Looking back on the George Floyd rebellion
May 9, 2021 8:15 AM Subscribe
Last year something massive came hurtling into view and exploded against the surface of daily life in the US. Many are still struggling to grasp what that thing was: its shape and implications, its sudden scale and bitter limits. One thing we know for sure is that it opened with a riot, on the street in Minneapolis where Floyd had cried out “I can’t breathe.”
I understand the journalistic mechanisms of a year's anniversary, but hesitate to frame it as "looking back" when this current wave is far from over.
posted by Miko at 9:17 AM on May 9, 2021 [17 favorites]
posted by Miko at 9:17 AM on May 9, 2021 [17 favorites]
The article is specifically examining and contextualizing the riots that happened during the late spring/early summer of 2020, and how they're being interpreted now.
posted by latkes at 9:29 AM on May 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by latkes at 9:29 AM on May 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
The article is specifically examining and contextualizing the riots
Framing what happened last May and June primarily as "riots" plays directly into the hands of the GOP and other fascists.
I was at multiple related gatherings and demonstrations in D.C., and only a small % of them involved violence or property damage - and almost all of the former was instigated by the cops.
posted by ryanshepard at 9:55 AM on May 9, 2021 [58 favorites]
Framing what happened last May and June primarily as "riots" plays directly into the hands of the GOP and other fascists.
I was at multiple related gatherings and demonstrations in D.C., and only a small % of them involved violence or property damage - and almost all of the former was instigated by the cops.
posted by ryanshepard at 9:55 AM on May 9, 2021 [58 favorites]
The police were the ones who rioted. All over the country.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:05 AM on May 9, 2021 [67 favorites]
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:05 AM on May 9, 2021 [67 favorites]
It's a "riot" if the cops don't like it. It's a "peaceful demonstration" if they do. No matter what actually happens on the ground.
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:15 AM on May 9, 2021 [12 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:15 AM on May 9, 2021 [12 favorites]
"The hope of the world lies in what one demands, not of others, but of oneself." James Baldwin
posted by robbyrobs at 10:18 AM on May 9, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by robbyrobs at 10:18 AM on May 9, 2021 [4 favorites]
An impassioned defense of revolutionary violence. As a Canadian (founded by people who rejected the American Revolution) and as someone who's read a lot of twentieth-century Chinese history (which includes a great deal of violence and chaos), I'm much more skeptical about the benefits of revolutionary violence. But as an outsider, I'm obviously not in a position to judge.
I'm hesitant to post this, since it's very much against the majority view on MetaFilter, but people may still find it interesting to read a first-person account of the other side of the Minneapolis riot: A few days in May. By a former Minneapolis police officer.
posted by russilwvong at 10:55 AM on May 9, 2021 [9 favorites]
I'm hesitant to post this, since it's very much against the majority view on MetaFilter, but people may still find it interesting to read a first-person account of the other side of the Minneapolis riot: A few days in May. By a former Minneapolis police officer.
posted by russilwvong at 10:55 AM on May 9, 2021 [9 favorites]
From russilwvong's link:
This is a big part of how the narrative of brutal “repression” of “peaceful protestors” gets built, of course. In the real world, there’s no clear delineation of violent rioters and peaceful protestors. They don’t wear uniforms or insignia. There’s just a mob.
And that line of reasoning right there, where you stop differentiating bystanders yelling stuff as is their constitutionally guaranteed right from the chuckleheads throwing rocks, that's when you stop being a protector of public and start being its enemy.
posted by Zalzidrax at 12:02 PM on May 9, 2021 [36 favorites]
This is a big part of how the narrative of brutal “repression” of “peaceful protestors” gets built, of course. In the real world, there’s no clear delineation of violent rioters and peaceful protestors. They don’t wear uniforms or insignia. There’s just a mob.
