When I was in Richmond for the gun rally in January, the Governor and Mayor had police swarming around the capital. Five helicopters were in view at one time, with agents holding rifles in their open doors. Snipers and armed men were on rooftops all around Capitol Square.
There wasn’t even a hint of violence, or property damage. The crowd cleaned up its own trash.
For the last two months, people’s businesses have been closed under the pretense that social distancing is a necessity, under penalty of arrest.
There’s been minimal resistance of even the most civil variety.
Last night, a mob – which was conspicuously failing to socially distance – trashed and vandalized numerous streets of our city, destroyed stores, set fire to police cars and public buses, and discharged firearms both into the air and into those buses.
Neither the Commonwealth nor the city’s leadership could muster the courage to resist this leftist riot, which has far more to do with resentful antifa yuppies than it does Richmond’s black community.
I am hurt by the damage done to my city. But I don’t hold the mob in near the contempt I have for our Governor and local “leadership.” I’m am enraged. These are overgrown children playing Model UN status games so they can impress their friends on their irrelevant social ladder, but they don’t want one iota of the responsibility that goes with being in such a position. This is real life, not SimCity, and real damage is being done to life, property, and the social fabric of our homes while our leadership does little more than chide rioters with the most patronizing bullshit:
“So last night, like many cities across the country, we saw a lot of individuals express their frustration and that pain, and as a country, we’ve always expressed that pain by exercising our First Amendment rights and there were individuals who showed up to protest and I understand where they are coming from with that pain and feel that pain and that hurt.” – Mayor Levar Stoney
What utter condescension. People are apparently so infantile and weak, they can hardly be held responsible for their chaotic criminality. It’s just an “expression of pain.”
No, Mayor. They were firing guns on Belvidere last night. Where were the helicopters? Where were the agents on the roofs to restore order? You had them there to keep *me* from getting out of control.
Apparently, a crowd is only accountable for the consequences of bad behavior if they’re on the right side of the political spectrum. Is the message that only people on the political right are capable of moral responsibility? Is everyone else an infant?
If that isn’t our belief, then our effete leadership should either grow a spine and start treating public criminality appropriately, or they should resign their positions in favor of someone who will.
– Ben
