I was cooking out with my buddies Sam and Ben last weekend when the discussion turned to current events. I found the discussion enlightening and thought I’d pass it on as best I could.
Ben: “What’s your take on the whole George Floyd situation?”
Sam: “First and foremost it’s a tragedy. Floyd is not just a symbol. He was a real human being with a real family. His life was senselessly cut short, and his family is grieving. People need to remember and respect that. It’s also a tragedy for Officer Derek Chauvin. He made a bad decision and will be held accountable, rightly so. I don’t know anything about Chauvin or what kind of officer he was before but presume his life is over as he knows it and he may die in jail. So his family is torn apart too and is grieving.”
Ben: “Well said.”
After several moments of quiet the conversation resumed.
Ben: “Any other thoughts, perhaps about subsequent events?”
Sam: “It’s also a tragedy on the macro level and was totally avoidable. And the state is squarely to blame.”
Ben: “You mean Minnesota?”
Sam: “I mean the state in the classical sense of the word. The government. Rome. And since we live in a federal system, the government in D.C. and all 50 states.”
Ben: “But you already said Chauvin killed Floyd. What do the governments…”
Sam, interrupting: “The state.”
Ben: “OK, the state. What does the state have to do with that?”
Sam: “You asked me about events subsequent to Floyd’s death.”
Ben: “Go on.”
Sam: “Do you recall the name Franz Ferdinand?”
Ben: “The Archduke whose assassination led to World War I?”
Sam: “Precisely. But his assassination was just the spark that lit the Balkan powder keg. Tensions were incredibly high because of a series of decisions governments in central Europe had made. Historians will tell you that war was inevitable, and if not for Ferdinand’s murder, something else would have started it.”
Ben: “But what’s that got to do…”
Sam: “Think about what the state has done beginning in March. The state has prevented you from working, traveling, and going out to eat. Summer jobs and organized sports for teenagers have vanished into thin air. Work from home? Perhaps if you’re in a white-collar profession like attorney, journalist or computer programmer. But if you’re blue-collar and work on a factory floor, or loading dock, or beauty parlor, there is no work from home, no way to earn a living. A recent study showed that only 9 percent – 9 percent! – of those in the bottom earning quartile had the ability to work remotely. The state has basically given the middle finger to the working poor.
So you’re living paycheck to paycheck, and maybe have a couple of weeks savings to live on, maybe even a couple of months, but the lockdown has stretched to 90 days and you’re getting desperate. The unemployment rate is the highest since the Great Depression. Outside, temperatures are starting to rise. And all the time you’re not working you know congressmen, senators, and governors are paying themselves. You’re about at the breaking point.
All of a sudden an employee of the state kills an unarmed man. And as you gather outside to watch and protest, perhaps peacefully at first, you realize that the state has told all of us to wear masks – no one knows who I am. It would be funny were it not so tragic. You can’t make this up.”
Ben: “So you’re saying the actions of the rioters are justified?”
Sam: “No, I’m not. Destruction of private property is never justified. By destroying and looting, rioters are hurting those who are as innocent as they are, those whose businesses have been shut down as well. Their beef is with the state, not private citizens or businesses. But private citizens and businesses offer easy targets. The state has now turned those whose freedoms have been denied into criminals.”
Ben: “Now I’m just depressed.”
Sam: “I don’t blame you. But there is one thing to be thankful for. In America, in a democracy, the state doesn’t kill protestors. The state may not be handling the protests perfectly, and may be letting things get out of hand, but we recognize the right to peaceful protest. If this were China or North Korea the protestors would never be heard from again.”
Ben: “Don’t you think that’s a bit extreme?”
Sam: “Do you remember Tiananmen Square? If you do, it’s because you live in a democracy. There’s no mention of it in Chinese history books, all digital records of it have been destroyed in China, and the Tank Man has disappeared.”
Ben: “Anything else?”
Sam: “Just this. A name you may not recall is Gavrilo Princip. Princip is the man who shot and killed Franz Ferdinand. He later died in jail of TB in 1918. The same year the Spanish Flu erupted. History may not repeat itself – the riots ain’t World War I, and COVID is a blip on the radar compared to the Spanish Flu – but it often rhymes.”
Kelley Williams Jr. is a Northsider.
