On the George Floyd Protests

Author: Carmen Ferran

​Late last night [5/28] in response to the protests and riots in cities across the country over the failure to prosecute the police officers responsible for the murder of George Floyd, President Donald Trump tweeted:

 “…These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Waltz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!”

He then called in the National Guard.

Even though these events are not surprising, are never surprising, I simply cannot get over that phrase: When the looting starts, the shooting starts.

When the looting starts, the shooting starts.

When the looting starts, the shooting starts.

Not since White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett stated “our human capital stock is ready to get back to work” has a U.S. leader so blatantly revealed their ideology. The cards are on the table.

When the looting starts, the shooting starts.

When “thugs” steal, the police will hunt them down, because

We, the people who own the police, value private property over Black lives.

We will mourn a Target over a Black man, because

Our property is more important than he is.

Our property is more important than you are. 
 
When the looting starts, the shooting starts.

When you disrupt our means of profit, we will shoot you

with military grade weaponry, because  

your purpose for existing is to make us money.

When the looting starts, the shooting starts.

If you challenge us, we will try

To kill you.
–
If there is one blessing in all this harm, it is the affirmation that I am not the only one who is outraged. I am grateful to see the hashtags #BlackLivesMatter and #PeopleOverProperty across my social media feeds. I am lucky that a friend of mine put together a resource document of petitions to sign, organizations to donate to, and numbers to text & call to support the Minneapolis protesters. I am glad to see solidarity in action as Minneapolis bus drivers refuse to transport protesters to jail, and as veterans call on officers in the National Guard to stand down. And because of the direct action of the protesters (and only because of their direct action) Derek Chavin has been charged with 3rd degree murder and manslaughter.

There is still lots of work to do. The remaining 3 officers who were fired over Floyd’s death have yet to be charged. The family of Breonna Taylor, who was shot 8 times by officers in her own home in March, is still calling for the Louisville Police Department to be held accountable. If you want to take action in #JusticeforBreonnaTaylor, The Misidentified 4 have created the website https://justiceforbreonna.org/.

If you are like me – angry, upset, driven to work towards actual, substantial social change – there are two terms that you need to know (which, if you’ve read my other posts, you will have some familiarity with already): Racial capitalism and antimilitarism.

Racial capitalism is a term coined by Cedric Robinson in his book Black Marxism as a means of representing that the evolution of capitalism occurred alongside the development of racism, and that the two are fundamentally linked. In other words, capitalism has always depended on “slavery, violence, imperialism, and genocide”. It needs the racial other, and that primary other has always been, and always will be, Black people.

…These THUGS

Antimilitarism refers to the social movements throughout history that have advocated against militarism and the structuring of society to exist for the military, and by extension, to exist for war. An antimilitarist analysis of the riots that have occurred over the past few days would point out that the police responded to what were originally peaceful, unarmed protests in military gear before the riots broke out, and that the Minneapolis police department was trained not in deescalation but in “warrior style” response tactics. They are not trying to protect people when a building is set on fire, but are standing in front of untouched malls with guns at the ready. They are not throwing tear gas at, shooting rubber bullets at, and arresting the actual murderers, but the protesters, because the police do not exist to prevent harm. Rather, they exist to cause it in the protection of private property.

When the looting starts,

the shooting starts.

I believe that it is crucial to understand both terms if we want to do anti-racist work, to make the demands to “defund the police” and “invest in community” to become a reality. To learn more about racial capitalism, I highly recommend this article by Robin D.G. Kelley, as well as any of Cedric Robinsons works.  To learn more about antimilitarism, I recommend this transcript of my interview with Brittany DeBarros, Organizing Director of About Face: Veterans Against the War, on May 11. If you are near the sites of protest, stay safe, and keep fighting the good fight. We are with you.

In solidarity,
Carmen

Edit 6/1/2020: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/# is a site with detailed lists of where you can donate as well as other resources in multiple languages. It is extremely comprehensive and regularly updated by the admin.

Edit 6/15/2020, by WPJC: Since this piece was written, the other three officers involved in the murder of George Floyd have been charged. Lane, 37, Kueng, 26, and Thao, 34, are now charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.