Demonstrators in New York City, November 2014, during the Ferguson protests. (The All-Nite Images / CC BY-SA, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)
I am a member of the League and I am sharing my response to Mr. David Lazarus after reading his column in the Los Angeles Times on June 2, 2020, “Stores may be insured for looting. But guess who pays in the end (hint: you).”
Mr. Lazarus:
Respectfully, your headline should read “We Will All Pay More for Ongoing Unpunished Racism.” After all, there was no looting or burning before this latest televised murder of yet another unarmed Black man at the hands of the police.
I abhor the violence and destruction of property that has been occurring since Mr. George Floyd’s brutal, senseless murder. And I make no excuses for it. But I do have three comments to make to you.
- Non-violent and peaceful protests have gotten Black people's careers destroyed, as it did with Colin Kaepernick, and even caused demonstrators to be attacked and killed as it did so, so many times during the era of Dr. Martin Luther King’s non-violent protests.
- There are many individuals and groups who thrive on the opportunity to loot, burn, and destroy. They use Black non-violent protests and demonstrations to hide behind; then they lash out so that the peaceful demonstrators will surely be blamed since all Black people are seen as one group, which is also a racist belief and viewpoint.
- Physical property and assets can be replaced and rebuilt, but a life once taken is gone forever.
Does it take destruction of physical assets to stop these brutal murders by the police? What will it take to stop police brutality toward Black people in this country? Do you have the answer? I don’t. I am a Black mother with an adult son who lives in fear every day of his chance encounter with an angry racist policeman.
—Kay Adams
