In this entry, I want to provide you with what I have encountered so far during the last several days of absolute madness and chaos. My intention is to offer evidence of some perspectives that are floating around so that you can make your own judgement
Police brutality
First and foremost, you may want to look at the video of George Floyd being arrested and killed by four policemen. It’s tragic and horrifying, but it shows the worst of the abuse of power from the police. Here is another incident when they kicked a powerless girl
Protesters tried to protect properties from looting
There are real peaceful protests, not just the violent ones that seem to attract more attention
There is a population among police who decided to join the protest
There are white people who compassionately and bravely stepped up to help their black brothers and sisters
There are also legitimate and terrible looters
There are also cooler heads
In the process, the police attacked the press and the First Amendment Right
I am sure there are other incidents that back up each of these perspectives or bring out new vantage points from which you can look at this whole chaos. These are multiple separate issues, each of which deserves its own investigation, national discussion and dramatic overhaul of what is currently in place. However, they are currently lumped into one confusing mess to muddy the waters. You can absolutely call for justice for George Floyd and other victims, and demand racial equality while absolutely condemning the looting that some terrible individuals carried out. The two are mutually exclusive. Just like you can appreciate the job of the police and justly call out the brutality whose frequency is so high that you can’t call it “a few bad apples” any more. Like a friend of mine from Belgium said, no one ever said this about plane crashes: well it crashed, but it’s one bad apple. Indeed, no one ever.
I hope these are helpful to you while you are processing the whole chaos unfolding in front of us.
Minh Quang Duong 