On Saturday and Sunday evening, dozens of protesters and rioters took to the streets of Milwaukee to voice their collective anger over Saturday afternoon’s fatal police shooting in the city’s Sherman Park neighborhood.
The situation on the ground became dangerously volatile, necessitating Gov. Scott Walker’s activation of the state National Guard to mobilize in case it was needed to help quell the unrest.
Although the characteristics of the protests and subsequent riots shared similarities with other recent flare-ups throughout the country, there was something different about Milwaukee’s riots.
Despite the fact that the ink was hardly dry on the police report with little publicly available information regarding the characteristics of the officer or suspect involved—or even minimal information concerning the circumstances of the shooting—nothing seemed to deter dozens of individuals from taking to the streets and engaging in willful and wanton destruction of property, larceny, and violence.
Much of the violence even appeared to be motivated by nothing more than the mere race of the intended victims.
None of what occurred in Milwaukee over the past several days has been about protest, nor has it been about unfair policing practices or an illegitimate use of force.
Multiple videos depicting indiscriminate violence made the rounds on social media, police cars and local businesses were torched, and looting of stores could be found in abundance.
None of what occurred in Milwaukee over the past several days has been about protest, nor has it been about unfair policing practices or an illegitimate use of force.
What has occurred in Milwaukee since Saturday evening has been nothing more than unmitigated anarchy—a complete disregard for the rule of law.
It differed from previous acts of public protest in that following the events in Ferguson and Baltimore, for example, legitimate differences of opinion could be gleaned from the basic facts surrounding those respective incidents.
Debate could be reasonably understood given the unique perspective through which various individuals viewed those events.
Of course, none of that justified violence and destruction of property in Ferguson, Baltimore, or elsewhere, differences of opinion notwithstanding.
But at least in the wake of those incidents there was some basic focus of discussion. Milwaukee, it would appear, lacks such a focus.
Only after the conflagration began to consume Milwaukee did the public learn some of the basic facts surrounding the incident upon which so much of the destruction and violence was ostensibly predicated.
Race, at least in so far as it directly affected the principle actors in the incident, appeared to not be a relevant factor. Milwaukee police revealed that the officer involved in the shooting, as well as the suspect killed, were both African-American.
Furthermore, no justifiable claims of an illegitimate use of force against an unarmed individual appears to have any merit. Milwaukee police revealed that the suspect in the incident was in fact armed with a stolen semi-automatic handgun carrying 23 rounds of ammunition.
A still capture from the officer’s body-worn camera allegedly also showed the suspect turning toward the officer with gun in hand immediately prior to the officer using deadly force.
“The individual did turn toward the officer with a firearm in his hand,” Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said, Fox News reported.
None of these facts justify any of the violence that has plagued the city of Milwaukee since Saturday night.
These individuals appeared to have taken advantage of a tragic situation and used it to benefit themselves at the expense of their own community.
Should city officials, the police department, and concerned community activists emphasize dialogue and transparency in the wake of Saturday’s shooting? Absolutely.
But none of the individuals who came out on Saturday and Sunday evening to torch businesses and hurt innocent people appeared to be the least bit interested in dialogue or transparency.
By any measure, these individuals appeared to have taken advantage of a tragic situation and used it to benefit themselves at the expense of their own community.
Sadly, what these individuals also did was undermine the legitimate efforts of genuinely concerned stakeholders—police and community members alike—who truly seek to improve police and community relations.
That may end up being the real tragedy in the aftermath of the Milwaukee riots.
