Off the Editor’s Desk 5-15-24

Protests are our way of life!

During my long life, I have watched the news everyday and time hardly goes by without there being some sort of protest. Most are just regional or local events and a lot of them come to some sort of end without death, destruction, looting or burning.

But, then there are ones that go on for weeks and months and tear the nation apart. Like the ones that are now on going at many college campuses across the nation that are promoting hate and death. 

As I watch the events unfold on TV, what came to my mind is more people than students are involved. And, who is supporting and funding these protests that turn into riots? Of course students appear to be indoctrinated at these big campuses by liberal instructors. 

As I sat and thought about the ones that I remembered, the first one that came to mind was the “Little Rock Nine”.

It was at the height of the segregation movement when the Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools throughout the nation were unconstitutional.

The “Little Rock Nine” were a group of African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The Little Rock Crisis followed their enrollment. Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas, initially prevented the nine students from entering the racially segregated school. They then attended after the intervention of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who nationalized the 10,000 members of the Arkansas National Guard. The guard was ordered to see that those students were allowed to attend Little Rock Central.

But those colored students were not treated very well by the white students and a student, Elizabeth Eckford, recalled later the crowd that was trying to stop them for entering the school. “They moved closer and closer,  ….Someone started yelling,  …I tried to see a friendly face somewhere in the crowd. Someone who maybe could help. I looked into the face of an old woman and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked at her again, she spat on me.”

We should all remember the George Floyd riots stemming from his death at the hands of a Minneapolis Police Officer. The riots took a toll on Minneapolis with destruction, fire and a complete avenue of lawlessness.

After his death, protests against police brutality, especially towards black people, quickly spread across the nation and the world. His dying words, “I can’t breathe”, became a rallying slogan.

Black Lives Matter came to life following his murder and I was caught in one of their demonstrations when they blocked an exit at the Mall of America, and I had to walk around almost the entire outside of the mall to get to my car.

Following his death, the City of Minneapolis settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Floyd’s family for $27 million.

But, the one that sticks with me the most is the 1992 Los Angeles riots. They began after a jury acquitted four Los Angeles police officers charged with using excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King. This was blamed on racial tension.

The Los Angeles riots were resolved after a couple of months when the California National Guard, United States military, and several federal law enforcement agencies deployed more than 10,000 of their armed first responders to assist in ending the violence.

In the end, 63 people had been killed, 2,383 injured and more than 12,000 arrested and a billion dollars of damage.

So what kind of nation do we live in? It appears that some forces are at hand to spread hate and destruction for what reason I do not know. All I know is that we are filled with hate and violence. Instead we should be filled with love and forgiveness. 

Thanks for reading!     ~Carlton