David Jenkins: Violence, vandalism help lose message of protests

It has been over a week since the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in Minneapolis after a police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes. Since Floyd’s death, there have been many demonstrations and protests across the country, with some leading to violence, including four St. Louis police officers hit by gunfire during a protest Monday.

What happened to Floyd should not happen to anyone of any race. While I wasn’t there to know exactly what happened, what is seen on the video is terrible. I find no reason to have a knee on someone’s neck for nearly nine minutes while they are saying they can’t breathe.

Justifiably, all the officers involved were fired and the officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck, Derek Chauvin, was charged with third degree murder and second degree manslaughter. Protests continue across the nation, many up in arms at what has become a far too regular occurrence of a black man killed while being arrested.

It’s unfair to paint all police as bad because of the bad choice of several officers in Minneapolis. I know police officers who are extremely caring, do a terrific job of policing the community and who are appalled with what happened in Minneapolis and other instances recently across the country. They are right here in our community and across the country.

But it is also naive to not notice a problem of unarmed black men dying at hands of a police officers, or the racial tension that continues to build in our country, not just between police and people of color but between whites and blacks in general.

So I have no issue with people who are protesting and demanding justice for Floyd’s death. It’s their right. I have no qualms with anyone who wants to raise a sign and march down a street, screaming for change. Our country has a long history of protests, dating back to the Boston Tea Party and the Stamp Act, having such a profound impact it is protected in the US Constitution.

What I hate is when the protests turn into nothing but violence and vandalism. I understand there is anger involved and the need to want to be heard, but the violence and vandalism has a negative effect on the message protestors are trying to get across.

Instead of keeping the focus on what happened to Floyd and racism today, attention gets turned to the images of burning buildings, looting and violence. The news is then filled with violence stemming from the Floyd attack, instead of focusing on things like racism and why a police officer with nearly 20 complaints filed against him with internal affairs was still on the street.

It’s the peaceful protests that will be the most beneficial in the long run. Martin Luther King understood that. He talked often about not using violence as a means of getting your point across. In 1956 he used nonviolence protest in the Montgomery bus boycott that ended with the Supreme Court ruling segregation on buses is unconstitutional.

On Sunday in Cape there was a peaceful protest. Protestors didn’t have to light anything on fire, break any windows or throw anything at police. Instead they took the time to be heard and express their opinions on what is happening in our country. In the days following the messages are still being heard rather than a community having to clean up from vandalism and destruction.

As a white man, I will never know what it is like to be a black man. I take for granted the privileges that are afforded me and never really think about them. But I know not all share those same privileges. The racial strife in this country started long, long before any of us and unfortunately will continue, especially if attempts to bring about the change needed turns into violence. As Martin Luther King said, “Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”

David Jenkins is co-editor of the Standard Democrat.