The riots in the United States have continued for the sixth day. More than thirty states and more than seventy settlements have been drawn into the orbit of street violence. Some cities included units of the national guard. There are several dead and dozens of injured on both sides. It all started with a relatively peaceful protest in Minneapolis over the murder of black George Floyd during his police arrest.
This is not new to America. Racial riots stemming from police brutality against African Americans erupt overseas regularly. Quite often they turn into pogroms and clashes with representatives of the law and order. But so that 37 cities burst into flames almost simultaneously and that less than a day passed from the outbreak of angry crowds to the beginning of the violent phase of protest - this, perhaps, has not happened since 1967-1968.
Everywhere, approximately the same scenario of riots is being implemented, the same slogans are being heard, well known from the smaller riots of 2014-2015. One of these slogans - “Black Lives Matter” (BLM) - even became the name of a rather radical social movement. But other "chants" - "Hands up - do not shoot!", "No justice - no peace!", "I can not breathe" - five or six years ago already sounded on the streets of Ferguson, St. Louis, New York and Baltimore. However, these are just the words of the angry protesters that are being broadcast by sympathetic media. Much more often law enforcement officers, representatives of the press and simply unwitting witnesses hear calls to kill police officers, smash administrative buildings and rob "rich cats".
Much of the unrest is in liberal cities and states, ruled by Democratic governors and mayors for decades. Many of them are in no hurry to condemn the protesters, although they say from time to time about "the inadmissibility of the escalation of violence." Minnesota eventually imposed a curfew and imposed National Guard units, but State Attorney General Keith Ellison, on live national television, essentially justified the riots by citing Martin Luther King King (of course, greatly misrepresenting his words).
And the mayor of the District of Columbia, Muriel Bowser, has ordered the subordinate police not to apprehend the rioters and not to participate in the protection of federal buildings. As a result, Secret Service and park police stood up to defend the White House and various departments. In Washington and other cities, some, as we would say, plainclothes law enforcement officers were also spotted. Who these people are - undercover police officers, employees of private security firms or some volunteers - is still unclear. But they are increasingly flickering in the footage of the clashes between rioters and the forces of law and order.
In some places, grim middle-aged white boys armed with semi-automatic weapons took over to guard shops and other property. Neither police nor protesters risk being approached. But this is for now. If there is an armed clash between civilians, then the matter will not be figurative, but very real will smell like civil war.
Generally speaking, every massive racial riot in the United States that spreads throughout the country is already a small civil war. But this is also big politics. The poor and oppressed blacks have been used by cunning puppeteers for their political ends. Ever since the 1960s, since the presidency of Lyndon Johnson, the Democratic Party of the United States has relied on the formation of the "electoral machine" of African Americans and deftly turned all injustice against Americans of color to their advantage. And since then, the primitive propaganda logic has been working properly: "Vote for the Democrats, because the Republicans are racists."
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But until recently, out-of-control black performances were brutally suppressed. Mayors and governors may have poured promises about African Americans, but they never questioned the security officials' efforts to suppress the riot. The media in the 1960s and 70s kept repeating about the "systemic racism of the police", but until a certain time did not agree with the pogromists and looters. Even America's first black president, Barack Obama, spoke of the riots and arson in Ferguson and Baltimore (in 2014 and 2015, respectively) as unacceptable. Yet it was under him that the Democrats finally recognized the radical organizations of black Americans as "theirs."
Obama, from the very beginning of his presidency, formed a friendship with the author of the slogan "No justice - no peace" Reverend Al Sharpton. He really is a pastor in some church, but everyone has long forgotten which one. Because Al is better known as a professional provocateur and organizer of riots. Rumor has it that it was he who convinced George Soros that it was worth investing big money in BLM. These are, of course, rumors, but Soros himself has never hidden the fact that he is financing this organization.
