Time For Ground Rules
While both sides of our nation’s political divide hurl accusations and cast blame at one another over the Charlottesville riots, a more basic question BEGS for attention: what the HELL were the scores of armed and shielded riot police in attendance doing as the incendiary provocateurs from both sides gathered like kindling wood until a critical mass formed and exploded.
Media attention has focused on the senseless fatal weaponized automobile massacre (WAM) perpetrated by James Fields, an individual diagnosed with schizophrenia and was so crazy that he had been thrown out of the army. But even if this act of lunacy had not occurred, the violent clashes between Nationalists and Antifas were enough for the whole episode to be seen for what it really was: a riot. WHY was this allowed to happen?
There are reports that the riot police were given an order to stand down. There is a tweet from the ACLU of Virginia to that effect. There is also a tweet from Constitutional Lawyer Robert Barnes along the same lines. Whether or not there was an actual stand down order, there are numerous videos showing riot police standing idly by while attacks with fists, sticks and other objects take place right in front of them. Fox reporter Douglas McKelway, who was at the scene of the riots, reported that even as wounded protestors were being brought out of the area police did nothing. He also reported that when protestors began to throw cement filled soda cans and tear gas, the police evacuated THEMSELVES. McKelway reports that he asked the officer in charge where they were going. McKelway reports that the officer replied “We’re leaving. It’s too dangerous.”
The police behavior in this incident was so derilect that some have suggested that the rabid anti-Trump mayor Mike Signer (Mr. Signer openly advocated an electoral college “revolt” against Trump), and rabid anti-white Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy (Mr Bellamy had to resign from the Virginia Board of Education because of his racist tweets) and rabid anti-Trump Governor Terry McCauliffe may have welcomed an example of racist civil unrest as additional ammunition for the “resistance.” If these types of allegations are even partially true, then these individuals have as much “blood on their hands” as does James Fields.
Now, despite the recent protest violence in places like Charlottesville and last year in Berkeley, the right to free speech and the right to assembly are key provisions guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. We can and must defend the American citizens who exercise those rights. But we must also maintain a safe environment in which the protests can take place. As political divisiveness grows in America, I think that, it’s high time, as a nation of laws, that we establish “ground rules” for protests. A provisional list would look something like this:
1. Any protest with expected attendance of more than 100 people must obtain a permit in advance.
2. If more than 100 people show up at a protest that does not have a permit, it will be disbanded.
3. No person will be allowed to attend the protest with any sort of weapon or items that can be used as weapons.
4. No person shall be allowed to attend with any bag, case, back pack or clothing that can conceal a weapon.
5. Counter-protests will not be allowed without a permit.
6. Counter-protests will be kept well away from the primary protests.
7. Violent behavior will result in ejection and arrest.
8. Property damage will not be tolerated and will result in arrest.
9. No mask or covering that would conceal a protestor’s identity will be allowed.
These ground rules would not only define what behaviors are expected of the protestors, but also how the police are expected to manage the protests. Some of these rules are already on the books (Virginia, for example, already HAD a law prohibiting masks at protests) but are not enforced. Let’s hope that we begin to enforce the rules that exist and enact those that are needed. Our ability to protect both the act of protest and the safety of protestors hangs in the balance.