And that line of reasoning right there, where you stop differentiating bystanders yelling stuff as is their constitutionally guaranteed right from the chuckleheads throwing rocks, that's when you stop being a protector of public and start being its enemy.
posted by Zalzidrax at 12:02 PM on May 9, 2021 [36 favorites]
The police were the ones who rioted. All over the country.
Still are. I've begun calling it a police rebellion or police revolt. This is proven by the fact that in every single one of these protests, police departments choose to abandon the city in favor of beating up on protestors. To be sure: the rebellion isn't (directly) against those at the protests, the show of violence tells those not at the protests that participation is going to be painful. If property damage is so bad, why aren't police working to prevent it? What makes walking in the street and yelling worse than protecting what people are telling them they want protected?
As wild as protests might get, instead of assigning the entire department to tank duty, station officers all along sidewalks in front of the businesses that would otherwise get damaged (by whoever...), because that is the tool of police against the protestors: people complaining about property damage. If there was a line of cops every 25ft down every sidewalk around a protest, I'm thinking there would be very (or relatively) little damage. I think this would be an overall better way of reacting to protests.
First, because false-flags become much less possible when it would be obvious that a cop <15ft away was not stopping the undercover cop from smashing windows with a hammer.
Second, because the police then aren't available to antagonize the protestors, who can yell and march and whatever, wherever they want, just move officers across the map as the crowd blobs along. There is literally no reason to restrict the movement of a protest march except to impose arbitrary constraints that exist only as reasons to inflict violence.
Third, because people don't want the bad stuff to happen at protests. The police ensure that nothing positive emerges from protests, that there is nothing to change the minds of people not already inclined to agree with the protestors, because otherwise, nothing big would burn, eyes would not be getting poked out, taxpayers wouldn't be paying for police to suck up triple-time shifts with hazard bonuses, and at worst there are some temporary traffic inconveniences.
Again, the police are revolting against the people who supply the money that puts food in the officers' family's mouths, against their boss, because The People have the nerve to second-guess their work. Imagine any other company where if your boss criticizes your work you start trashing the office. The message is: leave us alone or we'll fuck up either you, or your stuff, or your storefront, or...
posted by rhizome at 12:40 PM on May 9, 2021 [32 favorites]
Still are. I've begun calling it a police rebellion or police revolt. This is proven by the fact that in every single one of these protests, police departments choose to abandon the city in favor of beating up on protestors. To be sure: the rebellion isn't (directly) against those at the protests, the show of violence tells those not at the protests that participation is going to be painful. If property damage is so bad, why aren't police working to prevent it? What makes walking in the street and yelling worse than protecting what people are telling them they want protected?
As wild as protests might get, instead of assigning the entire department to tank duty, station officers all along sidewalks in front of the businesses that would otherwise get damaged (by whoever...), because that is the tool of police against the protestors: people complaining about property damage. If there was a line of cops every 25ft down every sidewalk around a protest, I'm thinking there would be very (or relatively) little damage. I think this would be an overall better way of reacting to protests.
First, because false-flags become much less possible when it would be obvious that a cop <15ft away was not stopping the undercover cop from smashing windows with a hammer.
Second, because the police then aren't available to antagonize the protestors, who can yell and march and whatever, wherever they want, just move officers across the map as the crowd blobs along. There is literally no reason to restrict the movement of a protest march except to impose arbitrary constraints that exist only as reasons to inflict violence.
Third, because people don't want the bad stuff to happen at protests. The police ensure that nothing positive emerges from protests, that there is nothing to change the minds of people not already inclined to agree with the protestors, because otherwise, nothing big would burn, eyes would not be getting poked out, taxpayers wouldn't be paying for police to suck up triple-time shifts with hazard bonuses, and at worst there are some temporary traffic inconveniences.
