For the past week, violent protests have roiled countless cities in the U.S., throughout all 50 states and D.C., in protest of police brutality against African Americans, especially with regard to George Floyd’s case. Although many protests remained peaceful, especially those organized in smaller cities, some, like those in downtown Minneapolis, New York, Los Angeles, and more involved rioting, arson, and looting of stores.
Countless stores in various downtown areas, ranging from Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and other general grocery stores to the stores of luxury brands like Apple, Chanel, Gucci, Hermes, and so on. Many family-owned businesses, like this one here in Los Angeles, were looted too.
Here are some videos of the looting in various U.S. cities.
In case you haven’t gotten the point already, there are essentially three groups of people protesting:
- The peaceful protesters. These are the ones peacefully walking in the streets, without rioting or causing damage to any property. Most protesters fall into this group. This group of people is often disproportionally affected by police brutality.
- The rioters. This small group of people is mainly responsible for conducting arson, destruction of property, vandalism, etc. Despite their tactics, some of these people are doing it for the cause, not just to cause chaos and destruction.
- The looters/thieves. This final group of people is the ones who break into stores and steal goods and merchandise under the cover of protests, and this group often blames it on the other protesters and try to justify their actions. It is clear that most of these people are here to steal – they break into a store, grab everything on the shelves, and run out carrying a whole bunch of merchandise. This group of people usually have nothing to do with the cause at all.
It is exactly this last group of people that are the main part of the problem. They are not here to protest in support of George Floyd, are not here to protest in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, nor are trying to raise awareness of the mistreatment of African Americans. Rather, they are here to steal things from stores under the cover of these increasingly violent protests, then blaming it on the peaceful ones. This group of people often makes peaceful protesters look bad, too.
In addition, the group of looters often choose high-target stores, like boutique fashion stores, to break into. Even if the looters were really trying to show their anger, it does not explain why they steal the merchandise of the stores. In Hong Kong, for example, some stores were broken into and destroyed, but no merchandise was stolen.
Therefore, based on these facts, it is clear that the looters are simply there because of greed. We must stop defending their actions and recognize that stealing from stores isn’t going to bring this protest movement anywhere. The First Amendment guarantees the right to peacefully assemble and protest the government, not start a riot and steal from stores in the process.
Looting from stores not only makes the entire movement look like an excuse to steal goods from stores, rather than to bring attention to a certain event. It makes protesters look greedy, senseless, and selfish. Many family businesses have been ruined, and countless others have lost their livelihoods due to the thievery, looting, and arson of stores. These people may have originally supported the movement. Now, they may not. It also doesn’t help the protest movement in any way or form. Change will not come about because people are stealing from stores.
The reason why the National Guard has been activated in many cities is because of the looting. If the looting stopped, there would no longer be any reason to call in the National Guard.
For reference, here is a list of all the cities that have seen protests. They include cities and towns from all 50 states, D.C., and various U.S. territories.