Disclaimer: Everything you’re about to read is speculative, but I think it could explain why a lot of the violence, looting, and destruction occurring at the protests following George Floyd’s murder seems to be initiated by a small group of agitators.
It’s no secret that many of the protests occurring around the county have turned quite violent as night falls, and many people are wondering who is causing the violence. There’s not really a clear answer to that, but there are a few theories.
The most common theory of who is behind the violence at these protests seems to be that Antifa is bussing people into these cities to wreak havoc. This theory is usually coupled with the idea that a segment of unruly “animalistic” black people are showing their “true nature” at these riots because the opportunity has presented itself. The theory about Antifa seems like it could hold water (given the many out-of-state arrests that have been made), but anyone propagating the theory about “opportunistic” black people indulging their “animalistic” nature is an irrefutable racist.
In fact, there’s a lot of evidence that suggests most of the violence is being started by white people. There are two reasonable explanations for this. The first explanation could be that Trump supporters and other extremely conservative white people are showing up to the protests to cause trouble, hoping to turn the protests into violent riots to delegitimize them. However, I don’t think a terribly large number of Trump supporters are smart enough to come up with such a plan on their own, but maybe I'm wrong (hopefully I’m not though, because that would mean conservatives are trying to sabotage the protests and maintain the status quo of systemic racism and police brutality).
The second, and I believe the most likely, explanation is that the violence is being caused by a completely unorganized group of extremely liberal white people who make up the ugly, selfish underbelly of the progressive movement. Based on my own observations, that group consists largely of white people who self identify as queer or trans, and likely subscribe unquestioningly to far left ideologies like socialism or Marxism. Not all, but a large percentage of people who fall into those categories are people who have been radicalized and trained by leftist media outlets to feel incredibly oppressed by society and the state in general; they have long been told by the media and by politicians that they’re oppressed as a way to stoke their political engagement, and while there’s no denying that LGB people, trans people, and those with far-left viewpoints have historically been oppressed, their experiences generally pale in comparison to those of black people in this country. I think those radicalized individuals are capitalizing on the current unrest by inciting violence and destroying property as a way to vent their own frustrations with the system (valid or not) under the premise of activism.
If this assessment is correct, then what those white people need to understand is that using a movement about race as a release for their own frustrations is irresponsible, ignorant, and selfish. In doing so, they’re only propagating the systematic injustices that black people face, because their actions are contributing to the right wing media’s ability to delegitimize these protests, thereby squandering the chance we have to affect real change.
It’s worth noting that while violence at protests is generally not helpful, if the police abuse protestors, then they should fight back. And don’t get me wrong, I understand that a bit of destruction usually comes with successful protests, and no amount of destroyed property is worth more than a single person’s life. But having these protests turning into violent spectacles of fire and broken glass do not help black people in the long run, regardless of whether black people are the agitators or not. The people who are breaking into Apple stores, destroying gas stations, looting Gucci stores, and burning small businesses to the ground are either selfish or shortsighted, probably both.
White people do have a role to play in the fight against racism, but no matter what other persecution or injustices those white people may face, their role does not involve selfishly co-opting the Black Lives Matter movement as a way to vent. To do so is just as delegitimizing as saying “all lives matter”. Intentionally or not, they’re missing the point.