Again, the police are revolting against the people who supply the money that puts food in the officers' family's mouths, against their boss, because The People have the nerve to second-guess their work. Imagine any other company where if your boss criticizes your work you start trashing the office. The message is: leave us alone or we'll fuck up either you, or your stuff, or your storefront, or...
posted by rhizome at 12:40 PM on May 9, 2021 [32 favorites]
To add to what rhizome is saying, it looks like the biggest backers for all those anti-protest bills and bills that make it legal to run over protestors are... you guessed it, Police Unions.
posted by deadaluspark at 12:47 PM on May 9, 2021 [20 favorites]
posted by deadaluspark at 12:47 PM on May 9, 2021 [20 favorites]
> From russilwvong's link:
>>>This is a big part of how the narrative of brutal “repression” of “peaceful protestors” gets built, of course. In the real world, there’s no clear delineation of violent rioters and peaceful protestors. They don’t wear uniforms or insignia. There’s just a mob.
> And that line of reasoning right there, where you stop differentiating bystanders yelling stuff as is their constitutionally guaranteed right from the chuckleheads throwing rocks, that's when you stop being a protector of public and start being its enemy.
I disagree. I think THIS line is where the police stop being protectors of the public and start being its enemy:
>>>I was told there were already protests happening in the Third Precinct. I was instructed to get my riot helmet, my baton, and my gas mask, make sure they were in order, and have them with me.
Getting their riot gear on is when they cross the line. Oh, you just want to be prepared for the worst, you just want to be able to protect yourself in a potentially volatile situation? Cool, let's talk about what you'd do to Black people if they decided to walk around their daily lives (not their jobs that they get paid for! just their lives!) in riot gear for the exact same reasons. No police officer should be allowed to wear or carry a goddamn thing that a Black kid can't carry or wear freely without coming across as "suspicious" or getting harassed. Protect that, and earn the right to protect yourself.
posted by MiraK at 1:15 PM on May 9, 2021 [15 favorites]
>>>This is a big part of how the narrative of brutal “repression” of “peaceful protestors” gets built, of course. In the real world, there’s no clear delineation of violent rioters and peaceful protestors. They don’t wear uniforms or insignia. There’s just a mob.
> And that line of reasoning right there, where you stop differentiating bystanders yelling stuff as is their constitutionally guaranteed right from the chuckleheads throwing rocks, that's when you stop being a protector of public and start being its enemy.
I disagree. I think THIS line is where the police stop being protectors of the public and start being its enemy:
>>>I was told there were already protests happening in the Third Precinct. I was instructed to get my riot helmet, my baton, and my gas mask, make sure they were in order, and have them with me.
Getting their riot gear on is when they cross the line. Oh, you just want to be prepared for the worst, you just want to be able to protect yourself in a potentially volatile situation? Cool, let's talk about what you'd do to Black people if they decided to walk around their daily lives (not their jobs that they get paid for! just their lives!) in riot gear for the exact same reasons. No police officer should be allowed to wear or carry a goddamn thing that a Black kid can't carry or wear freely without coming across as "suspicious" or getting harassed. Protect that, and earn the right to protect yourself.
posted by MiraK at 1:15 PM on May 9, 2021 [15 favorites]
From russilwong's link:
"Without question, any single cop or small cluster of cops trapped alone in that crowd would have been killed"
Not from the same event, but still compare and contrast
Breonna Taylor protestors protect lone Louisville police officer
vs
How a Mob dragged and beat police at the Capitol
That said, I am grateful for the officer's narrative about his experience and perspective, if only because of confirmation bias, since he pretty much confirmed every thought I've had about how police "other" people protesting these killings and reverse victim and offender.
From the same piece: "It really is true that fear of getting arrested by the police keeps huge numbers of people from just smashing and grabbing whatever they want and destroying everything else for fun."
Again, the events of Jan 6 really turn this on its head...by proving that it's true, for a group that otherwise claims to "back the blue." Once the Jan 6 terrorists realized they would not face resistance from LEO, they did just start smashing grabbing whatever they wanted, destroying everything else for fun.
posted by lord_wolf at 1:32 PM on May 9, 2021 [31 favorites]
"Without question, any single cop or small cluster of cops trapped alone in that crowd would have been killed"
Not from the same event, but still compare and contrast
Breonna Taylor protestors protect lone Louisville police officer
vs
How a Mob dragged and beat police at the Capitol
That said, I am grateful for the officer's narrative about his experience and perspective, if only because of confirmation bias, since he pretty much confirmed every thought I've had about how police "other" people protesting these killings and reverse victim and offender.
From the same piece: "It really is true that fear of getting arrested by the police keeps huge numbers of people from just smashing and grabbing whatever they want and destroying everything else for fun."
Again, the events of Jan 6 really turn this on its head...by proving that it's true, for a group that otherwise claims to "back the blue." Once the Jan 6 terrorists realized they would not face resistance from LEO, they did just start smashing grabbing whatever they wanted, destroying everything else for fun.
posted by lord_wolf at 1:32 PM on May 9, 2021 [31 favorites]
We still have concrete barriers and fencing in place around the police precincts here in Minneapolis. It gives the continuing impression of occupation by an outside force within the communities that surround those precincts.
One small bright spot was the removal (a-hem) retirement of the police union head...I don't even want to say his name. It still very much feels like the MPD is on a "do the bare minimum / nice city you got there, same if someone breaks it" attitude.
posted by djseafood at 1:33 PM on May 9, 2021 [6 favorites]
One small bright spot was the removal (a-hem) retirement of the police union head...I don't even want to say his name. It still very much feels like the MPD is on a "do the bare minimum / nice city you got there, same if someone breaks it" attitude.
posted by djseafood at 1:33 PM on May 9, 2021 [6 favorites]
Yeah, it turns my stomach to see my every worst suspicion about how the police view us be confirmed as absolutely real. Respect for the humanity of the protesters is nowhere to be seen. Everything this officer writes is written from a place of abject, mindless fear, from viewing the protesting public as his monstrous and inhuman enemy.
posted by MiraK at 1:35 PM on May 9, 2021 [14 favorites]
posted by MiraK at 1:35 PM on May 9, 2021 [14 favorites]
"Yeah, it turns my stomach to see my every worst suspicion about how the police view us be confirmed as absolutely real."
Because it never stops being relevant, James Cameron on why he made the T-1000 a cop in Terminator 2:
Because it never stops being relevant, James Cameron on why he made the T-1000 a cop in Terminator 2:
“The Terminator films are not really about the human race getting killed of by future machines. They’re about us losing touch with our own humanity and becoming machines, which allows us to kill and brutalize each other,” he says. “Cops think all non-cops as less than they are, stupid, weak, and evil. They dehumanize the people they are sworn to protect and desensitize themselves in order to do that job.”posted by deadaluspark at 2:59 PM on May 9, 2021 [30 favorites]
Not All Christians Of Course, but they do seem to largely be the ones who wonder how people who Don't Fear Hell manage not to rampage, murder, and drink blood in the streets daily.
Yeah, he totally lost me at Not All Civilians... Oh wait, yes, All Citizens The Second Cops Look Away. Truly, it must be a terrifying world view to not trust any of your neighbors.
posted by Jacen at 2:59 PM on May 9, 2021 [6 favorites]
Yeah, he totally lost me at Not All Civilians... Oh wait, yes, All Citizens The Second Cops Look Away. Truly, it must be a terrifying world view to not trust any of your neighbors.
posted by Jacen at 2:59 PM on May 9, 2021 [6 favorites]
Framing what happened last May and June primarily as "riots" plays directly into the hands of the GOP and other fascists.
Cool but did you read the article
posted by latkes at 5:10 PM on May 9, 2021 [11 favorites]
Cool but did you read the article
posted by latkes at 5:10 PM on May 9, 2021 [11 favorites]
Thanks for this, I haven't finished it yet but I appreciate the effort to rehabilitate the word "riot." As someone I know (whose been deeply involved in racial justice activism for awhile) put it on Facebook around when this all started, people need to recognize that the chant "No Justice, No Peace" isn't just words, it's a threat with teeth. Or at least, it oughta be.
