The Deviant Dispatch: In Defense of Burning and Looting
In the wake of the George Floyd protests, are people not worth more than property?
Hello Deviants,
Welcome to The Deviant Dispatch, your guide to culture that defies the norm. And it’s time to talk about one norm that was violated in Minnesota Wednesday night: protest norms.
There’s the “right” way to protest: peacefully, with a permit and cooperation from the police, no vandalizing, looting, or leaving permeant damage to property, preferably even silently via a sit in. “Just be like MLK!”
The “wrong” way is to really make a mess. To throw bricks through windows. To set fire to buildings. To block roads so people can’t get where they would otherwise go. To loot and steal from the businesses who advocate tirelessly for their own interests and tax write offs but whose lobbyists are silent when people are killed in the streets.
But first, some context. There’s a slim chance that your newsfeed hasn’t been totally overrun and you might be confused why I’m not talking about movies and music rn. George Floyd was a black man buying groceries. The police got a call from a clerk that someone was trying to use a counterfeit 20. The police approached Mr. Floyd sitting outside in the van and told him to get out of the car. Even though all available footage showed Mr. Floyd obeying the police, he still ended up with an officer’s knee on his neck. He died crying to police that he couldn’t breathe as passerby begged the police to let him up. He died in the street, on video to be shared across the internet like a fucking meme. This has happened before. TBH it’s been happening far too regularly after Trayvon Martin’s death in 2013, with no changes in sight.
At this point in our story the script stays pretty normal: protestors gather to try and hold the police accountable. It’s a tried and true method, one that gets appreciative nods from white people like me usually coupled with a “it’s such a shame” with no meaningful change after. (very similar to our school shooting routine)
In Minappolis, where George Floyd is from, the protesters did it the “wrong” way. They looted a Target. They set nearby big box chains and half-built buildings on fire. As I watched footage via Instagram stories of people on the ground, with a leaked copy of Chromatica playing in the background, I was filled with a sense of hope. To me, while this isn’t exactly a positive development, it’s a necessary and justified one.
On the micro level looting the Target makes sense. Reportedly the protestors were turned away when they tried to buy milk (helpful antidote to pepper spray) from that location earlier. Once the looting started, activists brought out milk and water for others to use while the protests continued. Some people left with nerf guns and other random shift, but who doesn’t deserve a free nerf gun right now?
Target has a corporate headquarters in Minneapolis, aka they have a vested interested in the state and the well-being of it’s citizens. If Target leaves the state, there will be a loss of jobs and income to the state. Since MONEY is the ONLY thing that matters in America, putting the heat on a multi-million corp target encourages them to put the heat on the gov of MN. Now Target could say, “ok the police in MN are totally whiffing: first they’re killing unarmed black men in the street and NOW they’re letting our stores be ransacked? We need police reform.” Target could also decide they can’t do business in Minneapolis anymore and leave, hurting the state government. You could argue that this would hurt the people in the state as well, but clearly they’re not feeling loved by their local government anyway. The idea that the government will help local citizens has all but dissolved.
We know that a central thrust in capitalist American thinking is the economy and profits over else. Look at the president trying to open up the country before it’s ready, Covid-19 death rates to be dammed. Look at the protestors begging state governments to open up, without a wiff of pepper spray by the police. After 7 years of protesting more or less peacefully with no response from the government, no comprehensive police reform, no change in the justice system that jails and harms black people at disproportionally large rates, it’s clear that we need to up the ante. Since America values profits and property so deeply, why not target the things it holds dear in order to get attention.
With a Government that kills black people for nonviolent offense without trail, whose inaction around the spread of Covid-19 lead to disproportionally higher rates of death for Black people, who have failed to provide meaningful long-lasting economic relief for black people (who disproportionally make up the poor) affected by Covid-19, enough has to be enough.
The video of Angela Davis is worth watching in full, but here’s a pull quote: “When someone asks me about violence, I just find it incredible, because what it means it’s that the person has absolutely no idea what black people have gone through.” After continued violence by the state, when will you stop turning the other cheek? When will it be time to give the wrong way a try? What is that point on the map that’s too far, where retaliation becomes justified? Has it not already passed?
That’s it for this week’s dispatch. Normally Friday’s newsletter is available to only paying subscribers but this is a freebie. If you found this valuable please let me know or consider forwarding this email to a pal! If you’re the pal please subscribe. I write twice a week: once about upcoming worthy events and once about worthy subjects of my choosing. If you care about Drag Queens, illegal concerts, Charli XCX, and John Waters, you’ll definitely want to read The Deviant Dispatch.