I was asked about BLM, so I answered. I don’t think recycling the Black Panther’s Marxist plan is going to work any better for BLM than it did for the Panthers in 1968. If the goal of the organization is to actually gain popular support, and bring about effective, lasting change, they are probably going to need to have a message that will appeal to mainstream Americans.
I caught that on the morning after rioting, looting, and assaults, we should just dismiss it as a bit of broken glass, of no importance. But anyone with eyes knows that it is much more than that. My concern is not that walmart gets looted. They are part of the problem. Or an attack on a police station. You have a beef with the cops, an attack on the station would be direct action. I am concerned with the workers at businesses that get looted and torched, especially if they are at the place when it is attacked. I am particularly concerned that the rioting might one day move into a neighborhood where the residents are prepared to defend their property and families. There could be a bunch of escalated violence. How will we step back from that?
I guess it gets to the long-term goals of the movement. A focused and inclusive campaign against police violence might actually achieve solutions.
I think it is pretty troubling that my expressing skepticism on the tactics of BLM in respect to the real problem of excess police violence so quickly devolves into my receiving some pretty mean spirited personal attacks.