Framing what happened last May and June primarily as "riots" plays directly into the hands of the GOP and other fascists.
But if you stick to the standard definition of riots, some of the protests were riots. You cannot burn down a police precinct (or any business) and call it a peaceful protest. Not admitting that plays directly into the hands of the GOP saying liberals are gaslightin' hypocrites who lack common sense.
Doesn't mean that riots cannot be justified, or that much of what happened was egged on by police rioting, of course.
posted by coffeecat at 7:12 PM on May 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
Framing what happened last May and June primarily as "riots" plays directly into the hands of the GOP and other fascists.
But if you stick to the standard definition of riots, some of the protests were riots. You cannot burn down a police precinct (or any business) and call it a peaceful protest. Not admitting that plays directly into the hands of the GOP saying liberals are gaslightin' hypocrites who lack common sense.
Doesn't mean that riots cannot be justified, or that much of what happened was egged on by police rioting, of course.
posted by coffeecat at 7:12 PM on May 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
In a recent episode of Larry Wilmore's podcast 'Black on the Air', he spent a considerable amount of time talking with W. Kamau Bell about whether the George Floyd protests should be called 'riots'.
I don't always agree with Wilmore's opinions, but I like to listen to them.
posted by Quonab at 8:31 PM on May 9, 2021
I don't always agree with Wilmore's opinions, but I like to listen to them.
posted by Quonab at 8:31 PM on May 9, 2021
Late to the thread, but let us not forget why the right to assemble and protest is in the Bill of Rights, and where the expression “read them the riot act” comes from. It’s a riot when it’s declared to be so it can be dispersed under threat of state violence.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:51 PM on May 9, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:51 PM on May 9, 2021 [6 favorites]
Great article latkes; thanks for the link.
posted by Rash at 4:22 PM on May 10, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Rash at 4:22 PM on May 10, 2021 [1 favorite]
An awed and galvanised reader here.
The scope and strength of the whole piece will stay with me a long time, especially the expert and yet almost casually poetic way the essay dissects and excoriates the DNC. The description of Nancy and Chuck’s performative kneeling donned in African headwear for Floyd’s funeral, described as a pantomime of Floyd’s murder was an epiphany. And yet this is merely a tiny aside in a zooming-in, panning-out assembly of argument.
Brilliant, just brilliant. Thank you for posting.
posted by honey-barbara at 6:51 AM on May 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
The scope and strength of the whole piece will stay with me a long time, especially the expert and yet almost casually poetic way the essay dissects and excoriates the DNC. The description of Nancy and Chuck’s performative kneeling donned in African headwear for Floyd’s funeral, described as a pantomime of Floyd’s murder was an epiphany. And yet this is merely a tiny aside in a zooming-in, panning-out assembly of argument.
Brilliant, just brilliant. Thank you for posting.
posted by honey-barbara at 6:51 AM on May 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
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"the fight against police and prisons remains bound up with black liberation because one people feels the harshest shocks of economic earthquake and has served as a kind of vanguard in its subjection to state cruelty. A practice of militancy issued from this historical experience. Clattering with internal disputes and handed down for generations, the real black movement isn’t the nursery rhyme recited brightly in the public sphere, but a protracted battle against domination at its most naked and unconstrained—King, on the day he was killed, was to give a sermon called “Why America May Go to Hell.” So it’s possible that the death of Floyd reverberated so painfully because under the delirious conditions induced by the pandemic, sections of the middle class seemed to walk through the political looking glass. In an instant they were poorer and even more insecure, their noses bluntly rubbed in their disposability to capital. Left without a livelihood by callous fiat in a moment of crisis, they were treated to that peculiar mélange of state control and state neglect—the punitive abandonment that paints the lives of the black poor."
posted by mdonley at 8:53 AM on May 9, 2021 [17 favorites]