Having seen up close and personal the Civil Rights era marches, the police over reactions and riotous conduct in reaction thereto, the antiwar movement demos, the 1968 Chicago riots, the cities or Detroit and DC burning, being called foul names and spit upon when in uniform during the 70s, I’ve been trying to formulate some answers to my 20-something aged grandchildren about yesterday.

I’m prepared for:

– Why did this happen?
– Why do they believe this?
– What should we consider doing?

Questions I am currently clueless on include what if it were one of us? (We all know the answer, but I’m not prepared to answer it now. Maybe ever?)

So here goes:

Imagine.

Imagine the rioters were a few shades darker and carrying a flag with Islamic writing on it instead of the other enemy battle flag of the racist loser traitorous confederacy. What would we have done?

Most people aren’t calling for police brutality against these criminals. They’re pointing out that police can and do in fact seem to be able to handle protests without violence. Not me. I’m not a good guy. There would be one standing order. I choose violence. Swift. Unrelenting. Total War on all those inside the building.

Now to change the chat’s direction:

If it were you, law enforcement would have responded much more forcefully, and more people would have gotten hurt. We all know that’s unjust, but that’s the way life often still is. Life ain’t fair.

But this event actually is about all of us not some amorphous them. That was an attack on the cops in D.C., and it was an attack on the rich and no-so-rich kids in the suburbs too, and their families, and everybody else — even including most of the people who’ve supported this President. That was an attack on our right to decide on who our leaders will be, and what laws they’ll pass, and the principles that make it even possible for us to talk about what it’d have been like if it had been you instead of a bunch of Trumpers. There are very, very few things that are bigger than the need to achieve equality and justice for Black Americans — but this is one of them. And on this one, I actually can say confidently: Just watch. Those involved lost yesterday, after all, and they’re going to lose a lot more.

Now it must be said that of the hundreds of thousands of folks on the Mall they were overwhelmingly peaceful.

Yet . . . what’s all that orange in these online photos? It’s not fire, is it? Now, were these photos characteristic of “most” protests? Probably not. Admittedly I wasn’t counting. However, was there a lot of violence at many of them? Yep. How about Trump’s four years of rallies. Would it piss folks off if I stated that most of these were overwhelmingly peaceful? Well, they were. Lots of bullshit spewed but not violent. Does that excuse yesterday as some sort of one-off? Obviously not.

Anarchy and lawlessness are the same whether committed by leftist or right-wingers. They’re both criminal, dangerous, anti-Democratic, anti-American and despicable.

Yeah, I’ll say it out loud — “both sides” do it and they’re equally wrong. One side doesn’t hold the high moral ground no matter how much they try to convince themselves they do.

Yesterday was total bullshit to the tenth power beyond anything in my living memory or historical reading. There must be consequences. I am too old to exact them. This will be your job from here on.

PS This is not the apocalypse. I hope you remain happy going forward.

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