Weber Paints Wrong Picture
To the Editor:
Judge Joe Weber’s comments in the 1/12/2021 FCR were contentious, at best. He chose to paint the various protests as ‘left’ versus ‘right’ rather than examining the underlying causations.
Before I begin my commentary, I want to state that I abhor violence and destruction of property by any and all protesters or rioters.
The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement was re-energized by the May 2020 death of George Floyd at the knee of a white police officer, with three other white/Asian officers watching or assisting. Floyd was a suspect in a non-violent crime, but was met with violence. His death highlighted the systemic racism that still exists in America, especially when it involves people of color versus white police officers. White police officers rarely face any consequences for their actions as they hide behind their unions and qualified immunity. The deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and others preceded Floyd’s. Thus, BLM took to the streets to protest police brutality and racism, with most of the protests being peaceful. Protests occurred in the U.S., as well as cities around the globe. How did the Trump administration respond to the non-peaceful protests? By sending armed, unidentified federal personnel to Portland, who incited a small group of protesters that local and state personnel were controlling. How did the Trump administration respond to planned peaceful protests in Washington DC? By bringing in armed National Guard personnel in armored vehicles and personnel from the Park Police, Secret Service and other agencies. Amid ongoing protests, U.S. Park Police and National Guard troops used tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray, stingball grenades, horses, shields and batons to clear peaceful demonstrators from Lafayette Square and surrounding streets, creating a path for President Trump to walk to St. John’s Episcopal Church.
On January 6, 2021, Trump held a rally, which he had been promoting for weeks and encouraging his base to “Be there. It will be wild.” Where was the increased security, the National Guard, the Secret Service, the Park Police, the tear gas, rubber bullets, etc? Why did it take the administration two to three hours to authorize additional support for the woefully unprepared Capitol Police? Could it be that the rally crowd would be primarily white? What was the reason for the rally? For two months, Trump daily espoused to his base the election was rigged, there was fraud and he had won the election. The rally provided Trump one more opportunity to allege the election was stolen despite all 50 states having certified their electoral votes and numerous audits/recounts revealed no evidence of widespread voter fraud. The crowd was incited to descend on Congress and prevent the counting of the electoral votes. In other words, I think the President of the United States urged the crowd to riot and to commit sedition and insurrection by taking control of the People’s House and contesting the results of a constitutionally held free and fair election.
In my humble opinion, protesting unnecessary deaths, police brutality and racism is quite different than a mob attempting a coup (not protesting) to overthrow the legislative branch of government, resulting in the deaths of five people.
On a local note, why was an early 2020 summer rally urged to move from the courthouse square to White Rock Park, while the Trump Train was allowed to circle and/or park on the square and traipse unfettered about the county?
These are not a “left” versus “right” issues.
JB Lovell
La Grange