The Fine Line between ’Civilization’ and Anarchy – The George Floyd riots

Jun 07, 2020 News

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By Glenville Ashby, PhD

As echoes of the 1965 Watts Riots, the 1968 Washington D.C., Riots, and the 1991 LA Riots erupt through dozens of US cities, academicians, politicians and laypersons struggle to come to terms with the violent reaction to the murder of George Floyd by a police officer. No one could look at the video of Floyd’s death without revulsion, that everyone agrees. But as legitimate protests surrender to those bent on laying waste to order and security, we are left with a host of questions, none more so than the issue of institutionalized prejudice and the deprivation of large segments of society. Unquestionably, a genuine discussion on race relations in the US is paramount and can no longer be swept under the rug. Centuries of democracy have failed to correct structural inequities, a failure shared by every political party. Interestingly, “Black Lives Matter” was birthed during the administration of a Black president and a Black attorney general. Indeed, telling.

I believe, like Jean Jacques Rousseau, that man by nature is good, that kindness trumps material achievements and, in times past, benevolence and sound governance did prevail. Rousseau envisioned a society, a general will that was once void of egoism and driven by compassion. Overtime, though, society has eroded that goodness by entrenched, systemic injustice that derails hopes and dreams; that society has devolved into a state of unnaturalness. Society has turned on its head creating, many argue, a Hobbesian culture that warehouses the poor while corrupting the soul of men. We have become predatory and unforgiving, “poor, nasty and brutish.” It is against this backdrop that apologists for leftist violence base their manifesto. They are the promoters of an apoplectic response to social injustice, and champion that the order of things must be shaken, torn down, and replaced by a new Zeitgeist. But as some march toward anarchy, we caution of the finest of lines that separate order from mindless, unpredictable destruction.
No less a personage than Karl Marx warned against the lumpenproletariat, a small percentage of rogues (today’s anarchists) that stymie the revolution we deserve. Anarchists have hijacked legitimate protests to advance their own agenda. Protesting the death of George Floyd was never on their agenda. Theirs is a counter cultural message, a violence-based strategy bent on uprooting social institutions. With over two hundred businesses gutted in Minneapolis and scores of fires ignited throughout the city, recovery is that more foreboding given the contraction of the economy. As in the case of every riot in the US, cities already deprived are hardest hit. Then, to what end should anarchy be ever accommodated? Social activists in economically challenged communities have seen through the self-serving agenda of these operatives who cross state lines to peddle their poisonous wares.
Anarchy is a social phenomenon that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed. Seemingly at odds with his renowned ‘I have a Dream’ speech, some hold that he was empathetic to rioting when he spoke at the American Psychology Annual Convention in 1967. He said, “Urban riots should be understood. Urban riots are a special form of violence. They are not insurrections. The rioters are not seeking to seize territory or to attain control of institutions…[Urban riots] are a distorted form of social protest…”
Notably, he made a distinction between social rage and insurrection (anarchy).
The latter, he noted, “has no social function.”
In similar vein, we must not cede ground to those that do not have the genuine interests of poor communities.
A milquetoast, pandering approach to mob rule by city and state leaders leaves law-abiding citizens defenceless. Moreover, it is an abdication of their constitutional duty to protect their citizenry. Sadly, the horse has left the barn making the restoration of order that more difficult.
The case of Black firefighter, Korboi Balla, a resident of Minneapolis, best demonstrates this point. Balla, who was set to open a sports bar, saw his accomplishments engulfed in flames. He can only muster, “I don’t know what we’re going to do. It hurts, man. It’s not fair, it’s not right. We’ve been working so hard for this place. It’s not just for me, it’s for my family.”
This is but one of many depressing tales of small businesses already reeling from the COVID-19 outbreak. Since the outbreak of violence in that city, some 250 businesses have been vandalised or gutted.
Of the carnage, Minneapolis Mayor, Jacob Frey, commented, “What we’ve seen over the last two days, and the emotion-ridden conflict over last night, is the result of so much built-up anger and sadness, anger and sadness that has been ingrained in our Black community not just because of five minutes of horror but 400 years. If you’re feeling that sadness and that anger, it’s not only understandable. It’s a reflection of the truth that our Black community has lived. While not from lived experience, that sadness must also be understood by our non-Black communities. To ignore it, to toss it out, would be to ignore the values we all claim to have.”
While this is true, in no way does it justify looting and destruction of property. Surely, we are not all brutes that Hobbes will have us believe. The images of residents picking up the pieces of what’s left are telling. Atlanta Mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, responding to the unrest in her city, said, “We are better than this as a country.”
I couldn’t agree more.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of this newspaper.)
Feedback: glenvilleashby@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter@glenvilleashby

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