When Protests Turn Violent, the Truth Gets Torched

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The riots are back again. Tuesday night, at least 16 police officers were injured in Charlotte, N.C., as people once again turned to violence and looting in the wake of a police shooting.

These riots, which appear to be the result of agitators perverting peaceful protests, are doing far more than injuring law enforcement officers and trashing the communities for which they ostensibly seek justice; they kill any hope of accomplishing anything but exacerbating an already balkanized society.

Over the course of the few hours following the police-involved shooting of 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott, locals swarmed the scene, animated by the prevailing narrative that officers shot an unarmed man who was simply reading a book in his car and waiting for his son — despite reports to the contrary.

Initially, Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts said in a tweet that “the community deserves” answers:

But — just as in countless cases like Ferguson, Baltimore, and Milwaukee before — facts take too long to come out and the desire to channel ill-informed rage into destruction wins out over reason.

What started as lawful demonstrations, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, quickly devolved into chaos and destruction as the result of violent “agitators”:

More details here from CR’s Chris Pandolfo.

Wednesday morning, CMPD Chief Kerr Putney, reemphasized that Scott was indeed armed, corroborating earlier reports that a gun was recovered at the scene.

And the popular narrative that Scott was “reading a book” has also been called into question, as Putney also claimed that there was no book found at the scene.

Furthermore, police reportedly gave Scott multiple warnings to drop his handgun before the shooting:

But this was yet another situation where facts proved to be inconvenient to a popular narrative — and therefore ignored.

It’s very clear that these weren’t protests. It definitely appears that they started out that way, according to the CMPD, but they eventually escalated, once “agitators” came on the scene. But media still referred to them as protestors, despite their clear wanton destruction and threat to public safety.

At best, these were riots. At worst, they would fit the definition of terrorism committed in the name of cultural Marxism, considering multiple calls came out for the rioters to visit their destruction and havoc on white neighborhoods (because this is apparently how you fight racism, right?).

It’s appropriate that rioters and protestors used the “Hands up, don’t shoot” call Monday night, because it appears that the initial story that fomented the evening’s chaos were about as truthful as the narrative behind Michael Brown’s shooting in Ferguson over two years ago.

Yet, here we are again. Property was set ablaze, chaos reigned, and American streets were turned into a war zone over an at-best-incomplete narrative.

Once again, one side will use the political hagiography of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and Freddie Gray, regardless of the facts of these respective narratives, while those on the other side of the discussion will address those preceptions and feelings with numbers on black-on-black crime and police shootings that show that these actual incidents are numerically insignificant … while the other side will once again call for an end to [the myth of] systematic racism, despite the fact that no other demographic in America has been given such firm control over representation at the local level as black Americans thanks to the Democrat Party’s death grip on America’s inner-cities (or granted the same level of supposedly remedial super-rights in the legal system … cases in point: affirmative action and the recent slew of supposedly “racist” voter ID laws being struck down).

Make no mistake, Americans naturally have a right to protest. More importantly, they have a moral duty to speak up when their conscience perceives injustice and compels them. But the moment that impulse becomes violent, the moment innocent people are forced to fear for their safety and property, it’s no longer a protest.

Yes, rioters destroy private property, and they erode law and order. But more than that, they destroy any chance of actually addressing the point that the actual peaceful protesters are trying to make — and the justice they are trying to seek. Rather than contribute to the kind of mutual dialogue that would address the incredulity of both sides of the debate, these rioters in Charlotte have once again stunted and severely hindered any real hope of community progress.

When demonstrations devolve into desolation, truth goes out the window, and the mob gets to scream nonsensically into an uncaring abyss. Any legitimate truth-seekers in the streets of Charlotte Tuesday night have to suffer from the havoc and vitriol of those who only care about sowing discord, rather than seeking answers.

Chief Kerr Putney says that the “voiceless majority” in the community can rise above the kind of madness his city saw last night; we can only hope that they actually will. (For more from the author of “When Protests Turn Violent, the Truth Gets Torched” please click HERE)

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