Minneapolis looks like a fortress. Why?
[dropcap]In[/dropcap] advance of the trial of the police officer charged with killing George Floyd last May in Minneapolis, the city is “getting ready” for the trial. Fences. Boards. Barricades. They’re all springing up around the courthouse and other buildings.
The city is not going to let itself be accused of “not being prepared.”
Prepared for what? For “peaceful protests”? Who is kidding whom?
Mass violence was the order of the day in Minneapolis last May. It is mass violence that the city fears, and is preparing for. Truly Orwellian is the equation of these two words: “violence” and “justice.” Leaders of proposed peaceful protests during and after the trial say they cannot guarantee that the protests will be peaceful if “justice” is not done.
In a democracy, “justice,” as these protesters define it, is not a foregone conclusion. Presuming that the trial will be conducted in accord with Minnesota law, it should not be necessary to say: If the officer is convicted, justice will have been done. If the officer is acquitted, justice will have been done. In either case, justice can be further pursued through the appeals process.
Democracies do not summarily convict and punish people, however obvious the nature of their crime might be. This is exactly the difference between a democracy and a totalitarian system. Even the Nazi arch criminals of the Holocaust were not dealt with, without a legitimate trial at Nuremberg.
The US does not have show trials or kangaroo trials. It has real trials. By definition, their outcome is not to be predicted. The justice is in the law and the procedure.
Which does not mean, of course, that on occasion justice in a courtroom is not done. But if and when that happens, the answer is, in many cases, an appeal; and if and when the law does not allow for that, the answer is in legislation. If and when neither work, the answer is, yes, in public protest — but not in violent protest. Not in the destruction of property. Not in an attempt to uproot the judicial system. Of all the things Martin Luther King, Jr. stood for that are conveniently ignored these days, there is something in addition to his goal of a society based on character, not on skin color. That something is non-violence. No violent protester can claim Martin Luther King, Jr. as an inspiration, a model, an icon. No violent protester understands Martin Luther King Day.
Violence in Minneapolis, if the desired outcome of the protesters is not realized, would be no different from the violence of the insurrectionists on January 6 on account of their desired outcome, unrealized.
The January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol still makes us tremble for its blatant disrespect for, and attack on, the fundamental processes of democracy in this country. Violence in Minneapolis would partake of the same disrespect for democracy. We tremble at its prospect. There is no other way to understand the massive fencing and boarding, not to mention the plans for big numbers of additional police officers, in Minneapolis for this trial than the threat of violence.
People talk about democracy. It is not normal in a democracy to have the sacred buildings of political representation boarded up.
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