Will Somebody Please Take Back Our Streets?

This article first appeared in New English Review.

Being retired from law enforcement (US Military Police, US Customs, and DEA), I have very strong opinions about the death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests and rioting.

First of all, there is no excuse for what that Minneapolis police officer (now ex-police officer) did to Mr Floyd. He should definitely be prosecuted as well as the three other cops who did not have the courage to stop the actions.

Secondly, I support both the right and intentions of those who have been marching peacefully.

However, I absolutely condemn the actions of those who have taken advantage of the incident to wreak havoc on our cities. Rioting, burning, looting, and assaulting innocent police officers is never acceptable. The takeover of a 6-square-block section of Seattle by anarchists must be stopped now by any legal means necessary. Unfortunately, Seattle, like virtually every other major city, is run by Democrats. In addition, the actions of the Seattle mayor and chief of police have been disgraceful. That runs true for most of the other cities hit by rioting.

On that thought, if you want to blame Republican or conservative politicians for the plight of our cities, here is a breakdown on who the mayors and police chiefs are.

Despite the actions of the four ex-cops in Minneapolis, I still support our police. Thousands of innocent police officers are paying the price for what happened to Mr Floyd. Some have been killed, but you won't see the Al Sharptons speaking at their funerals. No video-taped messages from Joe Biden. The mantra of white cops wantonly killing black citizens is a lie based on a few anecdotal cases. Unfortunately we live in a violent society where police encounters sometimes turn deadly for both white suspects, black suspects, and the police themselves. While my natural inclination is to support the police, the Minneapolis case is an exception.

What I do not support are chiefs of police who vacate their precincts and turn them over to the anarchists (Minneapolis and Seattle). What I do not support are those few officers who have chosen to take a knee in the face of hostile protesters. That also happened in Sweden this past week when a female cop knelt before the Black Lives Matter-inspired protesters with her fist raised. If I were still in law enforcement, I would never work with those cops.

Today, we are left wondering if our political leaders are really going to surrender to the mobs. Even the defund the police movement, instead of being laughed off, is being considered by many of our Democrat mayors. The feckless mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, has already announced that over $100 million will be taken out of the LAPD budget and used "in the black community". No specifics were given. The city council of Minneapolis is determined to abolish the Minneapolis PD altogether. It's insanity, but it's happening.

I want also to turn to our universities because I spent some 20 years teaching part-time at the University of California at Irvine (1998-2016). It is hardly surprising that the campuses are being turned upside down (again). The campus newspapers are filled with tributes to Black Lives Matters, both as a concept and the movement that bears the name. Naturally, any contrary thought is verboten.
Already, certain professors who are not willing to march in lockstep are being ostracized by students and their own faculty colleagues. Take accounting professor Gordon Klein at UCLA, for example. He refused a black student's request to cancel final exams for black students because of the ongoing trauma caused by the Floyd killing. He has been threatened, and police have to guard his home after  his refusal was splashed across campus.

Take William Jacobson, law professor at Cornell and who runs the blog, Legal Insurrection. He wrote critically about Black Lives Matters in his blog, and now the campus is in a turmoil. His own law school colleagues joined in a letter denouncing him, and even the dean of the law school, Eduardo Peñalver, issued a statement denouncing Jacobson's language as being against the values of the law school-while defending his free speech rights. At the same time, Dave Collum, a chemistry professor at Cornell, is under similar fire for saying that the Buffalo incident where a protester was pushed to the ground was not police brutality. I, like many others, have written to the president of Cornell, Martha Pollack, and the dean of the law school. Here are their emails: (Please be civil.)

president@cornell.edu
eduardo.penalver@cornell.edu

None of this is surprising given the Maoist culture that pervades our universities while administrators hide under their desks. The intimidation and thought control has spread from the universities to our cities and back to the universities. Nobody can criticize Black Lives Matters. Not our political leaders, not our religious leaders, not our universities, not our media. Nor can anyone proclaim that, in spite of our racial problems, that America is not a racist country.

But out here in the real world, there is a legitimate discussion going on as to the true nature of Black Lives Matters and its true goals. Are they a peaceful civil rights movement striving for reform? Or are they dedicated to fomenting anarchy and violence? Are they simply marching peacefully against police brutality? Or are some of them involved in the rioting? As to Antifa, there is no doubt about those anarchists. We have seen them all too often before, both here and in Europe. There is little question that Antifa and Black Lives Matter are connected and working together in some fashion. Why is it that we can question Antifa, but not Black Lives Matters? Why is it that we cannot have that discussion and ask those questions on a college campus? (It's a rhetorical question.)

Make no mistake: We can lose the United States of America. If you think that's impossible, remember the Soviet Union and how fast and suddenly it collapsed. Look at what has happened in Europe especially since 2015. Many are saying that Europe is already gone and will eventually become something called Eurabia as more Muslims pour in from the Middle East and Africa-with no intention of assimilating. With us it is our precious freedoms that are at stake. The freedom to speak out against rioting, anarchism, and thought control. This is another reminder that our First Amendment is under attack-just as the Second Amendment is under attack. Our lives are in danger of changing very quickly and very radically unless we are willing to fight for our country.

Nobody is defending what happened to George Floyd, and I'm sure that is especially true among our police. They know better. The anger is understandable, but these violent actions by both whites and blacks cannot be tolerated any longer. It's time to take back our streets and deal with the anarchists.