shot and killed.
“Defund the Police” is best understood as the beginning of a negotiation between the demonstrators and the government. You don’t begin a negotiation where you think it will end, but where you would like to see it go. That is what we are doing on the streets of hundreds of American cities and town. It may not end with police budgets zeroed out as some might like, but it is pretty clear that is also not going to end with a return to business, and policing, as usual. This three word slogan has drawn almost universal criticism while contributing to fast and real policy change. We need more terrible slogans like that.
Widespread demonstrations are occurring in almost all major cities and even in the rural areas. In the biggest cities numerous demonstrations are being held often at the same time and sometimes seem to spontaneously emerge in different neighborhoods. Residents, small businesses and houses of worship offer encouragement and supplies to the demonstrators. Radical reform is already being implemented in some cities. The president has barricaded himself in his official residence and erected fences that have immediately been covered with opposition slogans. The security forces have given very strong indications that loyalty to the law and Constitution will ultimately override the president’s wishes. The economy is in terrible shape with millions out of work or out of school, and for good measure a deadly pandemic is still killing between 500-1200 people a day.