Revisionist history, huh?
President Elect Joe Biden condemns rioting;
There’s no place for violence, no place for looting or destroying property or burning churches or destroying businesses […] we need to distinguish between legitimate peaceful protest and opportunistic violent destruction
VP Elect Kamala Harris condemns rioting;
It’s no wonder people are taking to the streets and I support them. We must always defend peaceful protest and peaceful protestors. We should not confuse them with those looting and committing acts of violence, including the shooter who was arrested for murder. And make no mistake, we will not let these vigilantes and extremists derail the path to justice.
Rep Ilhan Omar of Minneapolis condemns arson;
In Minneapolis, we have marched, we have protested, we have organized. And when we see people setting our buildings and our businesses ablaze, we know those are not people who are interested in protecting black lives. They might say they care about black lives, but they’re not interested in protecting black lives, because when you set a fire, you risk -- you risk the community that you are saying you are standing out for.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemns riots and calls for prosecution;
We support peaceful demonstrations. We participate in them. They are part of the essence of our democracy. That does not include looting, starting fires, or rioting. They should be prosecuted. That is lawlessness.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced a resolution during the BLM protests that condemned the horrific way in which the BLM protests were handled across the country, where peaceful protestors were further antagonized by police, but also stated that "violence and looting are unlawful, unacceptable and contrary to the 7 purpose of peaceful protests." It's neither here nor there, but McConnell blocked this resolution.
Those are the four most prominent leaders in the Democratic party + the rep from Minneapolis, all condemning rioting. But here's the major difference.
The violence over the summer was sparked by the confluence of three things;1.) The empirically verifiable fact that persons of color are treated lesser by the justice system
2.) The lived experience of millions of black americans which cosigns item #1
3.) Horrific video footage of police slowly killing an emotionally distraught man over an alleged petty crime while he begs for his life and cries out for his dead mother
At no point did any prominent member of Democratic leadership or even BLM leadership say, "We need to smash windows and burn buildings if we're ever going to get equitable justice."
Conversely The grievances that led pro trump activists to storm and vandalize the capital, mortally threaten elected officials, trample one of their own to death, and beat an officer to death had
no basis in reality and were completely made of whole cloth by the defacto leader of the Republican party, President Donald J. Trump.
These lies were egged on and cosigned by hundreds of elected Republican officials. The morning of the event, the President told his people that they had to fight or else they'd lose their country. The President's lawyer talked of trial by combat. This is not unexpected either. Fueled by the crazy rhetoric of the president, a Militia group was recently busted by the FBI for plotting to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer. These types of reactions to his rhetoric have been a known quantity for a while.
This is why I have almost no patience for accusations of both-sides or boilerplate calls for unity or empathy or whatever from people who clearly done a fraction of the reading and research on this stuff that I have. If someone wants to act like they're above it all to avoid critical thinking, they're welcome to do that. But I'll push back every time.