David Sullivan lives in the neighborhood and spent the morning walking around with his kitchen broom, sweeping up the last bits of glass. Sullivan, who is black, participated in the protests the night before. He said a handful of “knuckleheads” and “youngsters” ruined the event by getting violent: “It’s not the people actually standing up for the cause.”
Both his parents are police officers, so he is conflicted. But he understands where some of the rage comes from: “They tried the peaceful way for years, with Colin Kaepernick and all that, and that got us nowhere, so people are mad about that.”
Still, he thinks rioters’ anger is misplaced: “The business owners don’t deserve all this. They’re just trying to make a living, just like all of us.”
By nightfall Saturday, the anger and frustration again seethed into Dallas’ streets, when a violent contingent eclipsed peaceful protesters. Rioters expanded their territory, moving through downtown Dallas and Deep Ellum into the fashionable Uptown neighborhood and across major freeways, prompting closures.
Police estimate 700 nonviolent protesters gathered at 4:30 p.m. in front of Dallas Police Department Headquarters. But as afternoon faded to evening, some participants began destroying property, damaging police cars, spray painting public monuments and buildings, and breaking windows. Video circulated on social media of a white business owner with a sword charging at rioters, who beat him unconscious with fists, rocks, and a skateboard.
Looters came out in force Saturday night, robbing a cigar shop and a Whole Foods store, among other businesses. Just before midnight Saturday, Dallas Police reported arresting 89 people and recovering three guns and one stun gun.
Some of Dallas’ top leaders are black, including its mayor, police chief, and district attorney. On Saturday night, Chief of Police U. Renee Hall admonished her city on Twitter: “We work together to build a stronger Dallas, a stronger Texas, a stronger United States of America, but it does not happen by tearing up property and hurting people, and it will not be tolerated in the city of Dallas.”
Dallas advocacy group Next Generation Action Network is planning another George Floyd rally and march for Monday evening.
Comments
AlanE
Posted: Mon, 06/01/2020 11:50 pmI want to give David Sullivan some space to say his piece in a difficult time. I agree with him wholeheartedly that "It’s not the people actually standing up for the cause [who were rioting].”
I disagree some with the sentiment expressed in the next paragraph, but I want to disagree gently.
“They tried the peaceful way for years, with Colin Kaepernick and all that, and that got us nowhere, so people are mad about that.”
I will grant the Colin Kaepernick's way is a peaceful way (at least in an outward sense). I don't agree with all of it, but it is peaceful. I disagree with the "that got us nowhere" part, though. And, while Kaepernick's method has been peaceful, there have certain been contemporaneous examples where the protesting has not been peaceful.
It's easy for me to understand someone who sees the George Floyd tragedy and feels like none of the peaceful protesting (or anything else) accomplished anything. But, just because something happens again does not mean nothing was gained in the interim. To the contrary, I saw more white folks than ever before rise up and express feelings of disgust at what happened to George Floyd--although I'm not sure it was all the protesting that got us to that point, though I will allow that the protests helped raise some awareness.
In America, we have a right to protest. But, I'm not sure that protesting is a very efficient means of bringing about the change we hope to see. It's kind of like parents yelling at their kid who isn't doing what the parents want--it accomplishes certain things but only with downsides to accompany whatever is accomplished. I don't think the Bible offers much support for protest as a useful vehicle for building bridges between estranged peoples.
For the record, the casting of blame we often hear from whites is probably even worse.