From Virus To Protests

Events in the past few weeks are enough to make your head spin.  Without saying so, the nation has had enough social distancing and face masks.  The call to open up and return daily life to something resembling normality is everywhere.  Public health officials make pleas to a largely not listening public.  The consequences of this new cavalier approach to combatting the Coronavirus are yet unknown.  Health officials predict there will be areas with sharp rises in infections and deaths to follow.  Given what can be seen all around us, most people, left to their own will power, will select the “easy” way out.  Hmmm.

And, then came the wake up call.

Thanks to cell phone video, George Floyd’s death this week in Minneapolis, suddenly there was no talk about Covid-19 but instead police brutality.  Senseless death jumped from nursing homes and meat packing factories to “being black” and being in police custody. 

Protests in Minneapolis morphed into looting and disorderly conduct.  Curfews were ignored and out of town protesters blossomed.  “George Floyd” became an icon and a chant protesters all across America learned and repeated.

But there is more.

Major cities from LA to New York City to Atlanta to Chicago to Washington, DC became unwilling hosts to protest groups.  George Floyd was the calling card, the protesters, however, often protesting quite different matters.  Looting, despite all the video cameras in service, flourished each night.  Gratuitous destruction of both public and private property was fair game too.  For what purpose one might ask?

One school of thought apologizes for these mobs’ behavior by pointing to the totally unnecessary 9 minutes the police officer kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck.  Brutality begets brutality, they say.  Others point out that a large fraction of the protesters are not black and many of the looters appear to be seeking items that can be quickly resold.  Hmmm.

Think about

• burden of college debt
• income inequality
• healthcare availability
• good paying jobs availability
• affordable housing
• racism

Each of these factors seem terribly unfair and not part of the American Dream yet each is a real event in younger American’s lives.  “Catch 22” abounds with this list.  If someone does not risk college debt, then the odds of getting a good paying job are dim.  Without a job, healthcare insurance is problematic, without adequate healthcare, bankruptcy is just an illness away.  Affordable housing is a challenge for most Americans and certainly all those earning below the average wage.  And all around the rich get richer… 

In most American cities, the demonstrations which begin as a “George Floyd March” are soon consumed with protesters with other issues also on their minds.  For them the deck is already stacked against them, so what is there to lose, they think.  

So, if one were to think about a national strategy to bring these many marches under control and soon to an end, what would be a wise approach?  How about government “dominating” protesters?  How about government simply using a little more tear gas or more rubber bullets, or more arrests and jail time?  Hmmm.

One would hope our elected representatives could understand that the marches and demonstrations (including lootings and arsons) are only loosely connected to George Floyd and are more aptly viewed as a storm which has been waiting to rage. 

The current Administration is incapable of dealing with this level of complexity and can boast experience only with subjects which can be deconstructed.  Analyzing complex social and economic problems is simply not in this Administration’s wheelhouse.  

What say about

• Paris Climate Accord
• Trans Pacific Partnership
• Iran Nuclear Agreement
• Trade War with China
• Trade War with the rest of the world
• Unfunded Tax Cuts for the Wealthy
• Damning the WHO During a Pandemic

Hmmm.

Explore posts in the same categories: 2020 Presidential Election, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, Uncategorized

Tags: Coronavirus, George Floyd

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