It seems that whenever there's a protest in America, inevitably, someone will point to misconduct by the protesters and insist that it invalidates the cause of the protest.
As the George Floyd protests rage, we have Republicans arguing that the violence and destruction of property invalidate the cause of the protesters, and therefore it is justified to murder random innocent black men in the streets. (This is their usual response to anti-brutality protests, we should be used to it by now.)
But it's really the reactions I see from other liberals that bother me the most.
One response is to say "But only some of the protesters are vandalizing things." This crowd stresses how peaceful this or that group of protesters are. Another response is to point out that provocateurs are posing as protesters to do vandalism or loot things in order to invalidate the protests in the eyes of the public. American police routinely do this, and lately, white supremacist groups have been joining in on the provocateur "fun." In other cases, liberal politicians will directly call for "peace" and wag their fingers at the protesters. Here's the problem I have with all of these responses:
It validates the underlying premise that misconduct by protesters invalidates the cause of the protests.
This argument is made so frequently when protests happen in America that no one questions the underlying premise about protester misconduct anymore. I think this underlying premise must be challenged each and every time it is used, and I think it is inherently anti-American.
Past Examples of Misconduct
The French Revolution involved a lot of violence, vandalism, looting, and murder (it ultimately shed rivers of blood). That doesn't mean the cause of the commoners wasn't just, nor does it mean it would have been better to leave the nobility of France in charge.
America started a revolutionary war against Britain over far less abuse than African-Americans have suffered at our hands over the past four centuries. This revolutionary war involved far more destruction of property and loss of life than any of the protests we have had about police brutality in America. The destruction of property and loss of life do not invalidate the cause of the founding fathers, nor does it mean we should have remained a colony of the British crown.
The Hong Kong protesters have been indulging in various forms of vandalism and violence. Some of it was even shown on Western TV, and not one single American pointed at any of the vandalism and declared "Ah ha! This invalidates the cause of the Hong Kong protesters, and therefore they should just accept whatever the Chinese government wants to do to them!" Do you know who does make that argument about the Hong Kong protesters? The Chinese government.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, most of the governments of the old Soviet bloc collapsed seemingly overnight. Many of these governments collapsed amid rampant vandalism, looting, and in some countries murder (e.g. Romania). The misconduct of these protesters did not invalidate their cause, nor does it mean we should have left those communist governments in power.
Remember the anti-lockdown protests by conservatives? Those protesters stormed capitals while heavily-armed, and even coughed on cops in an attempt to deliberately harm or kill said cops. But their protests were not invalidated by their bad behavior. Their cause was unjust because their cause was unjust on its own merits. The thing they were protesting for would have violated the rights of other people to not die of an otherwise preventable disease. No matter how bad their behavior, their behavior was unrelated to the justness of their cause.
Oh, and about the current protests raging across America in the wake of the George Floyd murder?
Let me be clear: even if each and every protester was vandalizing and looting, it would still be wrong to murder innocent African-American men and let the murderers get away with it.
Stop It
I'm getting tired of this premise going unchallenged. I'm tired of constantly hearing other liberals make excuses about how peaceful most of the protesters are. I'm tired of watching moderate liberal politicians wag their fingers at protesters. I'm tired of listening to reporters asking questions that are based on this underlying premise.
Stop it.
For the love of freedom, just stop it.
And stop letting other people get away with using this underlying premise in their arguments and questions.
Go back and read the above list. The people who argue that protester misconduct invalidates the justness of their cause are generally people either responsible for the oppression being protested, or who benefit from the oppression being protested. Because the premise is inherently a premise of oppressors, it has no business being accepted by free people in free societies.
Yes, the violence of this protest is terrifying. It should terrify you. But if you wanted this to be resolved peacefully, we had four centuries to resolve this peacefully and stop standing on the necks of African-Americans. If you wanted to resolve this peacefully, you had plenty of opportunity before this to do so. Countless African-Americans have tried asking nicely in a wide variety of ways. Each and every time, they were rebuffed, often cruelly. We white people have the power in this country, and white people repeatedly refused offers to resolve this peacefully. We refused again and again and again, and often punished those who asked nicely.
So don't you dare wag your fingers at those protesters now.