Insurrection Vs. Riot

Quid De Cogitatione? Glenn Rose

Last month an opinion piece posed the questions, “When is a riot and when is an insurrection?”[sic] I pose this as two questions, although the writer perhaps meant it as one, as if the two are so akin the difference is hard to discern.

The difference is quite easily discerned.

Following a pre-amble featuring definitions of “riot” and “insurrection,” the writer rambled off into the Fox News/MAGA wax museum of fictional, fantasy-prone portrayals of the protests following George Floyd’s murder and the Supreme Court overturning of Roe v. Wade and of the violence at the Capitol on January 6th, 2020, what realists call an insurrection.

The George Floyd protest in Washington spanned 10 days from May 29 to June 7, 2020. There was, indeed, inexcusable violence and looting during the first three days, and arrests were made. However, saying, in one instance, “they set fire to a historic church near the White House” is an irresponsible stereotyping when surveillance showed only one person, so far unidentified, who might have caused the fire!

With security heightened the ensuing seven days saw crowds of protesters, in many venues, peacefully voicing their abhorrence of people being singled out by law enforcement because of their ethnic or racial background.

On June 6 “law enforcement was heavily scaled back” and upwards of 10,000 people peacefully demonstrated opposition to George Floyd’s murder.

Police reported one arrest for property damage related to the protests on June 6.

Following the overturning of abortion rights by the Supreme Court there were more than 200 Women’s Marches in 46 states.

The BBC reported that on July 9 an estimated 10,000 people gathered in Washington from across the country to protest the ruling.

There were instances of misbehavior and property damage, but I’m hard pressed to find examples that indicate violence was the principal mode of expression by these protesters, either.

Concerning the Insurrection, A.B.C. News reported the lack of preparation for the January 6 rally was due in part to the organizers of the rally (Women for America First) actively concealing “information [such as the planned march to the Capitol] from the National Park Service that would have materially changed the security plans at the event.”

The statement that Trump sought National Guard troops is true, but incomplete. His acting defense secretary, Christopher Miller, testified to the House investigation that Trump wanted National Guard troops in Washington to protect his supporters at the rally!

We know that Trump sat in front of his television watching the violent attack unfold and progress for hours before calling it off.

The writer’s recounting of the specifics of the insurrection are highly suspect. Did he actually watch the bear-sprayings and beatings of police o fficers a t t he C apitol? H e wrote, “President Trump was addressing the rally at the Washington Monument” when it was clear on the screen that he was outside the White House at the Ellipse almost a half mile away from the monument.

Juxtaposing the protests over the murder of Floyd and the nullification of Roe v. Wade – implying both were teeming with “rioters (or insurrectionists)” – with the January 6th Insurrection is either deliberate subterfuge to mislead by comparing apples to oranges or an example of naively quoting, without the benefit of due diligence, sources with a slanted agenda.

Or: is comparing apples to field stones.

These two types of civil “expression” are not comparable. The former were overwhelmingly peaceful protesters; the latter overwhelmingly violent insurgents, 10,000 to 15,000 strong, “revolting against [the] civil authority [of] an established government,” the dictionary definition of an insurrection!

Moreover, if the Floyd protests had turned into a full scale, sevenday riot of destruction in Georgetown and the pro-choice advocates had entered and sacked the Supreme Court, all would have been rebuilt and the guilty prosecuted.

Our Constitution would have survived, and our democracy would have remained intact.

If the January 6th protesters’ violence had succeeded, with Congress intimidated into overturning the 2019 election, our Constitution – and the judicial system that had upheld the election results during the lies that claimed “it was stolen” – would have been drained of all authority, with power now vested into the hands of one person.

Most significantly, those protesting George Floyd’s murder and the overturning of Roe v. Wade were both grassroots movements. The vast majority were non-violent, expressing their constitutional right to assemble and seek redress from their government.

Those protesting the election results had been called there by one man, whose incessant lies about a stolen election preyed on their trust. Many showed up prepared and organized for a violent confrontation. This man, desperate to retain power, goaded his followers into attacking the Capitol to thwart the constitutional process of certifying a legitimate election and the peaceful transfer of power from one president to the next.

Overturning the Constitution was the intent of Donald Trump and his mob.

It was not the intent of those protesting George Floyd’s murder or the loss of abortion rights.

That’s easily discerned.