Dear editor,
In “Writer encourages ‘power of the purse,’” Opinion, WP&R, May 26, Orlando Alfonso made some reasonable points regarding balancing powers between the executive branch, the courts, federal agencies and the states.
But he went off the rails when he referred to the Black Lives Matter protests as “the BLM/Antifa riots,” while the riot at the capital on Jan 6, 2020, was a “much less destructive election protest.” In this careful choice of language, did the writer reveal some ethnic or racial prejudice? Or was it a careless choice applied to what should be a very serious topic?
Suppose we multiplied the Jan. 6 riot by 7,500, roughly the number of BLM protests, would we then regard it as “much less destructive,” just a protest? How many lives would be lost, officers injured, doors forced and offices defiled?
Anyone wanting to get some perspective on the risk of violence in BLM protests can begin, as I did, with a few sources such as those following below.
Harmeet Kaur, About 93 percent of racial justice protests in the U.S. have been peaceful, a new report finds. CNN. Sept. 4, 2020. https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/04/us/blm-protests-peaceful-report-trnd/index.html
Greenberg, John and Noah Y. Kim. Black Lives Matter protests and the Capitol assault: Comparing the police response. Politifact, Jan. 8, 2021. https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/jan/08/black-lives-matter-protests-and-capitol-assault-co/
Kerby Goff and John D. McCarthy. Critics claim BLM protests were more violent than 1960s civil rights ones. That’s just not true. Washington Post, Oct. 12, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/10/12/critics-claim-blm-was-more-violent-than-1960s-civil-rights-protests-thats-just-not-true/
Tom Kertscher. No proof that Black Lives Matter killed 36 people, injured 1,000 police officers. Politifact. Aug. 7, 2020. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/aug/07/facebook-posts/no-proof-black-lives-matter-killed-36-people-injur/
Gary Palmer of Nevada City, California
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