In response to a letter which suggested Capitol and BLM rioters are held to different standards
According to a statement released by the Capitol police, “Officer Sicknick… was injured while physically engaging with protesters. He returned to his division office and collapsed.” He later died at a hospital. The U.S. Justice Department has opened a murder investigation. The charge of accessory to murder does not require that the Justice Department know which protester’s hand inflicted the damage; only that the death occurred from violence in the Capitol building.
As for revenge and retaliation, is Mr. Lee Roy Lollar suggesting that people guilty of capital crimes be ignored in general, so as to avoid revenge and retribution? Probably not. Is he suggesting that the assault on the Capitol Building was such a trivial event, even with a body count — even with declarations that members of Congress, if caught, would be killed — that the people involved should just be sent home to sleep it off? Is he suggesting that mob violence is an appropriate approach to governance?
As for lack of outrage for the property damage and the eleven deaths associated with the more than 9,000 Black Lives Matter protests, there is no lack. The rioting has resulted in many hundreds of arrests and has generated an avalanche of print condemnation. Most of the property damage, and some of the deaths, occurred outside the protests, committed by people taking advantage of the confusion resulting from aggressive police response. One man was shot by a news cameraman responding to a slap in the face from the victim. Two protesters were killed by a 17-year-old with a rifle. The police let the kid leave the scene. The left-winger who shot a right-winger was later killed by police, an act that then-president Trump described as “retribution.”
None of the BLM protests threatened the integrity of our government. The primary outrage over the Capitol Building invasion is not the damage, or even the deaths. It is the threat to our system of government. But there was a death. Let the rebels atone.
Bill Gillmore
Columbus
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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