Soros was not allowed to go to the Congress and the President for a cannon shot, but Al Sharpton and BLM leaders often visited Obama, took pictures together on the steps of the White House in the Rose Garden, and the media happily showed their protocol conversations with the first black president about “systemic racism”and“police brutality”.
After the riots in Ferguson and New York in 2014, liberal media began to seriously promote the idea of educating an ultra-left wing within the Democratic Party, which will be represented by "young millennial politicians" in Congress, and on the streets - black activists, students and antifa. Well, the plan was successful. Today, perhaps the loudest voices on Capitol Hill belong to the so-called team - a group of young congressmen led by the socialist Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. Well, today we see the actions of the left ultras and BLM on the streets of cities more than clearly.
However, the current riots are not the first significant "achievement" of the left-wing liberal street. In 2016, the same bunch - students, left-wing radicals and BLM cells - managed to disrupt Trump's mass rally in Chicago, and later to arrange several exemplary beatings of Donald's supporters leaving his campaign events. The same forces staged a "monument fall" in 2017-2018 on university campuses and in city squares. An attempt by right-wing activists to defend a monument to a Confederate general in Charlottesville, Virginia led to bloody clashes with the full connivance of local police.
Since then, liberal politicians and the media have acted according to one well-established scheme. A couple of sluggish words about "vandals who have attached themselves", long heated monologues about "systemic racism" (not only in the police, but in the United States as a whole), justifying the riots with "legitimate anger" and further - accusing Donald Trump as a person who " instills an atmosphere of hatred in society”, and he himself is“the main racist of the country”. And if water cannons, tear gas and batons can be used against the crowd, then it is extremely difficult to act against the media choir.
But, perhaps, a definite turning point will come in the struggle between the “impossible Trump” and the left ultras. On Sunday evening, the White House host tweeted that he would declare antifa a terrorist organization. He tried to push a similar initiative through the Senate back in 2019, but then the Republican senators did not agree. Apparently, now the corresponding norm will be introduced by a presidential decree. Only at first glance it seems like an empty idea, and the president's words are too vague. There is one important subtlety here. If the decree is signed, the Ministry of Finance will finance all organizations that may be related to antifa. And then Mr. Soros and other sponsors of the left ultras will have a hard time. So it was hardly an emotional, impulsive decision. Trump once again took advantage of the situation and made a move,to which now his ill-wishers must be answered.
Another thing is that this is an aggravation of the already tense situation in the country. Apparently, the White House decided that it was just the right time for aggravation. Well, now let's ask the most important question that has long troubled Americans and not only them. Is systemic racism really inherent in America? Well, the short answer to this question is yes.
That's just not so simple with this very American racism. Yes, the police disproportionately arrest and kill blacks. And in prisons they are disproportionately represented. But the vast majority of arrests, sentences and, alas, the use of force by the police are acquitted. It's just that the crime rate among African Americans is much higher than among whites, Asians, and even Latinos. And they live in districts where there are almost no social elevators, except for criminal ones. Therefore, the police enter such neighborhoods, being on their guard - they have already learned from bitter experience.
And among African Americans, mistrust and even hatred of the police and "these whites" is cultivated almost from a young age. Black racism is no less prevalent than white racism, and even has a certain legitimacy. On national TV, one might well say, "The white guys are the problem." But, of course, this cannot be said publicly about blacks. And white Americans are involuntarily imbued with distrust of the topic of black lawlessness. Some are even beginning to feel a kind of quiet hatred towards black fellow citizens. And the circle closes.
Democratic politicians are happy with this state of affairs. Because if black Americans get out of constant poverty and crime, get rid of fear of the law and become “like everyone else”, the dominance of Democrats in the major cities of both coasts will come to an end.
So, if African Americans get anything from riots and clashes with the police, it will be bruises and broken ribs. Perhaps the smartest will get it on free TV from nearby Walmart. But all of them together will need a miracle for something to really radically change in the United States.
Dmitry Drobnitsky