The Truth About BLM Riot Arrests
Whenever one makes a critical comment about the January 6th Capitol attack to someone on the Right, their favorite deflection is to say, “But what about the Black Lives Matter riots?”
The assumption and talking point is that those who participated in riots associated with Black Lives Matter got away with their rioting and looting and vandalism scot-free while police looked on.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The following are stories and statistics I have culled from various news sources, but before I get to that, it is important to point out — one more time — the apples-and-oranges kind of argument the Right is making here. Once again, it’s a false equivalency.
The BLM marchers were protesting racial injustice and police brutality, which had been seen in several cases in recent years and culminated in the George Floyd case. It was not the marchers who were breaking into stores and lighting fires, but angry interlopers who took advantage of the situation to do their deeds. And, for sure, the worst crimes — destroying government property, vandalism, looting, resisting arrest, etc. — deserved punishment.
But to take part in a riot that attempted to subvert election results and overturn democracy — all the while also looting and vandalizing government property and assaulting police officers — is quite another kettle of fish. The seriousness of the crimes is not equal. Buildings and cars can be replaced, but once democracy is gone . . . game over.
But let me get to the other claim: that BLM rioters “got away with it.”
In fact, across the nation in the weeks after the George Floyd murder, about 14,000 protesters were arrested. Most were for misdemeanor offenses like violating curfew, trespassing, unlawful assembly, failure to disperse, resisting arrest, and such. But there have been several hundred arrests for federal offenses, such as looting, use of explosives, looting, vandalism, and the like. These carry stiffer sentences.
Pew Research found that, although there was a higher percentage of white protesters at BLM marches, most of those arrested were Black. And Blacks were more likely to be arrested, convicted, and given lengthier prison sentences — proving the exact point of the marches! Furthermore, there were over 12,000 complaints during BLM protests that the police used excessive force — rubber bullets, tear gas, and “kettling” (surrounding protesters so they couldn’t leave, and then charging them for violating curfew, for example).
In fact, if you compare the January 6th riot with the BLM march in Washington DC seven months before, DC police made five times as many arrests at the BLM march than they did at the Capitol uprising.
It raises the question: What do you think would have happened if BLM protesters had attacked the Capitol?
Most of the violent protesters at BLM events were under thirty, unlike the many middle-aged babies at the Capitol riot. So far, the BLM rioters have gotten stiffer sentences for their crimes than their Capitol counterparts. And many did wait in jail for months before their sentencing.
Take the case of Shamar Betts. He was merely twenty when he posted on Facebook, “Riot at the Marketplace tonight,” during a BLM protest in Champaign, Illinois. The prosecution pushed for the maximum five-year sentence for inciting a riot; he was sentenced to four years and forced to pay $1.5 million in damages; that will likely never be produced because, with that on his record, his job prospects are slim even when he gets out of prison. (Why shouldn’t Trump be charged with the same thing, urging his followers to “go up there and fight like hell”, and then doing nothing for hours as the violence unfolded?)
Another young man, Lanell (no last name given), was still sitting in prison a year after being arrested for burglary and looting, which carry harsh sentences. His crime? He was caught running out of a store with a bottle of dishwashing liquid.
And then there is the case of D’Angelo Sandidge, first charged with violating the curfew and then resisting arrest, a misdemeanor that can bring up to a year in prison and a $5000 fine. Even if the case is thrown out or he is acquitted, it will show up in background checks. Not a small thing for someone who is already poor and Black in America.
Most never hear these stories because they are relatively poor young men who don’t have a former President loudly excusing their crimes.
And most MAGA folk would prefer to see images of young black men standing around a burning car and assume they got away with it rather than take a few minutes to do some basic research to check their “facts.” The sheer laziness of their “research” is appalling.
It’s also worth noting, in both the Capitol riot and riots that emerged from BLM protests, there were scenes that looked like the police didn’t do anything. If a police force is overwhelmed and unprepared, it’s probably best to try to calm or disperse the crowd rather than fight it if they are outnumbered.
I saw the violence erupt at some of the BLM events just as I saw it at the Capitol, in real time, on television. There is no excuse for any of it, and justice should be served.
But the next time you hear someone say, “But what about the BLM riots?”, please feel free to show them my moderate research here and tell them, “Why do you listen to a mouthpiece when the facts are here? Justice is being served.”
