“When you take a legitimate issue and hijack it for unknown reasons, that is unacceptable to me,” Smith stated firmly, “it’s unacceptable to the Richmond Police Department, unacceptable to the city of Richmond.”
“Protesters intentionally set a fire to an occupied building on Broad Street. This is not the only occupied building that has been set fire to over the last two days. But they prohibited us from getting on scene,” Smith said. “We had to force our way to make a clear path for the fire department. Protestors intercepted that fire apparatus several blocks away with vehicles and blocked that fire department’s access to the structure fire. Inside that home was a child.”
Are we going to let unbridled anger destroy the people that we are trying to protect?
As independent observers if we seek purposeful long-term solutions that create universal peace & prosperity we must distance ourselves from the tactics of terror.
The nationwide riots are not a unified political movement but rather a compendium of grievances which have gone unresolved due to the unchecked power of the federal, state and local governments. However, they are attempts by different political groups to capitalize & direct the justifiable anger manifesting itself spontaneously. When we play the blame game we are complicit in fueling the conflict that is dividing the nation. To say one particular group or political persuasion is totally responsible for this nationwide insurrection absolves us of personal responsibility.
The Story behind the story:
Protesters walk down East Broad Street during an afternoon march Tuesday, June 2, 2020. Source ALEXA WELCH EDLUND
The sustained demonstrations, as reported by WTVR in Richmond, Virginia against the latest case of unchecked police brutality began on Friday evening. The video footage of Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd until he stopped breathing inspired hundreds of ..."protesters [to] line Broad Street and Franklin Street before making their way towards the area of the Governor’s Mansion."
They are many political interests vying to establish the moral high-ground, and use the crowd's momentum of nationwide demonstrations as a vector to push an agenda. It is difficult to ascertain the motives of everyone involved in this type of demonstration. There is growing evidence showcasing the attempt by outsiders to accelerate the chaos & mayhem.
While the motives behind the violence were unclear, there was firmer evidence that some of the protesters were coming to the demonstrations from outside the urban centers that have been the epicenter of the demonstrations.
As spectators, by necessity of the contentious events unfolding through the lens of social media we're tasked, even pressured, to choose sides in a limited debate hosted in controlled media platforms. These tense & limited conditions are not conducive to mutual understanding or meaningful change. Playing the blame-game does not produce results either, but creates enemies out of potential allies.
If we choose sides then we distance ourselves from objective truth for the sake of confirmation bias. It is politically convenient for those who seek to consolidate power to generalize & project blame onto an amorphous crowd. This confirmation bias prevents us from adopting new information that conflicts with the narrative we choose to believe in.
The unchecked power of government has created animosity toward "law & order." Moreover, the deepening division between Americans limits the possibility of opposing political groups from reaching a mutual understanding for the benefit of everyone. Paradoxically, may be by accident or by design, this has created uncertain social conditions where people are demanding for the US military to intervene and establish order.
We cant definitely say who is responsible for setting fire to a home while a child was inside...but we can at least reach a public consensus by asking: